10:56'My life was over' - Scars of war run deep on civilians 20 years after US military intervention in Iraq
The scars of war were visible as three Iraqi men rendered disabled amid the military presence of US forces in their country recounted the details of their war wounds in Baghdad, demanding an answer for their long-life injuries.
Hussein Ali Sawadi, Bahaa Hussein Youssef and Ali Khamis were mere children when their lives were forever altered during the US-led war in Iraq. Bahaa Hussein Youssef and Ali Khamis each lost leg while Hussein Ali Sawadi survived a challenging surgery for his body 'to change completely'.
"I stayed in the hospital for two months, and when I was discharged, I remained lying in bed for a year, so I could not move or walk or go out and stayed with my family as my life was over," explained Youssef.
The three men recall the moment when they were impacted by huge explosions that occurred during US attacks that changed their lives. According to them, these accidents not only affected their bodies but also disturbed their economic and social life.
"There is no compensation when we went to the government agencies, we got nothing but the welfare salary. The problem I faced was women refusing to marry me, and they used to say to me, 'We are sorry that you are disabled, that a woman cannot live with you, because you are disabled' and this bullying made me very desperate for life," Khamis added.
After years of suffering because of their body condition, the three men point a finger at the US as the main responsible for all the events that happened.
"The entire responsibility rests with America, as for the Iraqi Prime Minister, there was nothing he could do. They did not visit me or offer help. They did not compensate with something, only showed off in front of the media when they visited us," said Sawadi.
The American Civil Liberties Union registered hundreds of claims for damages by family members of civilians killed or injured by Coalition Forces in Iraq, most of them ranging from early 2003 to late 2006.
Some of these claims resulted in cash payments to family members, with the United States accepting responsibility for the death of the civilians, while in other cases compensations were denied because the US military found that the incidents arose “from action by an enemy or resulted directly or indirectly from an act of the armed forces of the United States in combat,” which the military calls “combat exclusion.”
On March 19, 2003, Washington, along with coalition forces, launched a military offensive on Iraq that toppled Saddam Hussein under the pretext of disarming Iraq’s presumed weapons of mass destruction, plunging Iraq into bloodshed and chaos, resulting in the violent deaths of around 200,000 civilians, according to the Iraq Body Count project, although there are other estimations that increase or decrease this figure.
This was preceded by a series of developments that eventually led to the US deploying its army on the Arab country. On January 28, George Bush addressed the nation making it clear that the US military campaign to topple Saddam Hussein was only a matter of time.
The US officially withdrew its troops from Iraq by December 2011, but thousands remained as part of security operations or serving as private military contractors. The aftermath of the intervention in the country triggered widespread violence and was linked to the rise of the Islamic State (IS).
10:56The scars of war were visible as three Iraqi men rendered disabled amid the military presence of US forces in their country recounted the details of their war wounds in Baghdad, demanding an answer for their long-life injuries.
Hussein Ali Sawadi, Bahaa Hussein Youssef and Ali Khamis were mere children when their lives were forever altered during the US-led war in Iraq. Bahaa Hussein Youssef and Ali Khamis each lost leg while Hussein Ali Sawadi survived a challenging surgery for his body 'to change completely'.
"I stayed in the hospital for two months, and when I was discharged, I remained lying in bed for a year, so I could not move or walk or go out and stayed with my family as my life was over," explained Youssef.
The three men recall the moment when they were impacted by huge explosions that occurred during US attacks that changed their lives. According to them, these accidents not only affected their bodies but also disturbed their economic and social life.
"There is no compensation when we went to the government agencies, we got nothing but the welfare salary. The problem I faced was women refusing to marry me, and they used to say to me, 'We are sorry that you are disabled, that a woman cannot live with you, because you are disabled' and this bullying made me very desperate for life," Khamis added.
After years of suffering because of their body condition, the three men point a finger at the US as the main responsible for all the events that happened.
"The entire responsibility rests with America, as for the Iraqi Prime Minister, there was nothing he could do. They did not visit me or offer help. They did not compensate with something, only showed off in front of the media when they visited us," said Sawadi.
The American Civil Liberties Union registered hundreds of claims for damages by family members of civilians killed or injured by Coalition Forces in Iraq, most of them ranging from early 2003 to late 2006.
Some of these claims resulted in cash payments to family members, with the United States accepting responsibility for the death of the civilians, while in other cases compensations were denied because the US military found that the incidents arose “from action by an enemy or resulted directly or indirectly from an act of the armed forces of the United States in combat,” which the military calls “combat exclusion.”
On March 19, 2003, Washington, along with coalition forces, launched a military offensive on Iraq that toppled Saddam Hussein under the pretext of disarming Iraq’s presumed weapons of mass destruction, plunging Iraq into bloodshed and chaos, resulting in the violent deaths of around 200,000 civilians, according to the Iraq Body Count project, although there are other estimations that increase or decrease this figure.
This was preceded by a series of developments that eventually led to the US deploying its army on the Arab country. On January 28, George Bush addressed the nation making it clear that the US military campaign to topple Saddam Hussein was only a matter of time.
The US officially withdrew its troops from Iraq by December 2011, but thousands remained as part of security operations or serving as private military contractors. The aftermath of the intervention in the country triggered widespread violence and was linked to the rise of the Islamic State (IS).