IRAQ. Baghdad. 2006. A feverish Iraqi policeman clutches an American medic at Ibn Sina Hospital in Baghdad’s Green
Zone. He and a dozen other injured Iraqis had been hurriedly transferred from a military hospital
in Balad because of a sudden influx of American casualties. There weren’t enough beds for
everyone. The medical staff at Ibn Sina hadn’t been informed of the Iraqis’ arrival and there was
brief chaos as every available set of hands was roused to help carry stretchers into the ER. The
policeman’s skin was burning from fever, and the staff worried that he would suffer brain damage
if it didn’t break. The attending American doctor muttered angrily that he never should have been
transferred in his acute condition. The doctors often spoke of the marginal care afforded to Iraqis.
After initial treatment by the American military they were usually transferred to the overburdened
Iraqi medical system where the most severely injured often languished and died.