An international "watch" organisation, which will monitor casualties and track the activities of foreign corporations in Iraq, is being established in Baghdad. It is the first such non-governmental group to be set up in Iraq after the war.
The Occupation Watch Centre, whose founders are in Baghdad now, says that it will also host international delegations to Iraq and "keep the international community updated about the occupation forces" through a website, occupationwatch.org.
"We need to keep international attention focused on what happens in Iraq now that the heavy fighting has stopped," said Medea Benjamin of Global Exchange, the San Francisco-based organisation that is one of the group's main founders. "We can't bomb this country and then move on to the next 'hot spot' when the Iraqis don't even have the right to self-determination, much less basic security and basic services."
The centre will monitor casualties which have occurred both during and after the hostilities, said Tim Kingston, a spokesman for Global Exchange yesterday. The aim will be to provide a running total of civilian casualties. He said that six members of the organisation were already in Iraq.
Operating under the auspices of the American anti-war coalition, United for Peace and Justice, the group intends to publish details of contracts obtained by corporations such as Halliburton and Bechtel and act as a clearing-house for information on allegations of civil rights abuses. The centre aims to report on any effects of depleted uranium weapons, it said. It also hopes to assist in setting up trade union organisations.
The British government admitted British troops had handed to the US all 4,000 Iraqi prisoners they captured during the war but declined to say what status they were given or how they were treated. The Ministry of Defence said that all but one had been released by the US authorities.
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