By Stephanie Nebehay
GENEVA (Reuters) - Five years after the United States ledan invasion of Iraq, millions of people there are stilldeprived of clean water and medical care, the InternationalCommittee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Monday.
In a sober report marking the anniversary of the 2003 startof the war, which ousted dictator Saddam Hussein and unleasheddeep sectarian tensions, the humanitarian body said Iraqihospitals lack beds, drugs, and medical staff.
Some areas of the country of 27 million people have nofunctioning water and sanitation facilities, and the poorpublic water supply has forced some families to use at least athird of their average $150 monthly income buying cleandrinking water.
"Five years after the outbreak of the war in Iraq, thehumanitarian situation in most of the country remains among themost critical in the world," the ICRC said, describing Iraq'shealth care system as "now in worse shape than ever."
The Swiss-based agency is mandated to help victims of warand monitor compliance to international rules of war, enshrinedin the Geneva Conventions.
Its report said tens of thousands of Iraqis havedisappeared since the start of the war. The conflict wasgrounded in faulty U.S. intelligence suggesting Saddam washiding weapons of mass destruction. No such arsenal was everfound.
"Many of those killed in the current violence have neverbeen properly identified, because only a small percentage ofthe bodies have been turned over to Iraqi governmentinstitutions such as the Medical-Legal Institute in Baghdad,"it said.
MATCHING DNA SAMPLES
The ICRC is providing forensic equipment to medical andlegal institutes enabling them to examine DNA samples and matchthem with those of families searching for their loved ones.
Iraqi violence rates have fallen 60 percent since lastJune, but the U.S. military commander there, General DavidPetraeus, says the security gains are fragile and easilyreversed.
Declining civilian casualties have been hailed by Iraqi andU.S. military officials as proof that new counter-insurgencytactics adopted last year have been working.
But Beatrice Megevand Roggo, the ICRC's head of operationsfor the Middle East and Africa, said those who have fled theirhomes to escape violence in Iraq, including many children,women, and elderly and disabled people, remained extremelyvulnerable.
"Better security in some parts of Iraq must not distractattention from the continuing plight of millions of people whohave essentially been left to their own devices," she said.
Tens of thousands of Iraqis -- nearly all men -- are indetention, according to the ICRC. They include 20,000 inmatesat the country's largest detention facility at Camp Bucca inthe south near Basra, which is run by U.S.-led multinationalforces.
The ICRC regularly visits people held by the multinationalforces in Iraq, the Kurdish regional government and the Iraqijustice ministry -- altogether some 5,000 detainees last year.
It is still seeking a comprehensive agreement for access toall prisoners held by Iraqi authorities.
Iraq is the ICRC's largest operation worldwide with anannual budget of 107 million Swiss francs ($106 million). Itdeploys 600 staff in the country, including 72 expatriates.
(Editing by Laura MacInnis and Jon Boyle)
