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And who does it hurt? Iraqi people.
Red Cross May Cut Back After Iraqi Blasts
By ALEXANDER G. HIGGINS
Oct 27, 2003 11:40 AM EST
The international Red Cross said Monday it is considering cutting back its operations in Iraq after a bomb attack on its Baghdad headquarters that shook the neutral Swiss-run organization.
The attack killed two Iraqi employees of the International Committee of the Red Cross and as many as 10 other people outside the agency's compound, said agency spokesman Florian Westphal.
"Such an attack is a major blow for us," Westphal told The Associated Press. "It's a big shock. It is obviously impossible to move onto a normal day's business, so we really have to step back and take stock."
United Nations aid agencies also reacted with shock, but said it was unlikely their operations would be affected: They already had cut back to skeleton staffs because of the Aug. 19 truck bombing of U.N. headquarters in Baghdad.
Several ICRC employees were slightly injured inside the compound, Westphal said.
He said ICRC officials in Baghdad and at the Geneva headquarters were reviewing operations.
"It's too early for us at the moment to say how this attack will impact on our activities," Westphal said. "We will have a fairly clear idea within the next few days how we want to proceed."
He said much of the ICRC operation focuses on the agency's visits to prisoners held by coalition forces and the Iraqi police - a main part of the agency's mandate under the Geneva Conventions on warfare and occupation.
It also offers emergency medical aid in conjunction with the Iraqi Red Crescent, provides water and sanitation and educates Iraqis on how to avoid land mines and other explosives left over from warfare.
Westphal said that weeks ago the agency had received "unspecified warnings that we may at one stage or another be the targets of an attack," but added that the ICRC didn't know who would want to target the organization.
The warnings had been "relayed" to the ICRC, Westphal said.
"They were not in any way specific and it was really impossible to read too much into that except obviously that the situation is extremely difficult and dangerous," he added.
Last August the ICRC disclosed that it had received warnings of a threat and said it had been cutting back on its staff since a Sri Lankan staffer was killed July 22 south of Baghdad.
U.N. agencies, which scaled back their operations following the August attack, saw Monday's bombing as another assault on the very people trying to help Iraqis.
"Everybody is quite shaken about another attack on a humanitarian agency and a close partner," said Ron Redmond, spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva.
Most of the foreign staff have remained outside Iraq since the August attack, whose 23 victims included the top U.N. envoy to Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello.
But spokeswoman Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said, "We are seriously concerned about the consequences, not only in terms of loss of life but also in terms of reducing further the international presence in the country."
Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Program said her agency would be able to continue its distribution of food in Iraq because it is mostly handled by a network of 44,000 Iraqi agents.
The ICRC was the main international relief organization to maintain operations in Baghdad and Basra during the U.S.-led invasion earlier this year, keeping six international staffers and several dozen Iraqis to provide help to hospitals.
"We have been in Iraq since 1980," said Westphal.
The ICRC, which provided relief during the Iran-Iraq war and the Gulf War, currently has 30-40 international staff and several hundred Iraqis working for it throughout the country, Westphal said.
"This attack yet again primarily hurts Iraqis, which is the particular tragedy, be it our staff or others who happened to be in this area," Westphal said.
Red Cross May Cut Back After Iraqi Blasts
By ALEXANDER G. HIGGINS
Oct 27, 2003 11:40 AM EST
The international Red Cross said Monday it is considering cutting back its operations in Iraq after a bomb attack on its Baghdad headquarters that shook the neutral Swiss-run organization.
The attack killed two Iraqi employees of the International Committee of the Red Cross and as many as 10 other people outside the agency's compound, said agency spokesman Florian Westphal.
"Such an attack is a major blow for us," Westphal told The Associated Press. "It's a big shock. It is obviously impossible to move onto a normal day's business, so we really have to step back and take stock."
United Nations aid agencies also reacted with shock, but said it was unlikely their operations would be affected: They already had cut back to skeleton staffs because of the Aug. 19 truck bombing of U.N. headquarters in Baghdad.
Several ICRC employees were slightly injured inside the compound, Westphal said.
He said ICRC officials in Baghdad and at the Geneva headquarters were reviewing operations.
"It's too early for us at the moment to say how this attack will impact on our activities," Westphal said. "We will have a fairly clear idea within the next few days how we want to proceed."
He said much of the ICRC operation focuses on the agency's visits to prisoners held by coalition forces and the Iraqi police - a main part of the agency's mandate under the Geneva Conventions on warfare and occupation.
It also offers emergency medical aid in conjunction with the Iraqi Red Crescent, provides water and sanitation and educates Iraqis on how to avoid land mines and other explosives left over from warfare.
Westphal said that weeks ago the agency had received "unspecified warnings that we may at one stage or another be the targets of an attack," but added that the ICRC didn't know who would want to target the organization.
The warnings had been "relayed" to the ICRC, Westphal said.
"They were not in any way specific and it was really impossible to read too much into that except obviously that the situation is extremely difficult and dangerous," he added.
Last August the ICRC disclosed that it had received warnings of a threat and said it had been cutting back on its staff since a Sri Lankan staffer was killed July 22 south of Baghdad.
U.N. agencies, which scaled back their operations following the August attack, saw Monday's bombing as another assault on the very people trying to help Iraqis.
"Everybody is quite shaken about another attack on a humanitarian agency and a close partner," said Ron Redmond, spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva.
Most of the foreign staff have remained outside Iraq since the August attack, whose 23 victims included the top U.N. envoy to Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello.
But spokeswoman Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said, "We are seriously concerned about the consequences, not only in terms of loss of life but also in terms of reducing further the international presence in the country."
Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Program said her agency would be able to continue its distribution of food in Iraq because it is mostly handled by a network of 44,000 Iraqi agents.
The ICRC was the main international relief organization to maintain operations in Baghdad and Basra during the U.S.-led invasion earlier this year, keeping six international staffers and several dozen Iraqis to provide help to hospitals.
"We have been in Iraq since 1980," said Westphal.
The ICRC, which provided relief during the Iran-Iraq war and the Gulf War, currently has 30-40 international staff and several hundred Iraqis working for it throughout the country, Westphal said.
"This attack yet again primarily hurts Iraqis, which is the particular tragedy, be it our staff or others who happened to be in this area," Westphal said.
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