Father's Day For Peace

By Cole Miller
NoMoreVictims.org

Friday 15 June 2007

In recognition of Father's Day, Brave New Films made a brief video about Ismaeel Hussein and his nine-year-old son, Abdul Hakeem Khalaf. You can see it here.

Abdul was disfigured when US mortar rounds struck his home during the April 2004 attack on Fallujah. Doctors at a small clinic were able to save the boy's life, but his father, Ismaeel Hussein, could find no one to repair the damage to Abdul's face. Such services are not available in occupied Iraq.

No More Victims, an American organization, learned about Abdul Hakeem in 2005, and helped Ismaeel bring his son to the United States for treatment last year. The boy and his father will be returning this summer for follow-up care.

A father's primary duty is to protect his children. This Father's Day, we might pause to consider the extreme difficulties that Iraqi fathers must face every day. Through no fault of their own, they have been deprived of the ability to protect their children. And it's high time for us to do something about it.

I started No More Victims in September 2002. We've brought five war-injured children to the United States for medical care. Nine-year-old Salee Allawe, who lost both legs in a missile strike last November, is on her way to South Carolina for treatment. Through No More Victims, American high school students helped provide three Iraqi children with wheel chairs and food. And we sent $5,000 worth of basic medicines to Fallujah General Hospital.

Our efforts have been modest, given the immense human tragedy unfolding in Iraq. But I have an immodest proposal: Why don't we create a national movement in communities all across America, designed to help the civilian population of Iraq? By doing so, we can deliver a different message from the people of America, a message of solidarity and responsibility. We've shown that people in ordinary circumstance can succeed in providing medical and other forms of tangible relief to Iraqi families. The foundation is already built.

When I was in Boston with Omar, a four-year-old boy from Mosul, I met with students at Boston College. Omar was horribly burned when US forces opened fire on a civilian passenger vehicle last year. While he toyed with an expensive piece of audio-visual equipment, I asked the students, "Would anyone in this room do anything to hurt this little boy?" Okay, I admit it was a rhetorical question. Then I asked: "Who in this room would not move to defend Omar if someone walked in and really started to hurt him? Inflicted grievous injury that would scar him forever, even threaten his life?" And, of course, all the students said they would immediately intervene to protect him.

The good news is that we are endowed with such impulses. The bad news is that the policies of some of our leaders have hurt hundreds of thousands of children like Omar, and continue to hurt more every day. I would humbly suggest that we approach the tragedy of Iraq with open eyes, and then follow our native impulses. We should move to protect Iraq's children with some of the urgency we would feel for our own. Then maybe outrages against children like Omar would end.

A year ago, the Lancet issued a report that was compiled in collaboration with John Hopkins University. Researchers estimated that 655,000 Iraqis had died as a result of the invasion and occupation. Of course, administration officials, who do not deign to count the Iraqi dead, immediately disputed the figure. But Sir Roy Anderson, chief scientific advisor for Britain's Ministry of Defense, said the methodology and design used in the study were close to the best practices. In fact, it's the same methodology the US military applies in post conflict analysis.

We must face unpleasant facts: The medical infrastructure destroyed by the invasion and years of brutal sanctions has not been rebuilt. Children injured in the war lack access to clean water, medicines, even palliative relief. Acute and chronic childhood malnutrition have doubled since the invasion. A generation of Iraqis has been brutally robbed of its future. And what about the maimed, blinded and crippled, many of them children? How much suffering can one people endure at the hands of another? It is time for us to express our common humanity by intervening to protect the people of Iraq.

While the occupation continues with no end in sight, there is reason to hope. Broad agreement exists between civil society in America and Iraq. The vast majority of Iraqis want American forces to leave. A large majority of Americans want to bring the troops home. We should insist on a democratic solution, and demand that our leaders carry out the will of our two peoples. In the meantime, we can use our freedom and privilege to help as many of the victims as we can. If we reach out a hand to Iraqis, they will reach back with both hands.

-------