Caught in the crossfire ;Red Cross

[Englander]

The Red Cross says it will not remain silent while the war on terror undermines its famed neutrality - and threatens not only its staff but its very existence. Annie Kelly reports

Wednesday December 15, 2004
The Guardian

For more than a century, the emblem of a red cross on a white background has saved the lives of people in war zones across the globe. It has also acted as a badge of safety for those who wear it - volunteers and staff of the Red Cross Red Crescent movement worldwide who work to uphold international humanitarian law and provide relief to those wounded and trapped by conflict and disaster.

But now the neutrality and independence of the Red Cross Red Crescent is fast becoming a casualty of a global war on terror that threatens to obliterate the capacity of humanitarian aid agencies to operate in areas of conflict. The "with us or against us" rhetoric of the US-led coalition in Iraq and Afghanistan leaves little space for neutral agencies.

Sir Nick Young, chief executive of the British Red Cross, the UK arm of the Red Cross Red Crescent movement, believes that those conflicts threaten the future of the international organisation. "We are able to work across the front line for only as long as we are seen as neutral," he says. "The moment that sense of impartiality is lost, our mission is lost. We might as well pack up and go home. We'll be seen as part of the war machine and we'll be unable to operate."

The Red Cross Red Crescent, like other aid agencies working in Iraq and Afghanistan, has already become a target for those fighting the US coalition. The recent death of Margaret Hassan, the Care International aid worker murdered by unknown forces in Iraq, is seen as a watershed in the history of humanitarian aid. Nobody - no matter how good, how impartial - is safe.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1373423,00.html

[ArthurDent]

1. Barf

:puke:

The "with us or against us" rhetoric of the US-led coalition in Iraq and Afghanistan leaves little space for neutral agencies.

. . .

The Red Cross Red Crescent, like other aid agencies working in Iraq and Afghanistan, has already become a target for those fighting the US coalition. The recent death of Margaret Hassan, the Care International aid worker murdered by unknown forces in Iraq, is seen as a watershed in the history of humanitarian aid. Nobody - no matter how good, how impartial - is safe.

---

Wait... those fighting the US murder humanitarian workers. And this is the US's fault? Because of rhetoric? Wow. I bet next week, the Guardian will blame Rachel Corrie's death on Palestinian rhetoric.