At the end of the week that the world marked the tenth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, it's worth pausing to remember the quiet heroes of the occupation. I wish I had got to know Marla Ruzicka. I used to see her in the Al-Hamra Hotel in Baghdad, organising some party or other, charming everyone she met, setting a table of journalists laughing by the pool. She would smile as she passed -- she had a smile for everyone, even a bad-tempered correspondent like me, fighting with his editor … [Read more...]
Why the Iraq war failed: the Hospital from Hell
March 20, 2013 by Leave a Comment
If you want to know why the American occupation of Iraq was such a disaster, you need look no further than the story of the former Saddam Hussein Central Children's Hospital in Baghdad. When I first saw the hospital in 2004, it was beyond belief. There was sewage dripping from the roof of the premature babies' ward, leaking from pipes above, spattering down to the floor between the cots, where it gathered in foul stinking puddles. Downstairs in the leukaemia ward, the toilets had … [Read more...]
