Belgian doctor's testimony
Six weeks in U.S.-ruled Baghdad
Geert Van Moorter, a doctor in the Belgian organization
Medicine for the Third World who was in Baghdad during the U.S.
bombing in April, returned to Baghdad from the beginning of
July to mid-August to find witnesses for war-crimes charges
against U.S. Gen. Tommy Franks. He was interviewed in the
Belgian weekly newspaper, Solidaire, on Aug. 20.
By Pol De Vos
Geert Van Moorter: At first one had the
impression that everything is going more or less OK. Life goes
on, numerous stores are stocked with goods. Only the U.S. jeeps
disturb the peace. But as soon as night falls, all this
illusion disappears. Before the war, the city woke up at
nightfall. Until 1 or 2 a.m., groups of people would be talking
and joking around in the streets.
Now, at night, Baghdad is a dead city. Besides, the U.S.
command decreed a curfew that begins at 11 p.m., so no one can
go out.
I quickly noticed that the population was still suffering
terribly from the consequences of the war. The Iraqis can't
understand how it could be that four months after the official
end of the conflict there are still only a few hours of
electricity available each day.
There are still enormous problems with drinking water. The
gas supply is still gravely disrupted. Many people told me that
after the devastating first Gulf War, in 1991, when most of the
country remained in the control of the Iraqi government, all
these problems were resolved in less than two months. Now, the
entire administrative structure of the country is
topsy-turvy.
Most public services and ministries are still closed down.
The state enterprises are shut. There are hundreds of thousands
of Iraqis who lost their jobs and are more or less running in
place. How do they stay alive? I have no idea. They cannot
still have savings, after two wars and 12 years of
sanctions.
By good luck, the "oil for food" program functions more or
less. About 80 percent of the distribution structure put in
place by the prior regime seems to still exist. Considering
what it is, naturally, it is a pitiful consolation.
De Vos: But they have still installed a
"provisional government," no? Hasn't that succeeded in
resolving the problems?
Van Moorter: Everyone I've spoken to has
expressed only contempt for this council of 25 who today claim
to lead the country. "In the past we had ONE Saddam, today we
have 25," joked someone. "The majority are profiteers who have
been abroad for years. They entered Baghdad with the American
tanks." It is the U.S. forces who pull the strings. The
so-called "ministers" have in reality nothing to say.
De Vos: Have the people succeeded in
forgetting the war? Can they put aside the anxiety and tension
of those days?
Van Moorter: Too many people are still
confronted daily with the consequences of the bombings. For
example, I was able to see Mohammed Ali Sarhan again. During
the war, he had lost both his legs. On April 7, he was
accompanying in an ambulance his wife, who was in the final
stage of pregnancy, and another woman on the verge of giving
birth. Then they became the target of a U.S. tank.
Mohammed was blown out of the ambulance, the two women and
the babies about to be born were burned to death. When
witnesses at the event wanted to come to Mohammed's aid, they
were shot down.
Later, I was able to round up other witnesses, the father
and the sister of the other pregnant woman. They were also in
the ambulance. The sister is still recovering from her grave
burns and has a serious fracture. They confirmed the story:
U.S. troops had fired on the ambulance without reason.
De Vos: How do the people experience the
presence of the U.S. military?
Van Moorter: An interpreter told me: "I feel
like a foreigner in my own country. Each time that I see the
Americans, I'm overcome with anger."
She told me how earlier she had led a varied social life.
But today she doesn't go out in the evening. She doesn't even
dare travel by auto. The U.S. soldiers are arrogant. Those
Iraqis who had a neutral or a somewhat positive attitude toward
the U.S. because they got rid of Saddam Hussein know today that
the U.S. Army did not come to help them.
At the international airport in Baghdad, thousands of people
are being held. Everyone "suspect" is arrested and often even
beaten without explanation. I went to see a young lad--10 years
old--who was shot down at a control post. His shoulder was
completely smashed up and he will be disabled for life. But
this boy has nowhere to go.
The U.S. Military Police, who are assigned to punish crimes
committed by the troops, won't raise their little finger to
stop these abuses of power and the assaults committed by the
U.S. military. When I asked one of them how they would react if
they received complaints from the Iraqis, his reaction was:
"It's war, man!"
De Vos: What do the U.S. soldiers think now
about their presence in Iraq?
Van Moorter: A soldier told me that they could not eat any
of the local food or drink any local drinks. Only their own
rations. It is obviously untenable.
I had one friendly conversation with a soldier in a jeep. He
was wearing a heavy helmet and a thick flak jacket. It was more
than 104 degrees F. I was there in a T-shirt. I signaled him
that I was very hot and asked if he wasn't suffocating under
his outfit. His answer: "And it's not only that. I feel like
I'm a prisoner. We can't leave our Jeep, we're not safe
anywhere."
De Vos: What have you noticed of the
resistance?
Van Moorter: Naturally, there are many protest
actions and demonstrations. Those are organized for many
different reasons. The unemployed, the families of people who
have been arrested without reason, the inhabitants who demand
water and electricity, the soldiers that have not been paid for
months.
Then there is the armed resistance. I heard explosions
regularly, often during the day. In the beginning of July, I
was at the Hotel Palestine when, from the other side of the
Tigris, in the presidential neighborhood, a bomb went off. I
heard the rumble, saw the clouds of smoke rising.
Quite soon, helicopters were coming and going, as well as
trucks. I was also able to see a U.S. Army truck burned up.
About three hours after the attack, I was there. You have to be
fast to see anything, because as quickly as possible the U.S.
forces get rid of all traces of the attacks.
It's a secret for no one that the official number of U.S.
victims is always understated. In just the first two weeks in
Iraq, at the first half of July, I learned from witnesses that
16 U.S. troops had been killed.
De Vos: Could one say that the resistance is
intensifying?
Van Moorter: I had the impression that it is
getting better and better organized. The actions have grown in
size, which require more preparation. I was told of military
training organized by officers and generals of the former
army.
In certain regions, money is openly collected to support the
resistance. I have seen many printed fliers opposing the U.S.
occupation. The political opposition grows stronger and
demonstrates with sharper demands. At the end of July, the
colonial authority closed down three newspapers because they
criticized the U.S. forces and because they wrote of the
success of the resistance.
De Vos: You are one of the initiators of the
charges against Gen. [Tommy] Franks. What is your point of view
regarding this after your visit to occupied Iraq?
Van Moorter: One of the goals of my visit was
precisely to collect supplementary information regarding war
crimes. I succeeded. In addition, I even gathered another
series of new charges and, indeed, all concerning serious war
crimes.
The case in Belgium against Gen. Franks aims at obtaining an
independent investigation of these crimes. But it is exactly at
this time that the Belgian government has chosen to eliminate
the law of universal competence. That is something that the
Iraqis are unable to understand.
Reprinted from the Sept. 4, 2003, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
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