U.S. Congressional Staffers Pay Visit to Iraqi Hospital
The first U.S. congressional delegation to visit Iraq since the 1991 Persian Gulf War on Monday began assessing the country’s humanitarian situation after nine years of U.N. sanctions.
Five assistants to members of the House of Representatives visited a children’s hospital in Baghdad to examine the effects of sanctions on the health of Iraqi children.
The group arrived in Iraq on Sunday after traveling from Amman, Jordan, despite State Department objections.
The group members made no comment to the press during their tour of Al Mansour Hospital. However, trip organizer Phyllis Bennis of the Washington-based Institute for Policy Studies called for an end to the suffering of Iraqi children.
“I hope that things can change in a way that will make it possible to cure the children that are now facing the result of this war and prevent further generations of children from facing the same thing,” she said.
The staff members in Iraq for the five-day mission represent four Democratic House members and one independent.
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