By Sheila Provencher
Christian Peacemaker Teams

Lately I feel so tired. There’s always a part of me that wants to just sleep; sleep and make all of THIS - the war, my government’s policies and actions, the counter-violence of the insurgency, all the greed and sin in the world - just go away for awhile. I can identify with the apathy of citizens who give in to violence: yes, just make the evil go away, press the button, fire the missile, send the young ones off to war. Take any way out.

Marla Ruzicka, an extraordinary human rights worker who founded the “Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict (CIVIC),” and Faiz Ali Salim who runs CIVIC in Iraq, were killed by a suicide car bomb on a Baghdad road in Iraq on Saturday April 16th. All at Voices in the Wilderness offer our condolence and know many who Marla and Faiz befriended will join in an intense yearning. May their passion, courage and kindness stir hope. We hope that their lives will move people to ever greater care for victims of war.

Justin Alexander wrote the following on Sunday.

The Innocent Victim

Last night I went to the Hamra hotel, home to most of the foreign journalists working in Baghdad, to attend one of Marla Ruzicka famous parties. She’d told me 8.30pm, but there was no sign of her in her room or elsewhere in the hotel and I couldn’t get through to her phone. I spotted some journalists sitting by the pool and shyly enquired “Do any you know Marla?” They turned to me and laughed “Are you kidding. Of course we know Marla, everyone knows Marla!” But no one had seen her.

By Kathleen O’Malley
Christian Peacemaker Teams
14 April, 2005

We walked through the crowded Basrah markets stepping over garbage and trying to avoid pools of sewage water to get to the clinic of Dr. Al-Brhim*, an oncologist internationally known for his research on the impact of depleted uranium. I thought it had to be a mistake when we arrived at the narrow concrete stairs of a deteriorating building that led to his clinic. We waited with his patients in a small room with two worn wooden benches covered with old tattered cloth. The tile on the floor was old and cracked and the walls badly in need of repair and paint. The conditions were unsuitable for living, much less for medical care.

Iraq Analysis Group, March 2005

Summary

This briefing examines the continuing use of incendiary weapons (“napalm”) by the US military in Iraq. While the UK government has attempted to downplay or deny the use of incendiaries in Iraq, US officials have been forced to admit using the MK-77 incendiary, a modern form of napalm. The UK is party to an international convention banning such weapons where they may cause harm to civilians. In Iraq, UK forces are part of a coalition which does not adhere to internationally agreed standards of warfare.

Digest by David Smith-Ferri, Voices in the Wilderness

Summary
Several articles follow this summary.

At the recent gathering of the UN Human Rights Commission, Jean Ziegler, UNHRC food specialist, announced the findings of a report that concluded that acute malnutrition among Iraqi children under five has nearly doubled since the US invasion and occupation, rising from 4% in 2002 to 7.7% today. Malnutrition is one of the most comprehensive indicators of the well-being of children, because it relies on the functioning of many sectors of society. Ziegler didn’t stop there. He condemned the US military tactics in the siege of Fallujah. “At Fallujah…the blockade imposed on food and the destruction of water reservoirs was used as weapon of war.” This, he said, was a “clear violation” of the Geneva Conventions. He went on to say that money for food aid is drying up, and blamed the huge amounts being spent on the “war on terror.” Any effort to curb terrorism, he said, should be linked to efforts to ease hunger and poverty. US spokespersons, trying to minimize the political damage from the report, attacked both Ziegler’s credibility and the validity of his findings.

In Baqubah, 80 miles from Baghdad, there has been an outbreak of leishmaniasis, a disease which “leads to disfigurement of the face and hands, and social stigma, particularly for women and children.” The disease is associated with poor sanitary conditions, especially a lack of sewage treatment and the accumulation of garbage in public places. In Baqubah the disease has spread at an alarming rate. Coping with the disease is beyond the means of individual hospitals. It will require the cooperation and effective action of governmental agencies, and as the director of the Infectious Disease Control Center, Dr. Abdul Jalil Nafi, maintained “All our efforts could come to nothing if the government doesn’t take urgent action to reduce sewage on the streets and repair the water purification system in the country because, without it, the doors will still be open for the appearance of new diseases.” One wonders to what extent the US government will take responsibility, as an occupying nation, and aid in dealing with the disease.

The articles in this digest also include stories of “paralysis” in Iraqi hospitals, which have yet to see significant improvements in equipment and staffing, the US military storming of hospitals in Ramadi and Haitha, and the unauthorized sale of medicine on the streets.