Aid groups in Iraq also under attack

American troops are bearing the brunt of the daily attacks in central Iraq, with two more soldiers killed Thursday. But international aid groups are also being targeted - undercutting their humanitarian efforts, and causing them to question the close working relationship many have developed with US forces.

In Baghdad, the World Food Program (WFP) expressed alarm Thursday over the rise in shootings, looting, and attacks on trucks bringing food into the country over the past month. It said security at storage facilities is still a major concern.

Other relief organizations are telling volunteers it's too unsafe for them to go to Iraq. "Security problems have complicated almost every aspect of humanitarian efforts" in Iraq, says Mike Kiernan, a spokesman for Save the Children in Washington. He adds that financial donations in the US "have been less than what many charities had expected."

The US military and aid organizations here have similar goals: restore a semblance of normalcy to the Iraqi people as quickly as possible. Working together, they often are more effective. Although international aid groups are used to working in crisis environments, some worry that the symbols of military occupation in Iraq are mixed with those of humanitarian work to an unprecedented degree. And that may be prompting a backlash.

On July 6, the WFP officein Mosul was targeted in a grenade attack, but there were no causalities. The same night a WFP warehouse in Kirkuk was attacked, and warehouses in Nasiriyah and Basra have also been looted.

Latif Bayati, an Iraqi who is a consultant for the UN Development Program in Baghdad, says men armed with AK-47s attempted to enter that compound last week. The main UN compound in Baghdad is guarded by heavily-armed US forces. But security concerns are so great that a new concrete wall is being built around the compound.

Gunnar Ullnaess is in charge of logistics at the largest World Food Program warehouse in Baghdad, and though he gives American troops high marks for their work, he notes that the WFP has made some cosmetic changes to distance itself from the military.

In the early days of work in Baghdad WFP personnel drove large white SUVs - similar to those used by many American officials - and were often greeted with cold stares.

"They are suspicious, of course. They think, 'This big car, this must also be a fat American,' " Mr. Ullnaess says of local people. The agency finally repainted the cars blue, with "WFP" in huge orange letters on the side, and held a meeting with local staff to emphasize that the project is an international humanitarian operation, not one run by Americans.

"So when we put on the [WFP] stickers, then suddenly people were greeting us," he says.

Mark Smith, aid director for the Springfield,Mo., faith-based group Convoy of Hope, says distinguishing between coalition military personnel and other Westerners may not be the only problem.

"There's also the possibility that you just have people who want to make the place as unstabilized as possible, and any Western target, whether it is NGO, military, press, you name it, would be worth attacking," says Smith, who just returned from an assessment trip to Baghdad.

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