The International Development Committee examines Iraq

Representatives from Save the Children and Care International were among witnesses called to give evidence at the International Development Committee on 10 June.

Both charities questioned whether there was a humanitarian plan for Iraq at all despite assurances from the Government before the war.

Director General of Save the Children Mike Aaronson said it appears the Government had not even thought about a post-conflict strategy.

"We were told by the British Government that all elements had been factored into the planning. We were told that the political, military and the humanitarian dimensions were all linked up and that as much priority would be given to the humanitarian dimension as to the others.

"That could not have been the case given where we have ended up. There wasn't a post-conflict plan and we are now seeing a situation on the ground that has devestating consequences for the ordinary Iraqi civilians," he added.

Power vacuum

Raja Jarrah, of Care International, said he was "bewildered" that there wasn't a post-war strategy in place when the conflict started.

The current power vacuum is making their work difficult charities told MPs on the Commons select committee.

Mr Jarrah also reiterated the need for the UN to be given a central role steering the humanitarian activites of groups working in Iraq.

He said he wanted to see "a rapid reinstatement of civilian authority co-ordinated by a visibly impartial UN presence that distances the post war recovery of Iraq from anything that happened in the invasion."

The military authority currently in place is providing "few avenues" to engage with them, he added.

Kickstart

But there are signs of improvements.

Save the Children welcomed the fact that food is starting to be redistributed around the poorer areas of Baghdad.

The food distribution network is providing "a lifeline for families which are becoming progressively more impoverished," Mr. Aaronson said.

But he also added that it cannot be a substitute for "kickstarting the economy" to benefit the poorest people.

Mass Graves

Tony Blair's human rights envoy in Iraq, Ann Clwyd MP, has spoken of her experiences on her recent trip to Iraq.

She told MPs that "all of Iraq is a mass grave" with at leaset 56 graves found since the regime fell eight weeks ago.

Ms Clwyd, a campaigner for human rights in Iraq for 25 years, told the committee how she stood by one mass grave near Hilla.

It contained over 15 thousand bodies, she said.

Many victims are belived to be Shia muslims executed after the uprising after the Gulf War in 1991.

Human rights groups believe over a quarter of a million people have disappeared during Saddam Hussein's regime.