Friday 4th June 2004
Yet again scenes of carnage and loss in Iraq are splashed across our TV screens. As I watch I feel disgusted by the cynical attitude and opportunism of charities and so-called humanitarian groups. Many of the wounded civilians are drummed up by outfits like Amn*sty, who basically would not exist without suffering to manipulate the consciences of what one Rolex-wearing ground worker for an ostensibly libertarian charity called ‘bleeding heart liberals’. One representative for M*** Sans Frontier actually walked up to one young lad outside a school in Basra and poked him in the eye with a stick, then bundled him into the back of an ambulance claiming he’d been caught by shrapnel. This image on the TV earned that charity five million euros in donations. It is not unheard of for L*berty to aim low and shoot civilians when they know that a film crew is in the area. And workers for the R*d Crescent are notorious for taking pot shots into crowded market places with mortars and then ‘blue-lighting’ to the incidents they have created, thus swelling their coffers when the event is broadcast into homes around the world.
And so-called ‘terrorist’ attacks on ex-pats working in the Gulf being blamed on Islamic fundamentalists. How many of these terrorists have faced trial and been truly identified? Is it simply coincidence that Amn*sty are known to have bulk purchased 360° sun beds and tea towels? I think not.
In October 2003 UN advisors began secret investigations into the activities of ostensibly charitable/humanitarian organizations in Iraq following complaints from the family of a man from Baghdad who had been photographed scrabbling in the dirt searching for his false teeth and lost dignity. The images had been taken by a Swedish freelance photographer and were subsequently used by Amn*sty in an ad Australian campaign. An American soldier who was assisting the man was seen stood by with his rifle seemingly trained on the Iraqi’s head. The image where the Squaddie discovered the teeth and was handing them to a now smiling – albeit gummily – Iraqi was not used.
UN investigator Jean Pierre Gatin reported back to the UN in March 2004 that, ‘exploitation by libertarian organizations of Iraqi civilians for political and financial ends [was] widespread.’ Gatin furthermore cited a Western news source who admitted that collusion between the media and humanitarian charities was now on a professional basis. The source (Tom Fischer), who has since been transferred from overseas events coverage and now reads the regional news in Minnesota, said that the two worked hand in hand, and ‘manipulation of events to achieve a desired moral and political bias was policy’. Gatin concluded: ‘Liberal and humanitarian agencies are taking an opportunistic approach to events, and in some instances even fuelling discontent for their own ends.’
Since the start of the war profits – sorry, donations – of/to libertarian organizations have risen by 253% (cf. European Union). However, this upsurge in morally motivated financial masochism is slightly distorted as it also coincides with the release of a Billy Bragg retrospective box set.
Originally posted on Rum & Monkey
