More aid workers leave Iraq

Published November 12, 2004 11:59PM (EST)

As we noted last week, even the few international aid groups remaining in Iraq have been bailing out recently as the security situation has steadily worsened. The International Rescue Committee, while citing other factors in addition to security concerns, is the latest to call it quits.

"I've been doing this for 11 years," IRC Middle East director Mark Bartolini said on NPR's "Morning Edition" today, "and I've never seen a security situation as dangerous as the one in Iraq."

Hopefully U.S. and interim Iraqi forces will soon succeed in their mission to quell the insurgencies and make the landscape more stable for the already daunting demands of reconstruction. If they don't, there may be nobody left to help.


By Mark Follman

Mark Follman is Salon's deputy news editor. Read his other articles here.

MORE FROM Mark Follman


Related Topics ------------------------------------------

War Room