“We have lost count of the civilian casualties!”

“We won’t concede to those damned GIs!” 

Bert De Belder 

“Today, (Dr.) Harrie (Dewitte) and me witnessed the dastardly acts of those so-called ‘liberators.’ This morning we went to the Saddam Center for Plastic Surgery in order to hand over the medicines and surgical supplies from Belgium and to check on the British cameraman I treated yesterday. We were not able to leave the hospital anymore for the rest of the day. We were trapped because the hospital was in the line of fire. Moreover, so many patients with serious injuries were brought in that we were busy the whole time. We’ve seen at least 35 to 40 heavily injured patients arrive and some six dead, all of them civilians. Actually, the Iraqi authorities have lost count of the civilian casualties and so do we.” 

“De U.S. troops even peppered the hospital’s ambulance with bullets! I saw the ambulance arrive, its body dented and windows shattered. It took me a while to realize that this was the same ambulance that had left with three casualties a couple of minutes before. The doors were jammed, the driver was wounded behind the wheel, his assistant in the passenger seat was covered with blood. It was a miracle that the driver had been able to bring his vehicle back to the hospital. The patients were in agony. One of them had taken one more bullet in the chest; I saw the blood gushing from his open chest wound.” 

“We are sure it were American bullets that had riddled the ambulance. After the incident I wanted to confront the Americans with what they had done. There was no driver anymore for the second ambulance so I went to them with a Reuters team. At about 300 meters from the American tank involved, I went down with a white flag, hands in the air, and shouting: ‘I am a medical doctor!’ When I was near, I yelled to the GIs: “Do you realize what you have done? You shot at an ambulance!” It must have been very clear anyway as the vehicle had a big flag with the Red Crescent. An American soldier answered: “It could have been filled with explosives!” In reality, the vehicle was carrying three patients and two paramedics—all of them heavily wounded now. Intentionally shooting at an ambulance is the umpteenth violation of international humanitarian law by the American aggression force in Iraq.” 

“The hospital was like hell. We didn’t have any oxygen anymore or supplies for intubation. The doctors were sad and many of them were in tears when they saw how the paramedics were shot at in cold blood. After half an hour a bus arrived at the hospital, also riddled with American bullets. Many injured; shouting; pushing and shoving; chaos;… . Some cars followed, some of them with dying patients. Blood was everywhere. A tragedy. So much fr the ‘liberation’ of Baghdad.” 

Medical Aid for the Third World’s Medical Team is safe and sound and stays in the Sheraton Hotel. “The ‘liberators’ are just passing by here,” Geert announces cynically while we are talking on the phone. “Surreptitiously, Colette was able to give one of them a nudge and push another one aside. We are not going to concede to those GIs! I already walked to their tanks, my fists angrily clenched deep in the pockets of my white jacket. Today we have witnessed very clearly how this so-called ‘liberation’ is actually a bloodbath, with countless civilian casualties.”

Thursday 10, April, 2003 / Last Updated:  2:23PM Doha time, 6:23AM GMT (AFP)

US troops fire on ambulance, two killed 

Two Iraqis are dead and three wounded Wednesday after US troops shot at an ambulance in central Baghdad. Speaking to the AFP news agency, Belgian doctor Geert Van Moorter said that the driver was wounded in the stomach while the co-pilot had leg wounds.

"The American troops just mowed down the ambulance which was transporting wounded people from the Saddam Centre for Plastic
Surgery to another hospital," he said.

The ambulance had been carrying three men wounded by exchanges of fire in the city, he said, adding that two of them were among the dead.

Van Moorter, from the Belgian association Medical Aid for the Third World slammed US troops involved in the incident. "This is completely unacceptable, and when I went up to a US officer to denounce such behaviour, he just said: `The ambulance could contain explosives.'

Officials from CENTCOM in Qatar were unaware of the incident, and have yet to comment.--- Al Jazeera with agency inputs