by Peggy Gish

Seven of us returned to Rutba, in western Iraq, mid-January 2010 to thank medical workers who treated those injured in a car accident on their journey from Baghdad to Jordan during the March 2003 invasion of Iraq . Conversations with the people of Rutba, gave us glimpses into their lives and thoughts.

“I used to be able to work with dignity and support my family,” a blacksmith and father of five children told us.  “Now, it is hard to make a living. There are few jobs available.” When asked about general safety in Rutba, he answered, “There will be safety when the political parties and government factions come together and make agreements. But there won’t be complete safety until the occupation is ended.”

“In a town of about 30,000 people, there are ten elementary schools but only four high-schools,” a Rutba educator told us.  “Schools discourage students from going to high school, because there are not enough teachers.”  A student told us, “Because of the turmoil in our country, our studies have been disrupted.  We also need to move around and play, but we don’t have soccer balls or volleyballs.”

A young policeman, who had been trained by U.S. soldiers, told us that a man was caught outside of Rutba recently with car bomb materials.  It was someone he had gone to school with.  He said some men from the area, including former classmates, might want to kill him because he has worked alongside U.S. forces.

“Before the hospital was bombed in 2003, it was fully functioning,” the hospital’s director explained.  “Until it was rebuilt in 2007, we provided medical care from the clinic.  Even though we now have ten doctors, thirty nurses, we have to send more complicated cases to Ramadi hospitals, a two to three hour drive.  Our hospital has very basic needs such as repairing the generator in order to have constant electricity.  The government doesn’t give all the money allotted for running the hospital, so we have to limit services.”

“There is a shortage of doctors in Iraq, because 2,000 have been killed since the invasion, and others left the country,” he continued.  “There is a significant increase of cancers and birth defects here, but more in Fallujah due to depleted uranium and other toxic materials from the bombing.

“The violence has decreased in the Rutba area in the last two years because U.S. forces have mostly retreated to their bases,” said a public official.  “With U.S. soldiers gone from population areas, reconciliation is more possible between different factions.”

A businessman added, “Before the invasion, there was little crime. We could leave our homes unlocked and walk around safely. We had little religious and ethnic strife. When U.S. forces came, we thought they would leave quickly and things would get better, but were disillusioned when that didn’t happen. If you ask anyone here which time was better, they would say, ‘Under Saddam.’”