Report: IRAQI HOSPITALS AILING UNDER OCCUPATION

Mel Brennan · Jul 14, 2005

A substantive report on the matter endorsed by www.brusselstribunal.org, www.intal.be, www.eltaller.org, Geneeskunde Voor de Derde Wereld, Asian Women’s Human Rights Council, Association of Humanitarian Lawyers and SOS Iraq. In addition, this report was submitted as evidence to the Jury of conscience during the culminating session of the World Tribunal on Iraq, Istanbul 23-27 June...

...if you don't know, now you know...there's a full, competent alternative structure engaging, trying to understand, and passing judgement on the misadventure Iraq and many other of the 26 active murderous major conflicts going on around the planet...with the help of cyberspace, regular people no longer have to wiat for governance to redress malgovernance within the late unpleasantness.

Excerpts:

INTRODUCTION: Although the Iraq Ministry of Health claims its independence and has received promises of over $1 billion of US funding, hospitals in Iraq continue to face ongoing medicine, equipment, and staffing shortages under the US-led occupation.

During the 1990s, medical supplies and equipment were constantly in short supply because of the sanctions against Iraq. And while war and occupation have brought promises of relief, hospitals have had little chance to recover and re-supply: the occupation, since its inception, has closely resembled a low-grade war, and the allocation of resources by occupation authorities has reflected this reality. Thus, throughout Baghdad there are ongoing shortages of medicine of even the most basic items such as analgesics, antibiotics, anesthetics, and insulin. Surgical items are running out, as well as basic supplies like rubber gloves, gauze, and medical tape.

In April 2004, an International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) report stated that hospitals in Iraq are overwhelmed with new patients, short of medicine and supplies and lack both adequate electricity and water, with ongoing bloodshed stretching the hospitals’ already meager resources to the limit...*
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CONCLUSION:...This report clearly illustrates the abject failure of the US to carry out even minimal humanitarian duties as occupying power. More importantly, it paints a picture of a healthcare system that has deteriorated since the start of the war, and of a failure to fundamentally reverse this decline. From a public health point of view, an end to occupation, with a scheduled withdrawal of all foreign troops, appears to be a major requirement.

In the meantime, actions must be undertaken that would constitute small but important steps in securing a more functional healthcare system for the Iraqi people. Thus, this report concludes with the following calls to action:

1. The fact that the US government has released so little of the $1 billion in reconstruction funds allegedly allocated to the Ministry of Health should be subject to an immediate congressional investigation to scrutinize the US government’s expenditures and actions, as well as the expenditures and actions of western companies that have been awarded contracts in Iraq regarding the healthcare system. Investigators should be given the power to impose or seek punitive measures for contract violations and over-expenditues and to provide oversight, regulation and accountability of the work of these companies in regard to their individual contracts.

2. This abuse of resources and widespread corruption seems a natural consequence of the lack of oversight of multinational corporations, owing perhaps primarily to their immunity under Iraqi law as established by Executive Order #17. An institutional regime consisting of international oversight, which would include a legitimate body of experts on essential services and representatives of the country’s medical society, should be created and put to work immediately.

3. An independent investigation should be launched to probe the actions of the US military regarding its alleged interference with Iraqi healthcare personnel and facilities, specifically with regard to the city of Fallujah. This investigation should include a more general appraisal of US military actions that have interfered with efforts to provide both healthcare and emergency services to a population under occupation. The investigation should also examine the issue of accountability to clearly identify who is accountable for this state of affairs. In order to facilitate independent inquiries into these and other human rights issues, the post of UN Human Rights Rapporteur, vacant since 2003, should be filled immediately.

4. Every Iraqi who has suffered the loss of a loved one, injury or property damage as a result of the invasion and ensuing occupation should immediately be compensated in full by western standards, not the $2500 payout the US military has set as the standard fee for a dead Iraqi.
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*Naomi Koppel, “Red Cross Says Iraq Hospitals Overwhelmed,” Associated Press, April 9, 2004.

DJPoopypants · Jul 14, 2005

Sigh...yet more evidence of the lousy care you get from a socialized medical system...will those moonbat socialists never learn that fully privatized medicine, and personal medical care accounts are the only way to go?

Malaga CF fan · Jul 14, 2005

Heard about this during the morning commute on Democracy Now. Thanks for posting it, it deserves to be reported and heard.

Mel Brennan · Jul 14, 2005

Malaga CF fan said:

Heard about this during the morning commute on Democracy Now. Thanks for posting it, it deserves to be reported and heard.
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Folks can hear/watch that same interview here.

SgtSchultz · Jul 14, 2005

I stopped reading after the term humanitarian lawyers. I knew right then and there, the article was a fraud. Lawyer aren't humanitarins. Nice try Mel.

Ian McCracken · Jul 14, 2005

[Liberal Logic 1944]Hitler makes the trains run on time. The Jews are transported to the gas chambers right on schedule.[/Liberal Logic 1944]

[Liberal Logic 2005]Saddam's hospitals are efficient. When he cuts off your arm, the doctors fix your stump real good.[/Liberal Logic 2005]