The Collateral Repair Project
in affiliation with the International Humanities Center

Our first project 2005











The Collateral Repair Project was initiated in October 2005 in response to an article by Iraqi journalist, Sabah Ali...
On October 1, 2005, al-Qaim, Iraq, and neighboring towns were attacked by U.S.-led troops. The attack was the beginning of
"Operation Iron Fist"  Many homes were bombed and families displaced. Doctors from the Qaim hospital, the largest in Western Iraq,
confirmed the large presence of women and children among the casualties and the ongoing damage to medical infrastructure by
U.S.-led forces.

Mahmood Chiad Abid was an ambulance driver for Al Qaim Hospital. He volunteered to rescue a family in nearby Karabla. He was
shot while driving, and then a grenade was thrown at his ambulance. His death certificate indicates that he was shot during duty and
died from a bullet wound to the chest and an injury to the head. The ambulance he was driving was destroyed.   His death was
unprovoked and in violation of the 4th Geneva Convention.   







Mahmood left a family of eight: His wife, Nouriya, his mother, and six children, the eldest ten years and the youngest three months.  
His widow, mother, and children had temporary housing with an uncle who is a shepherd. Shepherds in the Upper Euphrates region
take their herds into the desert for a few months each year.  The family faced being without a home when he returned that spring.  
Their situation was quite dire.  Without the income of Mahmoud, the family had no resources and we were told that "they are hungry"  









Through the warm generosity of donors, the CRP was able to send  funds to purchase a parcel of land for Nouriya and her children.

Nouryia and her mother-in-law traveled  alone from al-Qaim to Baghdad to retrieve the funds in the intense summer heat, through the
terror of Ramadi under seige, and risking the many extreme dangers of the road.  











                                                                                                       Nouryia and her mother-in-law arrive in Baghdad

                   Now this family has a secure home -------because of the warm hearts of people like you!.
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