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Email this citationCIAO DATE: 08/04
War in Iraq: Managing Humanitarian Relief
March 27, 2003
Abstract
The impassioned controversy that surrounded the decision to invade Iraq had the unfortunate consequence of impeding coordination of humanitarian relief operations. Now that the war has begun, it is important to deal with the urgent task of meeting the needs of the Iraqi people. That will require steps by those who were opposed to the war, in particular European governments and NGOs, to agree to work in close coordination with the United States and put their plans and their funding on the table. And it will require steps by the United States to eschew a dominant role in the post-conflict humanitarian effort and hand coordination over to the United Nations.
The scale of the humanitarian consequences of the war in Iraq is still unclear. But regardless of the war's intensity or duration, there are bound to be new tragedies - to add to the devastation of Iraq's economy and social fabric already caused by two earlier wars, twelve years of sanctions and an authoritarian government far more intent on its survival than on the well-being of its people.
