Dr Somaraju, Director, CARE Hospitals, Hyderabad, has appealed to all the nations to rush medicare and other basic necessities to the people of Iraq. In a moving statement, Dr Somaraju said the Iraqi people were suffering due to lack of medicines and medical equipment. "We need to help them," he said in his appeal.

The following is the full text of his statement:

All of us agree that it was an unnecessary war. No one can justify the action taken by the United States and the United Kingdom against Iraq. Whether you call it war or terrorism, only the name is different. Shockingly the rest of the world behaved like TV spectators. No nation, including the big ones, did anything to stop the aggression launched by the coalition forces. The question is not whether Saddam Hussain was right or wrong, but whether a war was necessary to bring him down.

The war has left hundreds of people dead and wounded and a much large number homeless. The previous sanctions had almost destroyed Iraq and the present war has brought further misery. Though the US attacked Iraq on the charge that it had piled up biological weapons and weapons of mass destruction, so far there is no evidence to prove the charge. But what shocks the conscience of the people is the naked aggression against an independent country. There is absolutely no morality among the nations. In fact individuals are far better.

I personally feel that before the US targets Syria, all the nations should join hands and stop them from undertaking another naked aggression. Besides, all the nations should also help in providing medicare and other basic necessities to the Iraqi people. The Iraqi people are suffering due to lack of medicines and medical equipment. We need to help them.