Hi all; Fox news reports further on Iraq fiasco:
Two Soldiers Killed in Separate Attacks in Iraq
Foxnews, August 27, 2003
Two more U.S. soldiers were killed in combat Wednesday, and the relief agency Oxfam (search) became the fourth major international organization to pull some or all of its foreign staff out of Iraq because of the increasing danger.
A day after the Aug. 19 suicide truck bombing of the U.N. headquarters, which killed at least 23 people, the World Bank (search) and International Monetary Fund (search) said they were temporarily withdraw some foreign staff. Many U.N. foreign workers also have left the country for now.
There are dozens of nongovernment aid and support groups working in Iraq (search), and a senior official at one group said most of the agencies were studying whether to reduce of foreign staff, or already had.
"Most of them are reducing their staff as much as possible," Hanno Schaefer, spokesman for Caritas, the Catholic Church relief agency.
Oxfam began withdrawing its 15 international staff members on Monday and completed the move within 48 hours, Simon Springett, Oxfam's program manager for Iraq, told the Associated Press from Amman, Jordan. The Oxford, England-based aid group had been working on water and sanitation projects with UNICEF in Iraq.
"The risk level was becoming unacceptable for us, making it impossible for our programs to operate," Springett said.
He said the bombing at the U.N. headquarters was only one of many factors that lead Oxfam to withdraw its staff.
"We felt international organizations were becoming increasingly targeted," he said. Fifty Iraqi nationals working for Oxfam were to remain in the country.
"I think there's been a blurring of humanitarian and military operations in Iraq," Springett said. "It's setting a very dangerous precedent."
...
The deaths brought to 281 the number of soldiers killed since the war began on March 20. Since President Bush declared major combat over on May 1, 143 U.S. soldiers have died -- five more than during the fighting.
...
foxnews.com
-- Carl
P.S. To improve conditions enough in Iraq to get the Iraqi people to welcome our assistance, we now have to do it with less foreign help. But still the Administration continues with the same plan, the same losers, and the same results as before. |
