Canadian aid worker mourned
By Stefan J. Bos
Assist News Services
AN ESTIMATED two dozen people have died as a result of the August 19 suicide bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad.
UN Envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello and at least 19 others were reportedly killed when an apparent truck bomb was set off. Others died of their injuries soon afterward.
Several Canadians were killed in the blast, including Toronto resident Gillian Clark, who was working with the U.S. branch of the Christian Children's Fund (CCF). Clark had worked with various aid groups for 15 years, in Afghanistan, China, Sierra Leone and Sri Lanka.
"She believed very firmly in ensuring that children had the best possible start to their lives, and in a place like Iraq that is an extremely difficult thing to achieve -- but she seemed quite determined to achieve it," UNICEF communications officer Geoffrey Keele told the National Post.
"Jill was able to speak out for children in a very strong voice," said Solene Edouard-Binkley, a CCF colleague. "She was able to very articulately remind people how hard war is on children. . . She was really looking forward to telling the world about what was happening to the children in Iraq."
Just over a week prior to the attack, a UN official had warned that aid workers should stay out of Iraq because of the increase in guerrilla attacks. "We know what happened in the Vietnam war," said Marcel Alberts, international chief observer of the Food for Oil program.
In Iraq, he told Assist News Services, "every day, one or two Americans are dying. You should not be surprised that the number of casualties goes up."
Alberts expressed concern over the way the American government was handling the situation in Iraq. He said he believed American officials had not given sufficient thought to security in the post-Saddam Hussein era.
"As long as people didn't say anything against the [Hussein] regime, they could live safely. Now there are shootings and kidnappings."
"No political cause can ever justify intentional attacks on civilians," said Joanna Weschler, UN representative for Human Rights Watch, adding: "What happened. . . in Baghdad violates the most fundamental principles of humanitarian law. It also undermines the UN's work monitoring human rights in Iraq."
U.S. officials and analysts described the bomb blast at the UN headquarters "as an attack against a soft target" carried out by loyalists of the former regime -- including possible foreign Muslim extremists, who oppose Western style reforms.
These groups are also linked to killings of minority Christians in recent weeks in Baghdad and other areas, Assist has learned. It was not immediately clear what impact, if any, the latest violence would have on Christian aid organizations.
Yet pastor Ghassan Thomas, of the Evangelical Alliance Church in Baghdad, challenged Christians earlier to continue to preach the gospel in this hurting nation.
"Before one month, I went to Jordan and a lot of Iraqi people came to me and said: 'Why can you say that Iraq is wonderful when there oare people killed on the street and there is no security?' I answered: 'Because the people need Jesus Christ at this time.'"
Now, he said, is "the perfect time to speak about Jesus Christ.
"They have nothing now, their heart is empty. So they need to learn how to obey God and how to be a Christian man or woman."
The 33-year old pastor added that he was ready "to die for Jesus Christ" if needed.
-- Additional reporting by David F. Dawes
