U.S. Military expels Iraqi Red Crescent from Fallujah

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Dec 6, 2004 - After nearly a month of preventing the Iraqi chapter of the International Red Cross from freely providing humanitarian aid to embattled Fallujah and recently detaining some of the group’s aid recipients, the US military reportedly demanded the Iraqi Red Crescent Society (IRCS) abandon the city.

After first telling reporters the IRCS left Fallujah on its own initiative, IRCS spokesperson Ferdus Al-Ibadi corrected her statement, telling Agence France-Presse she had been informed that US Marines had ordered aid workers to leave.

Major M. Naomi Hawkins told AFP that the Marine Corps provided the IRCS with an escort out of the city and then secured the group’s Fallujah station. Hawkins also confirmed that the Marines on Thursday sealed off the Red Crescent building and detained eight survivors of last month’s fighting who came seeking food aid.

During nearly all of November, the US military prevented IRCS teams from distributing humanitarian aid to residents of Fallujah, though the group says it eventually managed to provide food, water and blankets to about 1,500 people.