Dahr Jamail on Iraqi Hospitals Under Occupation, War Profiteering and the Brain

[Guest guest]

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/07/14/1345204

 

 

Thursday, July 14th, 2005

Dahr Jamail on Iraqi Hospitals Under Occupation, War Profiteering and

the " Brain Drain " Out of Iraq

 

 

 

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As dozens of people are killed in suicide bombings and attacks in

Iraq, we speak with independent journalist Dahr Jamail about his new

report, " Iraqi Hospitals Ailing Under Occupation, " the " brain drain "

out of Iraq and the difference in the media's coverage of the repeated

attacks in Iraq and last week's London bombings. [includes rush

transcript] Millions of people across Europe are observing a

two-minutes silence today to remember the victims of last week's

London bombings. At least 52 people were killed and 700 injured in the

blasts.

 

But few people remember that just three days after the bombings last

Thursday, a series of suicide attacks in Iraq left 48 people dead - an

eerily similar death toll to London - and the difference in the

world's reaction was tangible. The Iraq attacks did not make it to the

front-pages of newspapers across the globe, governments around the

world did not universally condemn the attacks and the victims received

few words of consolation.

 

Since last week, dozens more people have been killed in Iraq.

Yesterday a massive car bombing in Baghdad killed 27 people - almost

all of them children. An American soldier was also killed in the

blast. Elsewhere in the capital, another dozen Sunni Muslims were

found dead after being arrested by Iraqi police over the weekend.

 

Meanwhile a new study from an Iraqi humanitarian organization is

estimating that 128,000 Iraqis have been killed since the U.S. invaded

in March 2003 - over half of them women and children. And Iraq's

Interior Ministry told The New York Times today that over 8,000

civilians have been killed in insurgent attacks between August and May.

 

* Dahr Jamail, an independent journalist who spent many months in

Iraq. He just returned from the World Tribunal on Iraq in Turkey. He

also attended the Alternative G8 meeting in Scotland.

o Read Dahr Jamil's report: Iraqi Hospitals Ailing Under

Occupation

o Website: DahrJamailIraq.com

 

RUSH TRANSCRIPT

 

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AMY GOODMAN: We're joined right now by independent journalist, Dahr

Jamail, who spent many months in Iraq. He has just returned from the

World Tribunal on Iraq in Turkey. He also attended the Alternative G8

meeting in Scotland. We welcome you to Democracy Now!

 

DAHR JAMAIL: Thanks, Amy.

 

AMY GOODMAN: First, your response to the London bombings.

 

DAHR JAMAIL: Well, just like anyone else, it's a horrific situation,

where anytime civilians, innocent civilians, are killed as a result of

the actions of their government abroad, which is exactly what this is,

it's a smaller scale 9/11 for Great Britain, where their government

policy in Iraq specifically is most likely the cause of this blowback

that occurs on their home soil where civilians are going to be killed,

but just like anyone else, I condemn it. It's a horrific situation and

awful to see this sort of a thing where innocent civilians are paying

the price for their government's actions.

 

AMY GOODMAN: So, this comparison, the day after the attacks, looking

at the tally, almost the same for the number of people counted that

day killed in London and in Iraq, and yet the difference in the coverage?

 

DAHR JAMAIL: It's astounding, but not surprising. At least the media

is being consistent in their constant efforts to really not give the

proper coverage to Iraq that it deserves. The situation in London,

four bombings, four bombs, and so many civilians killed. That's become

almost an average day in Iraq. And yet, we look at the disparity of

the coverage, which this incident is really telling in the disparity

that's ongoing with this, where so many civilians, every single day in

Iraq, are being killed, the infrastructure in shambles, the country on

fire. And where is the coverage? It's becoming more and more difficult

as time goes on to even find it.

 

AMY GOODMAN: Dahr Jamail, you did a report, " Iraqi Hospitals Ailing

Under Occupation. " You presented it at the World Tribunal on Iraq in

Istanbul. Talk about your findings.

 

DAHR JAMAIL: Well, in this report, I surveyed 13 different hospitals

in Iraq, mostly in Baghdad, but some to the north and some to the

south. And I presented this as evidence that at the World Tribunal.

And it was the brunt of my testimony where, in summation, the report

really showed that hospitals now, a little over two years into the

occupation, are suffering far worse than they were even under the

sanctions against Iraq. The most common quote that I heard from

doctors when I was working on this report is that `Our situation now

is worse than it was even during the sanctions.' In sum, disastrous

levels of medicine shortages, equipment shortages, supply shortages,

and almost no reconstruction happening, and also another one of the

major findings was what appears to be now a standard operating

procedure in the military of a deliberate targeting of hospitals,

ambulances, and medical workers.

 

AMY GOODMAN: You have a section of your report on U.S. military

interfering with medical care.

 

DAHR JAMAIL: Right, and what I use as one of the major examples of

that is the U.S. military operations, both sieges of Fallujah, that

is, where -- particularly the November siege, the first thing that the

U.S. military did was go into Fallujah General Hospital and occupy it,

place snipers on the roof and detain doctors, prevent them from

carrying out their medical care, as well as the deliberate targeting

of ambulances. And since that siege, in ongoing operations like in Al

Qaim and in Hadithah, we have seen a almost exact repeat of that,

where hospitals are sealed off, medical workers are prevented from

working or being targeted themselves, and this has become clear that

not only in Al Qaim and Hadithah, but it's ongoing right now in

Buhrez, which is right near Baquba; as we speak, this is ongoing, and

any time there is a major operation now by the U.S. military in Iraq,

this is the type of tactic that they're using.

 

AMY GOODMAN: You spent a long time in Iraq. Did you talk to anyone in

the U.S. military about this?

 

DAHR JAMAIL: Well, phone calls to request information from them about

what's been happening regarding the hospitals usually -- excuse me,

usually result in the typical runaround of, `Well, you need to contact

this commander; we don't have information on this,' or flat out

denials like, `No, the U.S. military engages in no such policy.' So

it's been very difficult to get any accurate information or certainly

admittance from them that this is happening. Most of my information on

this is gleaned from medical workers themselves who have been

targeted, detained and threatened by the U.S. military.

 

AMY GOODMAN: Key to medical care, among other issues, is water. Water,

electricity, what is the situation in Iraq?

 

DAHR JAMAIL: Well, again, the fact that the infrastructure,

particularly the water and electricity, has had disastrous effects on

hospitals. Just to give you an idea of how this plays out, when we

have on average of three hours of electricity per day in Baghdad, most

of the hospitals are relying almost solely on generators, and there

was one incident that I cited in the report, where in one of the

larger hospitals in Baghdad, their generator broke down during the

middle of day, and an operation was in progress so, of course, with a

patient on the table, they were unable to run the instruments that

they needed, and they lost the patient simply because of an

electricity failure. And then, of course, with the water situation,

almost as disastrous effects, as well, where without potable water,

sterilization becomes next to impossible. So, we have rampant

infections and inability for doctors to clean their instruments.

 

AMY GOODMAN: You know, Dahr Jamail, there's been this discussion in

this country, should U.S. troops withdraw? And what will happen in

Iraq if they were to stay there; what else can the U.S. do? How often

do you see issues raised of provide money for health care for the

infrastructure, compared to how much money is now being spent on the

military?

 

DAHR JAMAIL: Well, exactly. It's a grossly overlooked topic. The

Ministry of Health was due to receive $1 billion of the reconstruction

funds, and where has that money gone? Of course, corruption is

rampant. But a larger question for the United States government is

what has happened to the companies that were awarded the contracts for

the rebuilding, such as A.B.T. and other companies, handed out the

contracts from U.S.A.I.D. There's almost no oversight going on. Where

is the reconstruction that they have said they have completed? The

hospitals have received basically paint jobs and sometimes new

furniture, but as far as equipment and supplies that they have needed

and medicines, it's just not there.

 

AMY GOODMAN: Well, what about the subcontracts for all of this? You

talked to the Deputy Minister of Health, Dr. Amer Al Khuzaie?

 

DAHR JAMAIL: Right, and that's exactly what he said was that he had --

at the time that I interviewed him, had put in constant requests to

the Coalition Provisional Authority for monies, millions of dollars,

hundreds of millions of dollars that they were asking for in order to

get new supplies and give hospitals the equipment that they needed to

get the work done, and he said that they had received next --

basically only promises at that point, and since then, it appears as

though that really no other assistance has come through, and any that

has has been dissolved into the corrupt situation with looting still

going on, and many people inside the Ministry of Health itself being

responsible for this not happening. But really, primarily, we see tens

of millions of dollars being funneled into these western companies,

and I think the big question at the end of the day is why are they not

doing the work; if they can't do the work, why are they not giving

these contracts to Iraqi companies?

 

AMY GOODMAN: Are there Iraqi companies, subcontractors, who could

handle this?

 

DAHR JAMAIL: Without a doubt. This is another situation where, for

example, after the 1991 Gulf War, where the infrastructure suffered so

much damage, Iraq is more than capable itself of providing the people,

as well as the knowledge and experience necessary to get the job done,

and they're simply not being allowed to. Of all of the contracts

handed out in Iraq since the invasion, roughly 2% of the value of all

of the money available for reconstruction have gone to Iraqi concerns,

so it's the same in the medical situation.

 

AMY GOODMAN: We're talking to independent journalist, Dahr Jamail.

We'll go to break. When we come back, I just want to ask you quickly

about the brain drain in Iraq and also about Zarqawi.

 

[break]

 

AMY GOODMAN: We continue our conversation with independent journalist,

Dahr Jamail. He has done a report, spent many months in Iraq, called

" Iraqi Hospitals Ailing Under Occupation. " We know about the Geneva

Conventions, supposed to protect prisoners, prisoners of war. You

include sections of the Geneva Conventions relevant to health care and

health rights. Can you talk about those?

 

DAHR JAMAIL: Well, in summation, essentially, the Geneva Conventions

that have been broken cover things regarding to the health sector like

it's the primary responsibility of the occupying powers to insure the

safety of civilians, and these are broken repeatedly by -- not just

with civilians, but medical workers, as well. Again, not just not

protecting them, but deliberately targeting medical workers, impeding

them from doing their work. For example, at the lead of the report, I

have a photograph of -- which was shown actually in media all around

the globe at the beginning of the siege of Fallujah of doctors

literally inside a hospital being detained, being handcuffed, being

prevented from doing their work. And this is a nice photograph of a

violation of international law. So, this is one, as well as not

assisting them in any way, shape or form when it's obvious that the

medical system needs the help.

 

AMY GOODMAN: Zarqawi. You have written about Zarqawi. You were in

Jordan asking people about him. A top aide apparently, the U.S.

reports, has been captured in Iraq.

 

DAHR JAMAIL: Well, when I was in Amman, I went to Al Zarqa, which is

the city where Zarqawi is from. It's close to Amman. And I interviewed

people there, and I went and saw where his brother lives and

brother-in-law lives and a couple of the different mosques where he

used to pray. And really, the -- it's a difficult story to follow.

What I found was that he definitely has existed as an individual, but

there remains no definitive proof whatsoever that he's still alive,

and certainly none that has been made available by the U.S. military

that this man is operating in Iraq. He remains a large nebulous myth,

much like bin Laden.

 

AMY GOODMAN: Finally, the brain drain in Iraq?

 

DAHR JAMAIL: Again, this is a direct result of the bloody occupation,

and we have so many Iraqi doctors who have been leaving the country

because of the security situation and primarily because they have been

targeted for kidnappings in order for the criminal gangs to extort

ransom from their families. So there's massive brain drain. This is

another huge difficulty facing the hospitals in Iraq where there's

just simply not enough doctors.

 

AMY GOODMAN: Dahr Jamail, I want to thank you for joining us today.

His report is, " Iraqi Hospitals Ailing Under Occupation. " If people

want to get a copy of it, where can they go online?

 

DAHR JAMAIL: They can go to my website and download a copy there.

 

AMY GOODMAN: And that is?

 

DAHR JAMAIL: It's DahrJamailIraq.com.

 

AMY GOODMAN: And if you have trouble remembering that, just go to our

website at DemocracyNow.org.