Kiraz Janicke
Sydney-based human rights activist Donna Mulhearn has made three separate visits to Iraq in the last 18 months. She first visited Iraq during the US invasion in March 2003, serving as a "human shield".
Mulhearn was in Fallujah during the US siege of the city in April 2004, which she told Green Left Weekly was a "massacre".
Mulhearn said she witnessed "the deliberate targeting of civilians by US snipers. I saw dozens of bodies of women and children that had been shot and killed by US forces. I also witnessed US forces refusing the delivery of medical aid and food to people who were wounded and starving.
"The US forces closed Fallujah city hospital so that it was only used to treat American soldiers. As a result, hundreds died due to lack of medical facilities. There were so many deaths that the people had to dig up the local football ground and convert it to a cemetery.
"The second siege on Fallujah [last November] was much worse. It flattened the entire city and it has never recovered."
Since then, Mulhearn argued, "Iraqis have become more disillusioned with the occupying forces as each day goes by. Living conditions for Iraqis have gone from bad to worse since the invasion, and basic services such as power and water are still far from adequate.
"Just surviving each day is a struggle which leaves people exhausted, depressed and angry. This lack of services combined with the chaos and violence of the occupation have meant most Iraqis now long for the old days, where at least they could live in dignity and safety.
"They are desperate for the occupation to end."
Contrary to claims in the corporate media that Iraq would descend into chaos if the occupying forces pulled out, Mulhearn argued that "Iraq is already in chaos, due to the occupation. There is no law and order to speak of and ordinary people are suffering greatly as a result. Iraqis can see that every act of violence that takes place in the country is a result of the presence of foreign occupying forces.
"I believe that for the chaos and violence to subside, the first step must be to withdraw troops and end the occupation. Then the incidences of violence would halve overnight and then gradually reduce over time."
Mulhearn's story, featuring never-before-seen video footage from her visits to Iraq, will screen nationally on ABC TV's Australian Story program, at 8pm on Monday July 4. It will be repeated on Saturday, July 9 at 12.30pm.
From Green Left Weekly, June 29, 2005.
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