The Direct Aid Initiative is a project of Electronic Iraq providing crucial medical care to Iraqis displaced by the ongoing crises in Iraq. Our team of Iraqis and Americans works closely with trusted health care providers and community leaders to deliver timely, appropriate, and effective aid to Iraqis in need.
Baghdadophobia--and how to know you've got it "Here's an interesting new disorder for medical science to investigate," writes an Iraqi employee of the BBC, "Baghdadophobia - an Iraqi's fear of his own capital city." (Nov 5, 2008)
A snapshot of Fallujah: Still wrecked, still angry Not surprisingly, there are still hard feelings towards the United States in Fallujah. Jay Deshmukh, a reporter for AFP, visited the town and writes of a shop owner named Abdullah. (Nov 3, 2008)
The Obama Administration, Iraq, and the Question of Leverage
Reidar Visser
With Barack Obama’s victory in the American presidential elections
there are expectations of changes in US policy in Iraq, involving a
substantial reduction of force levels. The U.S. forces will withdraw in large numbers, but beyond that,
and of interest to those who care for Iraq itself, can Obama
realistically hope to achieve anything other than a unilateral
withdrawal?
Iraqi refugee voices: The impossibility of return
Report
A single middle-aged woman in Damascus says that her only hope is
resettlement. She is willing to go anywhere, although she, like most
Iraqis, has many questions about what life is like in some of the
resettlement countries. She came to Syria after her parents were
kidnapped and killed in Iraq. She says that she would be killed if she
returned; in any case, her house was burned down so she would have
nowhere to go.
Violence against Iraqi women continues unabated
Report
"Iraqi women have seen their rights eroded in all areas of life while
the world observes from afar," warns the Special Rapporteur on Violence
Against Women, its causes and consequences, Ms. Yakin Ertuerk, on the
International Day on the Elimination of Violence Against Women. "The ongoing conflict, high levels of insecurity, widespread impunity,
collapsing economic conditions and rising social conservatism are
impacting directly on the daily lives of Iraqi women and placing them
under increased vulnerability to all forms of violence within and
outside their home", says Ms. Ertuerk.
Warnings against a large-scale refugee return in Iraq
Report
The Iraqi government should review its policy of encouraging Iraqi
refugees to return home by offering them free plane or bus tickets,
until it is able to ensure security, local and international NGOs said. "For the time being, the government should take care of the refugees
and meet their daily needs in their host countries until it can secure
suitable life conditions to allow them to go back to their homes," said
Basil al-Azawi, head of the Baghdad-based Commission for Civil Society
Enterprises, an umbrella group of over 1,000 NGOs operating inside and
outside Iraq.
