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baghdad
The Gulf War 30 Years Ago: Memories From a Shelter in Baghdad
On February 13, 1991, a horrific massacre took place in Baghdad, the capital of Iraq. The U.S. coalition bombed a shelter and killed more than 400 people.
Feb 14, 2021
The traces of the attack were visible everywhere. There was a large hole in the solid concrete roof. The rebars had been torn apart. On the walls there were pictures in long lines. Pictures of children, who should have had their lives ahead of them. Pictures of burnt bodies. Their lives ended abruptly in the very place where they thought they would be safe.
Intesar Ahmed showed me around in the shelter in al-Amiriya on the western outskirts of Baghdad. She told me what happened at four o'clock in the morning on February 13, 1991.
"Every night during the war, people sought refuge here. They were civilians, innocent people. US bombs killed our neighbors and friends. 52 of the dead were children under the age of five, twelve were infants. This was where their life ended..."
When I visited al-Amiriya, more eleven years had passed since that dramatic night. But during the visit in October 2012, it felt so close.
Hundreds of people had huddled in the shelter. Some of them were probably asleep when the first missile blew up the hole in the roof. Four minutes later, the next missile penetrated into the shelter. What did they think during those minutes?
I try to imagine the fear, the panic, the anxiety of death. But I think it is impossible to understand. 408 people lost their lives that night.
When the attack on the shelter was carried out, the Gulf War had been going on for almost a month. The coalition led by U.S. had begun its airstrikes against Iraq on January 17, 1991. The official aim was said to be to save Kuwait and enforce the Iraqi army to leave Iraq's small neighbour to the south.
A quarter of a million Iraqis lost their lives during the six weeks of the war. That can be compared to the fact that 148 Americans were killed.
In the tv news, the Gulf War was portrayed as some kind of video game. The viewers got to see video clips with cool light effects when the missiles hit their targets. "Smart bombs" became a concept.
The reality on the ground was different.
Ramsey Clark, former U.S. Secretary of Justice, traveled to Iraq shortly after the war. What he saw -- the result of 42 days of bombings - shocked him. He drew the conclusion that this was not a war. It was rather "a planned, systematic genocide of a defenseless population, almost without setting a foot on Iraqi soil".
A quarter of a million Iraqis lost their lives during the six weeks of the war. That can be compared to the fact that 148 Americans were killed.
Something that also brings you to mind genocide was the systematic destruction of infrastructure. Denis Halliday, U.N. Vice Secretary-General 1997-1998, told the world that the coalition attacked water treatment plants, sewage systems, schools, railways and oil refineries.
One who experienced the horrors himself was Murtada Hassan, chief physician at the al-Mansour Children's Hospital in the Iraqi capital. I met him in October 2002.
"During the Gulf War, the United States shut down the electricity supply. Without electricity, neither the water supply nor the air conditioning will work. A hospital gets hot and dirty," he said during the tour of hos work place.
"We had to perform surgeries with only candle light. Vaccine and blood were destroyed in the heat. They bombed hospitals, health clinics and shelters."
In October 2002, the memories from 1991 had been brought to life again. The Iraqis were well aware that they would soon be hit by a new hellish war led by George W Bush and Tony Blair. The Iraqis feared that it would be even worse than the Gulf War.
The anxiety and abandonment was also felt during the visit in al-Amariya.
"Why is the United States planning to start a new war? I can assure you that we are not terrorists. I think it's about the United States wanting our oil. The entire Iraqi people are victims," Intesar Ahmed said.
At the end of the tour, I remember her raising her eyes, pointing to the pictures of two smiling children who were killed during the attack:
"This is exactly what will happen if the US attacks us again..."
She was right. The Gulf War 30 years ago was only the beginning of a long period of death, suffering and looting in Iraq. A period which has not yet ended.
This article (in Swedish) was first published in Swedish weekly Proletaren (proletaren.se).
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Missing: 505 COVID Masks Destined for Baghdad Hospital via UPS
Our human-to-human good-will gesture—the washing, cutting, sewing, assembling and shipping costs along with the sweet anticipation of their arrival in Baghdad—has been denied, stolen from us.
Jun 22, 2020
Iraq experienced a dramatic upsurge in COVID cases beginning in early in June just as a group of mask-makers in Western Massachusetts was sending 500 masks--including 100 highly effective, medical-quality HEPA vac masks-- to the Pediatric Oncology Unit at Children's Welfare Teaching Hospital in Medical City Baghdad (CWTH). They were sent on June 5; I tracked them as they traveled to Kentucky, then to Dubai--taking some days at each stop. Then, they were in transit in Baghdad, scheduled for delivery on Wednesday, June 17. But they didn't move. I checked the UPS tracking site; I phoned my local store and the international UPS help line. At one point the message said the package was being help-up by a government regulatory agency hold; at another point they said it had been shipped to Kurdistan and informed the doctor who'd phoned from Baghdad they would need a request from the Ministry of Health in that province to get the package released. And then the next day--June 22nd--they told me the package was classified as "lost."
And all this while, the virus is spreading and taking a toll in Baghdad and throughout Iraq. One hundred fifty new cases of the virus were recorded on May 18; 1463 recorded on June 18 and 1870 on June 20. While aware of the emerging pandemic, masks weren't necessarily on the doctor's radar when I first asked about them. They're in an existential crisis, as they have been for more than three decades now, exhausted by their efforts to meet the needs of an increasing number of increasingly serious cancer cases without the facilities, drugs or sufficient number of properly trained personnel necessary for such a challenging specialty.
Nonetheless when I suggested my local group might make masks, they welcomed the idea even if they were not yet fully aware of what was coming, if or when it was coming, or how the masks would be of help. Infection control is a huge issue in Iraqi hospitals where--to name just a few irregularities: two or more patients and their mothers share a room; the lowest-cost, non-medical-standard cleaning service is employed; people come-and-go in street clothes rather than changing to sanitized clothing. But, everything is an issue in Iraqi hospitals for that matter. The hospitals and the entire medical system of a country that once boasted the best training, care and facilities in the Middle East--and all at no cost--fell into a state of chaos beginning with UN Economic Sanctions and the First Gulf war in 1990. The chaos and dysfunction continue to this day.
Healthcare, along with education and other vital public services, is a government function. The role of government in managing, or not-managing-- this public health crisis has been highlighted throughout these last months; we know which governments are doing a good job, and which are failing. But, Iraq hasn't had a functioning government for many months; the cabinet was only confirmed in early June. And, most recently before that, the government they did have was notoriously corrupt and preoccupied with ongoing international conflict and street protests demanding reforms.
These doctors have not stood by helplessly as all of this has unfolded in Iraq; they have been outspoken; they spoke to the press--to anyone who would listen. They publish papers, they petition global health and international cancer care organizations.
Doctors have been left on their own, managing their patients and their wards with whatever resources they can muster. Those who have chosen to stay in Iraq--the doctors on the unit at CWTH--have been witness to misery beyond their control: a soaring Under Five Mortality rate, half a million children dead , many from preventable illness such as diarrhea or from malnutrition; They have witnessed the collapse of their once stellar medical education and hospital system; had to regroup, and redouble their efforts as colleagues were kidnapped, killed or chose to leave the country for security reasons. Doctors have had endure as the world of cancer care passed them by as a result of the crippling sanctions--even books and medical journals, medicines and medical equipment were forbidden. They have had to work harder as the number of patients increased and their overall capacity decreased. They and their families, friends and neighbors have had to live with the stress of insecurity and ongoing violence in "post-war" Baghdad. And now comes COVID 19.
These doctors have not stood by helplessly as all of this has unfolded in Iraq; they have been outspoken; they spoke to the press--to anyone who would listen. They publish papers, they petition global health and international cancer care organizations. But, help has not arrived. The suggestion by WHO and the UN--that we end ongoing conflicts and concentrate our collective efforts in understanding, containing and developing drugs and treatments for COVID--seems to have fallen on deaf ears. Iraq and Iraqis struggle on--on their own.
Where governments fail to meet human needs, or make peace, or work cooperatively--people mount campaigns. Not just internationally, you see it in crisis everywhere--institutions fail and ordinary people step into the void. This was the case with the COVID masks. A group of women created a system to produce the best quality as quickly as possible; some are washing and cutting fabric and elastic or tie bands, some are assembling kits and delivering them to pick-up locations around our Valley; some are sewing, some are responding to requests and delivering masks. The materials are/have become scarce. At some points, you couldn't find elastic for instance or the HEPA vac fabric. It all became precious and costly.
The loss of the masks--505 masks that weighed in at almost 20 lbs.--and of the $800 dollars donated for shipping costs is devastating. They are desperately needed in Baghdad. And then, so disturbing on our end, is the profound disappointment experienced by the sewing collective. Our human-to-human good-will gesture--the washing, cutting, sewing, assembling and shipping costs along with the sweet anticipation of their arrival in Baghdad--has been denied, stolen from us.
I'm sure this disappearance would be world-making news If what was lost was a feral cat or beloved stray dog some army regimen had adopted off the streets of Baghdad. And, all stops would be pulled and costs disregarded to find the animal and reunite it with their humans. I'm hoping the masks will elicit the same response. Fingers crossed.
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'This Was Murder,' Says Judge, Sentencing Ex-Blackwater Guard to Life for Nisour Square Massacre
Welcoming the sentence, one attorney said, "Justice prevails for my clients—six families that suffered tragic losses that day."
Aug 15, 2019
Rejecting claims from defense attorneys and family members that U.S. prosecutors scapegoated former Blackwater security guard Nicholas Slatten to improve U.S.-Iraqi relations, a federal judge sentenced former Blackwater security guard Nicholas Slatten to life in prison Wednesday for his role in the notorious 2007 Nisour Square massacre.
"The jury got it exactly right," Judge Royce Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for D.C. reportedly said while issuing the sentence. "This was murder."
Paul Dickinson, an attorney who represented families of six massacre victims--including 9-year-old Ali Kinani--welcomed the sentence in a series of tweets Wednseday evening, declaring that "justice prevails" for his clients.
\u201chttps://t.co/5m16rBcU3g\u201d— A Damn Lawyer (@A Damn Lawyer) 1565818045
\u201cAs Judge Royce Lamberth said during the sentencing, \u201cThe jury got it exactly right. This was murder.\u201d\u201d— A Damn Lawyer (@A Damn Lawyer) 1565818045
U.S. prosecutors charged that on Sept. 16, 2007, Slatten fired the first shots into a crowded Baghdad traffic circle, killing 19-year-old Ahmed Haithem Ahmed Al Rubia'y and setting off a flurry of machine gun and grenade fire that left 14 Iraqi civilians dead and over a dozen more injured.
"Several of Slatten's supporters openly accused prosecutors of scapegoating an innocent man in order to placate Iraqi public opinion," The Associated Press reported. "The shootings strained U.S.-Iraqi relations and focused intense international scrutiny on the extensive use of private military contractors in Iraq."
As journalist Jeremy Scahill detailed in his book Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army, the company, "founded by secretive right-wing Christian supremacist Erik Prince...had deep ties to the Bush administration and served as a sort of neoconservative Praetorian Guard for a borderless war launched in the immediate aftermath of 9/11."
Prince has since move on from Blackwater, which relaunched as Academi, but the billionaire war profiteer--and brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos--has advised the Trump administration on intelligence and defense issues.
According to The Washington Post, Judge Lamberth said Wednesday
he agreed with jurors that evidence showed that the convoy was not under insurgent fire and that Slatten shot into Al Rubia'y's vehicle with premeditation, striking the medical student between the eyes.
Lamberth, a U.S. Army captain and lawyer who served in Vietnam, disputed Slatten's defenders' claims that his conduct was justified, saying he had seen combat, "but I was in a situation where we depended on each other to carry out orders to ensure that innocent people were not needlessly killed, and we followed those orders."
A jury found Slatten, now 35, guilty of first-degree murder in December. That verdict came as part of his third trial, after an appeals court ordered a retrial for Slatten--and resentencing for Blackwater contractors Dustin Heard, Evan Liberty, and Paul Slough--in August of 2017, and Slatten's second trial ended in a mistrial in September of 2018.
Slatten's new sentence may still not stick. The New York Times reported Wednesday that his attorneys "made clear that they would keep fighting, including by asking the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to overturn the sentence and the verdict."
The Times also pointed to the newspaper's report from May that President Donald Trump might be considering a pardon for Slatten, given that "the White House had requested paperwork about his and a handful of other cases, according to two United States officials."
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