[116988] in Cypherpunks
Sanctions, Covert Action, Destabilization, and Bombings (fwd)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Zombie Cow)
Tue Aug 24 20:57:14 1999
Date: Wed, 25 Aug 1999 03:33:23 +0300 (EEST)
From: Zombie Cow <waste@zor.hut.fi>
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
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From: iacenter@iacenter.org
To: Middle East List <iacenter@iacenter.org>
Subject: Sanctions, Covert Action, Destabilization, and Bombings
SANCTIONS, COVERT ACTION, DESTABILIZATION, AND BOMBINGS:
The U.S. Plan to Overthrow the Government of Iraq
STATEMENT from the INTERNATIONAL ACTION CENTER on the UNICEF report
released Thursday, August 12 on the continually increasing mortality
rates for children in Iraq
On Thursday, August 12, UNICEF released a report detailing a two-fold
increase for infant and child mortality in Iraq over the past decade.
This adds to a litany of reports that have been released during this
period detailing the dire health situation in Iraq. It is with these
reports that a growing international anti-sanctions movement has
demonstrated that the U.S.-led UN sanctions have caused massive
destruction throughout Iraq--that they are, in fact, a weapon of mass
destruction.
In the past nine years, over 1.7 million people in Iraq have died as a
direct result of the sanctions. 250 die each day. Every child in
Iraq suffers from some degree of malnutrition. A simple cut can lead
to death because of contaminated water and lack of even the most basic
medicine.
For the past nine years, it is the U.S. that has led the effort to
continue the UN-imposed sanctions. This is not headline news. But
this UNICEF report has been. Why is that?
When people find out the true effects of the sanctions and the U.S.
intentions in the region, they join the anti-sanctions movement. The
U.S. and other backers of the sanctions don't want this, so they
attempt to manipulate the facts to justify continuing sanctions.
And how are the doing this?
The report claims that it is to the credit of the oil-for-food deal
that infant and child mortality is lower in the north than in the
central and south of Iraq. There are many factors that contribute to
malnutrition, including access to medication and health care
facilities, education, and water. According to the WHO, in 1989-90,
96 percent of the population in Iraq had access to clean drinking
water. By 1994, it had dropped to 45 percent.
Eighty percent of disease in Iraq originates in contaminated water.
It is the south of Iraq that is downstream from the country's capital
of Baghdad, meaning the water is far more contaminated. Water
contaminated from the central city of Baghdad with far under the
required amount of chlorine must travel through pipes damaged heavily
during the war and left unrepaired because the sanctions prohibit the
importation of the necessary parts and equipment. And again, 80
percent of disease originates in the water.
The UN's own agencies—FAO, UNICEF, WHO, WFP—report that 250 people die
every day as a direct result of the sanctions. They report that
Iraq's distribution of aid receives an ‘A' rating. They conduct over
650 observations of day of Iraq's civilian sector. And they report
that it is the UN committee that is delaying contracts for the
oil-for-food program.
THE U.S. ROLE IS DESTABILIZATION
The U.S. has clearly admitted that it has a destabilization plan for
Iraq, in public speeches and in the recent allocation by Congress of
$97 million to fund Iraqi opposition groups. Each component of the
attack on Iraq is a part of this strategy, be it the bombing blitzes,
the imposition of the no-fly zones, or the sanctions.
This same strategy has been used by the Pentagon and CIA many times in
the past: from 1950 to 1953 against the elected government of
Mossadegh in Iran, leading to its overthrow and the bloody reign of
the Shah; in 1954 against the democratically elected government of
Arbenz in Guatemala, leading to a U.S.-engineered military coup and
the subsequent slaughter of over 100,000 Indian people; from 1970 to
1973 against a democratically elected government of Salvador Allende
in Chile which ended in the coming to power of the dictatorship of
General Pinochet and the murder of 30,000 Chileans.
In each case, those governments were replaced by U.S. puppets that
looted the countries' land and resources for the benefit of Western
corporations and transformed the territory into a staging ground for
CIA operations in the respective regions. This is precisely what they
seek in toppling the government of Iraq. You do not have to be an
ideological or political supporter of the Iraqi government to mobilize
militant opposition against this kind of imperialist interference.
The International Action Center believes that the Iraqi people must be
free to determine their own destiny without CIA subversion, sanctions
or war. Understanding this must be the basis for any genuine
international solidarity movement with the people of Iraq.
The U.S. policy of economic destabilization and overthrow in Iraq will
not lead to a democratic government, but rather to a dictatorship
compliant to U.S. bidding, as has been shown time and again.
THE U.S. IS TO BLAME
The U.S. charges the government of Iraq with the death of the
population. But Iraq's health care system before the Gulf War was the
pride of the Middle East. Health care was and is free to the entire
population. People used to travel from other countries because the
health care in Iraq was so good, and they too received treatment free
of charge.
The U.S. claims that bombing and sanctions are for the "humanitarian"
benefit of populations worldwide, from Iraq to Yugoslavia. But what
are the priorities of the U.S. and its UN oil-for-food deal?
Under the oil-for-food deal, Iraq is permitted to sell $5.2 billion of
oil every six months. Only 53 percent of the revenue goes to
humanitarian aid. The other money goes for such things as funding the
UN Special Commission—the body responsible for weapons inspections in
Iraq, of which there have been over 9,000--and funding the UN
Compensation Commission.
And what is done with the 30 percent of the revenue that goes into the
"compensation commission"? On June 25, the UN awarded almost $2.8
billion to several oil companies, including more than $500 million to
a subsidiary of Texaco, Inc., for equipment and facilities that were
damaged when the U.S. led a 43-day war against Iraq in 1991. These
oil companies that make tens of billion dollars a year were paid out
of the UN Compensation Commission.
For the past ten years, the U.S. government has spent $50 billion a
year to militarily back up the economic sanctions. In the past 8
months, the U.S. has fired more than 1,100 missiles against 359
targets, triple the targets of the four-day bombing campaign December
16-19. This is costing almost $1 billion more a year. Domestically,
the Pentagon budget exceeds $300 billion a year while 43 million
people are without health care, and deep cuts are made in health care
and other social services. August 22 is the three year anniversary of
Clinton signing the Welfare Reform Law, which has led to draconian
cuts and forced people off welfare across the country.
The oil-for-food deal cannot solve the health problems in Iraq and
it's not meant to. The oil-for-food deal is and always will be used
by the U.S. to divert attention from the genocidal effects of the
sanctions. It is only a complete lifting of the sanctions and a
withdraw of the U.S. from the region that can end the crisis in Iraq.
ALERT FOR AN EXPANDING WAR
It is the U.S. and UN who are to blame for the crisis in Iraq. The
anti-war movement should remain alert to the possibility of an
expanding war. There is a movement within the government for air
strikes, increased military aid, increased funding of opposition
groups, and even ground troops. All aspects of the U.S.
strategy—including the manipulation of this UNICEF report—are a part
of the destabilization campaign.
End the Sanctions Now! U.S. Out of the Middle East! Let Iraq Live!
Sarah Sloan, Staff Organizer, International Action Center
International Action Center 39 West 14th Street, Room 296 New York, NY
10011 email: iacenter@iacenter.org http://www.iacenter.org phone: 212
633-6646 fax: 212 633-2889
