Ready
to work as interpreters, drivers or technicians, some 200 Iraqis
Saturday, May 3, invaded the lobby of the city center hotel housing
foreign journalists under U.S. protection to demand jobs and aid from
the United States, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"People
want a lot of things, money, work, petrol for their cars and they also
want someone to guide them, to tell them what to do," Ghanem Yussef
told AFP.
"People
here are very poor, they have nothing and what are the Americans
doing?" demanded the 40-year-old.
Each
day, dozens of Iraqis line up at the Palestine Hotel looking for U.S.
officials to hand in job applications and vent their frustrations.
"This
is chaos. They promised us work and money. Where is the government?
Where are the leaders?" cried a man in the middle of the crowd, who
was promptly ejected from the hotel by staff and U.S. soldiers.
Some
of the demonstrators then sat on the ground outside the hotel entrance
to continue their protest.
"This
isn't the place to address your concerns," a U.S. soldier told the
Iraqis. "Where then?" asked a job seeker. "I don't
know," admitted the soldier.
In
a city where rumors take the place of real information and where
official announcements are repeatedly contradicted, the protestors here
wanted answers.
"We
were told that work would start again. That we would be paid 20 dollars.
Why these lies? Why such chaos?" Hamid Abbas, a former civil
servant at the oil ministry, wanted to know.
Another
waved a job application that he bought for 250 dinars (about 10 cents)
in the street in the front of the hotel.
"Iraqis
are selling these forms but then you don't know where to turn them
in. And sometimes you find ones in the gutter that have been filled
out," he said in disgust.
In
the almost all-male crowd, an old woman flashed her social security
card. "I haven't seen anything for two months. Why? Why?" she
asked reporters.
Washington
stands charged by many Iraqis with failing to take adequate measures to
rebuild the country and restore order and basic public services since
Baghdad fell to U.S. forces on April 9.
The
interim U.S.-led administration has called on civil servants to return
to work, offering modest salaries paid in dollars.
But
aid groups have added their voices to a chorus of criticism particularly
over the desperate state of Iraqi hospitals.
Beneath
the anger at the Palestine Hotel, despair appeared to be eating away at
hope for the future.
"I
don't know what to do anymore," confessed Ibrahim, an English
teacher who said he has been waiting "in vain" for more than
two weeks for a response to his application to work as a translator.
"The
future is bleak. If they don't form a government soon, the situation
will deteriorate quickly," he said with an eye on the crowd.
"I
don't understand. The Americans invaded Iraq in two weeks but since then
nothing has happened. You don't know who to turn to. The situation will
lead us straight to war, be it among Iraqis or with the Americans,"
warned Yussef Ghanem, a former English student.
Next
to him, Abdul, who introduced himself as an ex-member of the opposition
to deposed strongman Saddam Hussein, tried to control his anger as he
spoke.
"Bush
promised to liberate Iraq and he has not done anything for us. At least
Saddam gave us our salaries," he said.
Iraq
Ripe For Humanitarian Disaster
 |
|
Mounting
anger among Iraqis, where will that lead?!
|
In
a separate related development, the UN chief of mission in Baghdad
warned Saturday, May 3, that Iraq was still ripe for a humanitarian
disaster even though the shooting has all but stopped, saying too many
people were going without food, water and power.
"We
have not yet got over the hump. The conditions for the development of a
humanitarian disaster still exist," Ramiro Lopes da Silva said,
flanked by other UN officials who were ordered by Washington to leave
Iraq, two days before the invasion began March 20.
"It's
(already) a humanitarian disaster in the sense basic services have
collapsed or are at the risk of collapsing if we don't put them back
into shape rather quickly," he said.
Lopes
da Silva, making his first briefing to reporters since returning to
Baghdad Thursday, said nearly two-thirds of Iraqis were fully dependent
on food aid and that malnutrition was rampant.
Many
are drinking unsuitable water which is causing infections, especially in
the south, and still have no electricity. Hospitals which were looted in
the aftermath of the occupation are overwhelmed and lack medicines and
equipment.
