Tribute to Margaret Hassan
Thoughts on UN Bombing, Baghdad (Aug 2003)
Guess what I am doing now just about sums it. Have cranked up the volume of my CD player, but CNN is still blaring on cable TV five feet away. On one hand, the urge is to drown the news and not think about what has happened, but some part of me resists the urge to walk that few steps and just shut CNN up. So here I am, not enjoying my music and not being able to hear CNN clearly at the same time. haha. Humans.
Being of selfish human nature, I guess I am feeling bad mostly because I am smack in the middle of 2 bombings on either side, and also because I personally know 2 people from NGOs that are at this moment in Baghdad. Have just read the ironic e-mail sent to Dr Taufiq in Baghdad which more or less said that we can never underestimate the power of prayers and faith as the ultimate protection, as he is safe. Which is why, I assume, those faithless UN people got blown up. Not to mention the Zionist Jewish kids torn apart in that bus. Guess they deserved what was coming.
As Alice (pronounced Alis, as she is French I think) from Telekom Sans Frontiers said the other day, all NGO personnel who go into Iraq accepts the fact that they are taking risks. Theirs is a conscious decision, as nothing can be more conscious than applying for or accepting the offer, and then physically packing and flying over there. They might have a very skewed sense of risk (and probably lack any common sense at all), but still, every single day there is a conscious decision to work, stay and help. Perhaps the people that got blown up in Jerusalem also made a conscious decision to stay, but I’m betting the kids had little say in where their parents decide to call home. And perhaps even their parents, having to take the bus, cannot really afford to up and away.
But what now of the rebuilding process in Iraq? There are in access of 60 NGOs, mostly American and European that are currently operating in Iraq. A few we know are from Japan and Korea. One corner of the UN HQ at Canal Hotel has been blown up and they have evacuated most of their expats to Amman. It will be probably at least one month before they can repair / relocate and rethink their operations.
The UN has been helping coordinate NGO activities to date. It’s like being stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea. I don’t think the CPA (Central Provisional Authority) and CF (Coalition Forces) can stop the bombings and other acts of terrorism. If they (not that I’m assuming “they” are a single entity) can fly an airplane into the world trade centre and closer to home, drive a car-bomb into the lobby of Marriot Jakarta, they can bloody well bomb, kill and maim soft targets in Baghdad – read NGOs.
So what the hell do you do? Normal gut reaction would be to evacuate for a while. But the dust will not settle. Come back in a month? Would anything be different then? The rules have shifted and have been defined in clear, blood soaked writing. It’s open season for NGOs. And for the people on the ground, it will be yet another conscious decision to accept this new term of employment.
Aris
Amman, 20 Aug 2003
One year later, Margaret Hassan, Head of CARE Iraq, died at the hands of her kidnappers. May she rest in peace.
Guess what I am doing now just about sums it. Have cranked up the volume of my CD player, but CNN is still blaring on cable TV five feet away. On one hand, the urge is to drown the news and not think about what has happened, but some part of me resists the urge to walk that few steps and just shut CNN up. So here I am, not enjoying my music and not being able to hear CNN clearly at the same time. haha. Humans.
Being of selfish human nature, I guess I am feeling bad mostly because I am smack in the middle of 2 bombings on either side, and also because I personally know 2 people from NGOs that are at this moment in Baghdad. Have just read the ironic e-mail sent to Dr Taufiq in Baghdad which more or less said that we can never underestimate the power of prayers and faith as the ultimate protection, as he is safe. Which is why, I assume, those faithless UN people got blown up. Not to mention the Zionist Jewish kids torn apart in that bus. Guess they deserved what was coming.
As Alice (pronounced Alis, as she is French I think) from Telekom Sans Frontiers said the other day, all NGO personnel who go into Iraq accepts the fact that they are taking risks. Theirs is a conscious decision, as nothing can be more conscious than applying for or accepting the offer, and then physically packing and flying over there. They might have a very skewed sense of risk (and probably lack any common sense at all), but still, every single day there is a conscious decision to work, stay and help. Perhaps the people that got blown up in Jerusalem also made a conscious decision to stay, but I’m betting the kids had little say in where their parents decide to call home. And perhaps even their parents, having to take the bus, cannot really afford to up and away.
But what now of the rebuilding process in Iraq? There are in access of 60 NGOs, mostly American and European that are currently operating in Iraq. A few we know are from Japan and Korea. One corner of the UN HQ at Canal Hotel has been blown up and they have evacuated most of their expats to Amman. It will be probably at least one month before they can repair / relocate and rethink their operations.
The UN has been helping coordinate NGO activities to date. It’s like being stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea. I don’t think the CPA (Central Provisional Authority) and CF (Coalition Forces) can stop the bombings and other acts of terrorism. If they (not that I’m assuming “they” are a single entity) can fly an airplane into the world trade centre and closer to home, drive a car-bomb into the lobby of Marriot Jakarta, they can bloody well bomb, kill and maim soft targets in Baghdad – read NGOs.
So what the hell do you do? Normal gut reaction would be to evacuate for a while. But the dust will not settle. Come back in a month? Would anything be different then? The rules have shifted and have been defined in clear, blood soaked writing. It’s open season for NGOs. And for the people on the ground, it will be yet another conscious decision to accept this new term of employment.
Aris
Amman, 20 Aug 2003
One year later, Margaret Hassan, Head of CARE Iraq, died at the hands of her kidnappers. May she rest in peace.
posted by aries at
11:59 PM
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