The vulnerability of Iraqi children has been underlined repeatedly. In any conflict the primary responsibility for the protection and welfare of the civilian population rests with the warring parties. In a case of foreign occupation, the occupying power must ensure the provision of food and medical supplies for the civilian population. Over the last few days I have looked with growing concern at scenes of food being thrown off the back of military trucks. This is an object lesson in how not to deliver humanitarian assistance. A military truck does not become a humanitarian truck because food is handed out.