Richard WarnickHelp Iraqis Help Themselves
This week the Iraqi Red Crescent debuts its English-language website. Please consider sending them a donation. Our government is spending over $10 billion a month on the Iraq fiasco, but almost none of that mind-boggling amount is going to help the innocent people (most are children) who are suffering the brutal consequences of the American occupation and the accompanying insurgency and civil war.
“It’s tragic, absolutely tragic.†— Iraqi Red Crescent President Dr. Said Hakki
More than four million Iraqis have fled their homes due to the conflict. More than two million of the displaced — most of them children — remain in Iraq, with many of them desperate for help. Now you can help by contributing to the only humanitarian organization working across all 18 provinces of Iraq, the Iraqi Red Crescent Organization.
The Iraqi Red Crescent has been helping Iraqis in need since 1932. Today the need has never been greater. The effects of war and the deteriorating security situation have caused a number of severe and unprecedented emergencies inside and in neighboring countries. To assist Iraqis in need, the Iraqi Red Crescent has 5,000 staff and 100,000 volunteers working from over 300 offices. They put every ounce of their efforts into providing relief, but we need help so that we can help Iraqis help Iraqis in need.
The scale of need in Iraq is daunting, prompting some to estimate that Iraq exceeds Darfur as the world’s most pressing humanitarian disaster. Over a million Iraqis have left their homes, over 3.5 million of the those have fled to nearby countries such as Syria, Jordan, and Iran, creating strains on those countries resources.
Inside Iraq, conditions for the dispossessed are grim. Violence rages, electricity is sporadic, medical care is in short supply, the basics of safe, clean healthy living are out of reach for many. Over 70% of Iraqis have a lack of clean water. Iraq is a rich country but the fledgling Iraqi government has been unable to allocate appropriate government funds to provide much needed aid to the Iraqi people. Thus the battle for Iraq is now a struggle for survival being fought on a daily basis by ordinary Iraqis all over the country.
