US urges Red Cross to stay in Iraq
The United States has made a call to international aid agencies urging them to not to pull out of Iraq after yesterday’s suicide bombings in which more than 35 people died.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is reviewing its operations in Iraq after its headquarters in Baghdad were targeted in the bombings, killing 12 people.
The US Secretary of State, Colin Powell has suggested that if the aid agency does withdraw it will be a victory for the terrorists. However there is concern that this call by the Americans is undermining the neutrality of the agencies, putting them at further risk if they do remain in Iraq.
Many aid agencies left Iraq in August following an attack on the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad in which 23 people, including the UN envoy to Iraq, were killed.
The attack was the first time a suicide bomber had struck the neutral ICRC in its 140-year history.
