Iraq after the War - People without Hope

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War Crimes

Austrian doctor Eva-Maria Hobiger writes about her visit to Iraq after the end of the war there. The conditions of the Iraqui society and of the people living there are described in detail.

“They didn’t come to liberate us, they are not interested in us and they don’t understand us. They are only interested in our oil. Why did they carefully protect the oil ministry and all documentation about the oil production? Why didn’t they protect our hospitals, our art treasures? Why didn’t they protect the administrative buildings? Now no one can produce proof for his property, the land registers are burned, no one can get a passport. All documents about our people have been destroyed. Does one still need more proof for what the Americans are really interested in?”

International law has been repealed since March 20, 2003. The war was contrary to international law and so is the behavior of the occupying powers. According to the Geneva Convention, the occupiers are responsible for the maintenance of order, for law and justice, for the protection of the individual and the community. Where is that responsibility? The stereotypical answer, “That is not our job” simply does not hold true. It is their job! The news about Iraq has become sparse - there are no more spectacular pictures because anarchy has become commonplace. The procession of journalists has decamped from Baghdad. Left is the misery that accompanies every war. This misery is not spectacular news and hardly interests anyone.

People without Hope
Dr. Eva-Maria Hobiger
May 15, 2003

“They didn’t come to liberate us, they are not interested in us and they don’t understand us. They are only interested in our oil. Why did they carefully protect the oil ministry and all documentation about the oil production? Why didn’t they protect our hospitals, our art treasures? Why didn’t they protect the administrative buildings? Now no one can produce proof for his property, the land registers are burned, no one can get a passport. All documents about our people have been destroyed. Does one still need more proof for what the Americans are really interested in?”

Iraq April 27 to May 11, 2003

On March 20th, 2003 at 5:30 a.m. the hopes of all those who had been committed to find a peaceful resolution to the problem of Iraq, died. The British-American coalition forces began the bombardment of Baghdad. This was a war of aggression without a mandate from the United Nations - a war in contradiction to all international treaties, contrary to the UN Charter, contrary to the wishes of millions of people on this earth. The population of Iraq experienced their third war in 23 years. Only a few hours before the attacks began, I received a message by e-mail from a friend in Iraq: “We have only one wish, for peace - the people here are waiting for a miracle.” That wish remained unfulfilled.

Five weeks later, on April 27, 2003, I embarked on another trip to Iraq. To be sure, the war had not officially been declared terminated, but the American and British armies had occupied the country - or “liberated” it, in their terminology. To the surprise of most people, Baghdad was occupied without notable resistance; the Iraqi regime has disappeared from sight. Disappeared or destroyed were the innumerable statues and pictures of the dictator.

Peace should follow war, but that is not the case in Baghdad or in other Iraqi towns. Anarchy rules in Iraq. According to the unanimous opinion of the city dwellers, it is more dangerous to be in Baghdad now than during the bombardments. The bombings were 90% predictable; the present situation is totally unpredictable.

From Amman to Baghdad

After hours of driving from Amman, one arrives at the Jordanian-Iraqi border. There are two large refugee camps a few miles from the border - they stand empty. The Jordanian customs officials have stopped work for the night and long lines of cars build up until the morning when, at 8 “clock, the officials return to work. Everyone wants to get through the border as quickly as possible - everyone wants to cover the road to Baghdad during daylight. The road is considered extremely dangerous during the day and during the night it is a deadly trap. There have been innumerable hold-ups during the past weeks. Cars carry items for sale and are targets for bandits. Satellite dishes are a favorite import article now and some cars are loaded with ten of them. Other cars are filled to the roof with Cola cans; the illegal - duty free - import thrives. Drivers of these ‘import vehicles’ stand near their cars at the roadside in Baghdad and sell the smuggled merchandise.

Driving through no-man’s land: hundreds of little tents stand here, erected by UNHCR. We are told there are more than one thousand refugees here between Iraq and Jordan. They no longer want to, nor can they, go to Iraq and Jordan does not want them. Their tiny tents are exposed to the burning sun. The International Red Cross cares for them. On the Iraqi side American soldiers await us - there is no Iraqi in sight. This is a peculiar scene - Americans on the Iraqi border. Somehow, they do not belong here. The inhabitants of a country are the ones who should guard the frontiers and receive the foreigners. Two miles later there is another sign of the new “freedom” - the shortage of gasoline. In this land of immeasurable oil reserves, this shortage gives work to the unemployed. They operate “mobile gas pumps”, a can and a hose. The mobile gas pump is set up and the seller waves to potential customers with the hose.

We see American tanks next to the road, long columns of military vehicles on the road, a soldier makes the victory sign in our direction. Again and again we see car wrecks, deep impact craters in the road - unthinkable to be driving here during the night. A burned-out bus sits by the side of the road. Several people died here when the bus was targeted. Next to a gas station, bombs destroyed a house that contained a telephone booth. The driver of the bus, who had just called his family, was killed. One hundred ten miles from Baghdad we find a gas station that has gas and we get into a conversation with the people there. The houses here were destroyed because American soldiers thought that they were weapons depots. The tenant of the gas station gets his gasoline from his old distributor as before; once the supply there is exhausted, he won’t have an income. Another man about 30 years old, who once studied political science, works here at the gas pump. He draws a bitter conclusion. “Saddam Hussein has damaged us severely, he has made us the laughing stock of the world. Now come the Americans - they loot us and allow us to be looted. From now on the world will think that only thieves live in Iraq.” Does he have hopes for a better future? “No, but the Americans should leave the country and give back to the Iraqis their human dignity. The Iraqis will be able to rebuild their country by themselves, if they will be allowed to - but they won’t be allowed.”

Twenty miles from Baghdad, near Abu Ghraib, there are traces of the heaviest fighting. All lanes of the motorway have been destroyed. Dozens of burned out civilian vehicles, destroyed Iraqi tanks, and fallen trees litter the road. No one knows how many people lost their lives here.

The view of Baghdad is frightening. The international fair grounds lie in ashes and ruins (why, really?), the ministerial buildings are either bombed out or blackened with soot, the communications installations consist only of a tangle of poles and wires. The large hotels are partially burned out. These buildings characterized Baghdad’s skyline along the Tigris, now the traces of death characterize this city. On every street corner there are black flags. On these flags in white and yellow writing are the names of the dead of this war.

A sandstorm raged for three days during the war - there are traces of the storm everywhere. Everything is covered with a pale, yellowish coating, giving the city an even more hopeless appearance. Garbage piles up in the streets; the garbage removal is not functioning. A dead horse lies on Abu Nawas Street for days and spreads an awful stench. The usually lively and people-filled Rashid Street is deserted. No car, no open store, not a person anywhere. It is hard to believe that this is the same city that I left six weeks ago. A wide area around the Hotel Palestine is sealed off. Barbed wire prevents entry. Soldiers on their tanks guard one of the American headquarters, which is housed in the hotel. The soldiers are very young, with children’s faces and that is how they behave. Even to get into the little Hotel Al Fanar, which is nearby, one needs a press card. The edges of the sidewalks are crushed by the weight of the tanks that rolled over them. On the column on which the statue of the dictator once stood there is an unambiguous message: “All done, go home!”

The new freedom is called anarchy.

A long time ago Baghdad adopted the name ‘City of Peace’ - today it is a city of anarchy. A physician said to me, “the law of the jungle prevails.” This is a city where 1200 criminals are on the loose. These men were freed in the Fall, 2002, in a general amnesty by Saddam Hussein. They can now pursue their trade without impediment. There are no police, there is no law enforcement and the opinion of the occupiers is stereotypically, “That®s not our job”

At Baghdad’s four huge markets it is possible to buy any conceivable weapon from a Kalashnikov ($12) to a hand grenade - even bombs are available. These weapons come from looted weapons depots. Games with the new “loot” begin by 6 p.m. at the latest and usually last until 2 o’clock in the morning. In addition to the shots set off for fun, the sound of bitter fighting fills the air every night. Serious battles rage in some parts of the city every evening. Again and again explosions rattle the city. Once, a gasoline pump was hit and several people died. Robberies in the streets during the day are everyday occurrences. A member of the peace movement, the “Iraqi Peace Team,” was overpowered by 10 men and robbed at noon. Daily, neighbors and drivers tell us stories about what happened the night before. During this occupation, out in the open one early evening, behind the house where I lived, there was an execution. The members of the German relief organization, Cap Anamur, observed an execution by three people in the street, within sight of the American soldiers. A woman was found dead one morning in a side street, killed by a shot in her mouth. A man was shot dead in front of the pharmacy. Carjackings are especially frequent. The car is stopped, the passengers are t