CPTnet
May 2, 2003
IRAQ UPDATE: May 1, 2003 9:30 pm/1:30 EDT
Stewart Vriesinga, Sis and Jerry Levin attended the
daily US Army / NGO
meeting and asked about the unexploded ordnance report
that they had presented yesterday. Major Colin Mason
said that the residential site they documented is not
a priority, and would not be put on the Unexploded
Ordnance Units' priority list. Jerry asked about the
Apr 26 explosion at the Zafaranya munitions dump which
killed up to forty civilians. The Major insisted that
US troops had observed young Iraqis firing flares into
the dump which then triggered the explosion. Iraqis
say it was US ordnance experts who set it off
inadvertently.
Vriesinga asked several detailed questions about plans
for food distribution, medical supplies, political
structures, and relief contracts to foreigners. The
Major said he would provide answers by May 8. Sis
talked to USAID workers at the meeting about plans for
restructuring the Iraqi school curriculum through a US
contractor and USAID agreed that it should be done by
Iraqis not foreigners. The US Army Corps of Engineers
appears to be ready to start work repairing the sewage
treatment plants.
More shops are opening every day. Some art galleries
have opened too.
Lisa went to Al-Kadhumya Hospital to visit a
four-year-old boy, Ali, whom the team had heard about
yesterday. He was injured by a bright yellow cluster
bomblet on Apr. 10 and is now blind and may have brain
damage. His hospital room was full of angry relatives,
asking why all these journalists come to look and take
photos, but they do not do anything to help Ali. The
treating doctor said that another patient had brought
a bomblet home which then went off and killed two
relatives and injured others. The doctor asked why
clearing up these munitions is not a priority for US
troops but guarding the Oil Ministry is a priority.
The hospital system is in massive disorder with few
supplies or medical records. The CPT Iraq team says
that the destruction of the medical system is
threatening more lives than the bombing did.
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