Peeance, freeance! Red Crescent halts operations in Baghdad

[Bluebear]

The Iraqi Red Crescent has suspended its operations in Baghdad a day after almost 30 people were seized from its offices in the Iraqi capital. A Red Crescent official said the kidnappers had released 13 people.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has called for the others to be freed, saying the Red Crescent provided vital help for those in need.

The ICRC pulled its own international staff out of Iraq three years ago when its offices there were bombed. "We gave orders to our Baghdad staff to stop working till further notice," said Mazen Abdallah, the Iraqi Red Crescent's secretary general....

The Red Crescent, which has a staff of 1,000 and 200,000 volunteers, was the only Iraqi aid group working across the country's 18 provinces.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6189751.stm

[blogslut]

1. Damn

When are the wise going to stop this madness?

[applegrove]

2. Just when you think it cannot get worse...