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Iraq Water Project

By Fredy Champagne

In October 2000 I took part in the Iraq Water Project, an undertaking of Veterans For Peace. Team One achieved the goal of beginning the renovation of a water treatment plant in the village of Labanni, southeast of Basra in the Abul Khasib valley of Iraq.

Our delegation of seventeen people gathered in Amman, Jordan, on October 4. We were met by representatives of our host organization, LIFE for Relief and Development, Ms. Vicki Robb and Dr. Yarub Al-Shiarida. We took part in an orientation meeting, and then piled into four rented vehicles for the long drive across the deserts of Jordan and Iraq, arriving safely in Baghdad.

Our first day's program in Baghdad included a visit to the Iraqi Museum of History, with an informative briefing with the president of the Peace and Friendship Society, Dr. Abdul Razak. Dr. Razak described how United Nations Committee 661 had blocked nearly 300 different contracts that would allow the Iraqi government to procure useful and needed items for its infrastructure. These contracts are blocked due to their characterization as "dual use" items.

In the afternoon, we toured the Amiriya Bomb Shelter. This is the infamous shelter next to a school in Baghdad that was deliberately bombed by Allied planes in February of 1991. There are conflicting reports of the number of dead and injured, but it was clear that the number of women and children killed or injured were in the hundreds.

The next day, our delegation visited the University of Baghdad for a lecture on the environmental damages of bombings and sanctions by Dr. Souad Naji Al-Azzawi. We followed this lecture with a tour of the Al-Mansour Children's Hospital. Dr. Mahmoud Mkai was very gracious, under the circumstances. The suffering at this hospital was heartbreaking, and it was difficult for us to observe the situation.

On the 9th we departed in a tour bus for Basra, where we checked into our hotel, which looked out over the Shatt-al-Arab waterway. The next day we traveled south of Basra to the Abul Khasib valley. The Labanni water treatment plant that we were to renovate appeared much larger than we had anticipated. The plant was functioning only semi-adequately, sending untreated water to households in the valley. Since being bombed early by the Allies in the air war in 1991, the plant has been largely inoperable.

Our job was to put the plant back into operating order. Besides repairing the roof over the main pump house, we were to begin the work of rebuilding one of the four pumps, repairing the water filtration tanks, and getting the chlorinator working and mixing properly again. With a budget of only $35,000, we were amazed at this ambitious plan for renovation. In the States, such a plant remodel would cost upwards of a quarter million dollars.

Our team worked very hard in the heat of the first day and impressed the authorities of the government, our LIFE representatives, and the contractor and workmen on the site. Not all of them fully realized that we were serious in wanting to do actual physical work, but working alongside the Iraqis was an experience we had wanted to share. At sunset, we were treated to a boat ride, departing the dock near the hotel and traveling upriver four or five miles. We observed several ships lying in ruins along the banks of the Shatt-al-Arab waterway.

On October 11 our team again went to work at the Labanni site. About half of our delegation stayed on the job at Labanni and continued working in the hot sun. The other half visited three grammar schools in Basra with representatives of LIFE and participated in the distribution of school knapsacks filled with books, pencils and writing tablets.

In the evening, we were summoned for a private visit and briefing by the Basra governor-general, General Ahmad Ibraheem Hammash. Three members of our delegation were seeking permission to visit the war zone where two of the Gulf War veterans had served. We were not permitted to visit these sites due to unexploded ordnance, or so we were told. It turned out that the governor-general was commander of the forces that had fought against one of our Gulf vets. It was a memorable meeting, and the governor was polite and warm.

The next day we again went to the Labanni work site. As it was our last day, we arranged our Veterans For Peace banners in several spots and took photos. We left four people on the site who wished to continue working. The rest of us visited the Basra Maternity and Children's Hospital and were briefed by a Dr. Faisel and another obstetrician on the many birth defects in the region. We observed a room with more than a hundred large color photographs of babies born at the hospital with severe birth defects. Though the hospital administrators were careful in their statements about the causes of these birth defects, which included depleted uranium and malnutrition, it was clear that there were many more of them than in other areas of Iraq. We delivered ten boxes of donated medical supplies gathered by our friends at MEDIC of Illinois. These supplies were greatly appreciated. (Many thanks to Jeanne Lang and MEDIC for their support.) We also delivered supplies donated by Phelps Community Hospital in Garberville, California.

We then returned to the work site, where team member Barry Riesch presided over a quiet and moving ceremony to bless the water treatment plant and to protect the people in the area. We left with the knowledge that the work we started would be completed within sixty days and that there would be clean water upon our return. Team Two will visit this plant for a dedication and opening inspection.

Later we visited the water plant at Abu Floos, one of the three plants Team Two is contracted to renovate. We walked through the village and observed some damage from a bombing attack in 1998 that killed seventeen people and wounded numerous others. At the grammar school, we were somewhat shocked to have four children presented to us and partially disrobed for photographs - a situation I will personally make sure does not occur again. We also visited another one of the three plants we will be rebuilding at Hamden Bridge. In the evening, we attended a meeting with three veterans, the brothers of our host, Dr. Yarub. These discussions were quite informative and gave a glimpse of what life is like for the ordinary veteran in service to his country.
We headed for Baghdad on the 13th. Along the way, we had a chance to visit Qurna, a village located at the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and the beginning of the Shatt-Al-Arab waterway. This is the famous location of the "Garden of Eden," one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. We asked Dr. Yarub to make a preliminary inquiry into the status of an inoperable water plant there.

The next day we visited a training school set up by LIFE for Relief and Development. This school boasts three computer labs and a room containing sewing machines. Next we drove outside of Baghdad for a visit to the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon. We were impressed with the museum and the quality of the restoration work being undertaken. Though we only saw a glimpse of old Babylon, the city must have been impressive in its heyday.

Later we visited the town of Kerbala, a major city south of Baghdad. Some of us were not fully informed of the significance of this city in relation to the uprising of the Shia population. We noticed our security had been tripled, and we were escorted by armed police everywhere we went. The bombing of the Cole and the Palestinian uprising had increased security concerns, and the Iraqis were not going to let anything happen to our delegation. We visited one of the holiest mosques in Islam there. Most of us were not allowed inside initially, as we were not Muslim, and it was the time of evening prayer; nevertheless, it was an awesome experience.

On our last day in Baghdad, we rested and shopped for last-minute souvenirs and gifts for supporters. The evening was punctuated by the sounds and sights of fireworks over the Tigris River, the celebratory kind, as the day was the anniversary of Saddam's reelection in 1995.

The next day we loaded up for the long trip through the desert back to Amman. Due to plane schedules, we had another full day there. Many of us traveled to the Dead Sea for an afternoon of relaxation. The next day was a last chance to see the sights of Jordan. Many of our delegation visited the ancient city of Petra; the others just rested and reflected on the trip we had just experienced. By midnight, we were all out of Amman and on our way home.

The Iraq Water Project is committed to the renovation of three other small water treatment plants in the same area. A second team is organizing now for early 2001. Please contact us if you are interested in going. Tax-deductible contributions may be sent to the address below. Thank you for your support.

VFP IWP
P.O. Box 532
Bayside, CA 95524