Faces of the Occupation
This photo essay was prepared by Medea Benjamin and the new International
Occupation Watch Center in Baghdad. The Center monitors the activities
of the occupying military forces and foreign corporations, while providing
reliable information through www.occupationwatch.org. The Center supports
local efforts to improve the lives of the Iraqi people and move toward
Iraqi self-rule, and hosts international delegations coming to Iraq.
The Center IS COORDINATED BY the U.S.-based United for Peace and Justice,
but is an international effort co-sponsored by the Asian-based Focus on
the Global South, the international group Arabs Resisting Globalization,
the European-based Iraqi Democrats Against Occupation and the Italian
group Bridges to Baghdad.
|
Since the U.S. abolished rent control, thousands
of poor Iraqis have been displaced and made homeless. In the chaos
of occupied Iraq, parents are afraid to let their children out of
the house, because kidnapping for ransom has become a new business
and rape has become widespread. This family is among the 200 families
living in the former Pilots Club, with no running water or toilet
facilities.
|
 |
 |
Tempers frequently flare at checkpoints when youthful
U.S. soldiers bark orders at Iraqis in English. At this checkpoint
near the Palestine Hotel, we witnessed several angry altercations
between Iraqis and U.S. troops.
|
|
At great risk, Iraqi women are forming new organizations
demanding safety from rampant crime, access to essential services
such as electricity and clean drinking water, and a place at the
table in the new Iraqi government. This protest by the Iraqi Womens
Society took place on July 2, 2003 in Baghdad.
|
 |
|
