separate military and humanitarian activities

Gil Loescher, a UN research associate who lost both legs in the bombing on the UN mission in Iraq one year ago, says that there ought to be a clear separation between military and humanitarian activities in Iraq and elsewhere. He says, "the military ought to provide security for humanitarian organizations and help them get their aid where it needs to go - and then take a back seat. " He suggests that not only for for practical reasons, but also for reasons of perceived political bias, and lack of attention to affected regions which are not geopolitically important, the separation is vital.