Piecing it together

As the likelihood of war against Iraq draws closer to absolute, international aid agencies and others are calling attention to the need for humanitarian relief.

The cost of U.S. military action against Iraq has been estimated at $90-100 billion, which includes approximately $1 billion to rebuild Iraq.

If that number seems surprisingly low, it shouldn't, based on what happened in Afghanistan. U.S. military action in Afghanistan cost around $10 billion. The cost to rebuild the country has been pegged at approximately $15 billion, but the world's major industrialized countries offered less than one-third that amount -- including only $300 million from the U.S.

Fortunately, Iraq has oil resources not available to Afghanistan. But it still will require massive help from the world to rebuild. Even before rebuilding can begin, large numbers of civilians will need to be cared for.

The British Overseas Aid Group, a consortium of aid agencies, has warned that any major military action in Iraq "is likely to lead to a humanitarian crisis and increase civilian suffering, in addition to fueling regional instability."

Many of these will be orphans who lost parents -- and probably brothers and sisters -- in the war. As many as 1 million Iraqis could flee their homes, but neighboring countries have said they will seal their borders, leaving them to seek shelter in make-shift refugee camps.

After visiting Iraq in October, Julian Filochowski, director of Britain's Catholic Agency for Overseas Development, said "millions of poor Iraqis -- who will be the ones to suffer and who themselves have no weapons of mass destruction -- are seemingly left out of consideration."

Currently, 60% of Iraq's 24 million people receive rations through the United Nations' oil-for-food program. But the U.N. has warned that it will withdraw its 1,000-member staff running such programs if war looks imminent. Other aid agencies have said they too will evacuate non-Iraqi workers if war seems likely.

If there is war, count on agencies such as Catholic Relief Services to seek donations for food, blankets, medicine and water purification materials. As Christians, we must be prepared to respond as generous stewards. If that's not enough to open wallets, perhaps selfish reasons of self-protection will: We need to make the Iraqis our friends, not our enemies, as propaganda efforts by al-Qaida and other terrorist groups will seek to do.

Citizens also will need to demand that our government provide ample humanitarian aid.

War is about far more than dropping bombs, routing the enemy and overthrowing a tyrannical and evil leader. It also must be about justice -- and that means caring for civilians.