[812] in peace2
[RJPMcD@aol.com: article on Iraq]
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Francis Doughty)
Mon May 28 14:02:03 2001
Date: Mon, 28 May 2001 14:01:52 -0400 (EDT)
Message-Id: <200105281801.OAA10814@eecs-ath-10.mit.edu>
From: Francis Doughty <doughty@MIT.EDU>
To: peace-list@mit.edu
Rick McDowell, a friend of mine, works with Voices in the Wilderness,
has organized and led delegations to Iraq, and recently made his 12th
trip there in March. Read on for a slice of the real story --Francis
------- Start of forwarded message -------
From: <RJPMcD@aol.com>
Date: Sat, 26 May 2001 09:03:43 EDT
Subject: article on Iraq
To: RJPMcD@aol.com
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
Dear Friends,
I've enclosed, for your perusal, my latest article on Iraq. After twelve
trips to Baghdad, I've grown close to her people and have begun to share in
their despair of a future. Please feel free to pass this on. And in the
next conversation with your Congressman or Senator, demand an end to
sanctions.
In Peace,
Rick
Iraq
Jibrael graduated from a Baghdad University, but left his profession shortly
after the imposition of economic sanctions. He now drives a taxi. I've come
to know and respect Jibrael as a gentle yet strong man, a dignified and
caring husband and father. During my recent trip to Iraq, Jabrael spoke of
chronic depression and the loss of hope in a future for his family and
country. He talked of the monthly bribes paid to his children's teachers to
insure instruction and grades. My friend pleaded for help to leave Iraq.
A 1991 UN report described Iraq, in the early and mid 1980's, as a country
rapidly approaching the standards of developed countries. UNICEF currently
describes the situation as "an ongoing humanitarian emergency " and reports
"the national economy has not shown signs of recovery as hyperinflation,
unemployment and the depreciation of the national currency continued
unabated." Nutrition surveys carried out by UNICEF and other UN agencies in
the past year show that since the introduction of the UN's Oil for Food
Program in 1996, the nutritional status of children has not improved. UNICEF
reports that "one in five children in the south and center of Iraq remain so
malnourished that they need special therapeutic feeding." [At the same time,
UN monitors in Iraq report that the Iraqi government food distribution
program is a model for famine relief] Fifty percent of schools are unfit
for teaching and learning, and the rapid decline in both quality and quantity
of education continues as more pupils and teachers leave the system. Basic
infrastructure, including electrical, water and sanitation systems, continues
to collapse.
Marc Bossuyt, author of a UN commissioned report released in August 2000,
called sanctions "a humanitarian disaster comparable to the worst
catastrophes of the past decades." Bossuyt said the Security Council's
decision to continue sanctions while knowing they caused an untold number of
Iraqis to die was "unequivocally illegal" under international humanitarian
law.
Sanctions against Iraq remain the most comprehensive in modern civilization
and continue to exact a toll on Iraq's civilian population that is difficult
to describe. Revenue generated from the sale of Iraqi oil cannot be used for
local procurement or investment. This has caused 70% of civilian industrial
enterprises to go defunct or operate at significantly reduced levels,
resulting in unemployment rates of 60-75%. Migration and the collapsing
system of education has led to a de-skilled or de-professionalized
population. The middle class, once committed to moving Iraq towards a more
open society, have been reduced to destitution.
After 11 years, it is clear to some that sanctions have little to do with
Saddam Hussein. With a projected 36% reduction in renewable energy programs,
the Bush Administration has declared its dependence on fossil fuels. As US
energy consumption increases and with global usage predicted to double in the
next 20 years, the unspoken objective of the Administration is to acquire
control over Iraq's oil and maintain dominance in the region. The
Administration has no intention of loosening the noose on Iraq or allowing
Baghdad to re-emerge as a regional intellectual or military power or a social
welfare state.
Time is running out for a meaningful change in the sanctions regime.
Conflicting reports emerging from the US and UN on Iraq, the ongoing
demonization of Saddam, talk of a US recession, environmental and energy
concerns, star wars, China and other seemingly more pressing issues have led
to indifference in American public opinion regarding these sanctions.
A draft report of an energy task force headed by Vice President Cheney calls
upon the US to review sanctions against Iraq because of the importance of its
oil production to meeting domestic and global energy needs. Exxon Mobil
Corp., which had profits of $50 billion last quarter (40% increase over the
year before), has been pressing Congress and the Administration for access to
Iraq's oil. When Iraq nationalized its oil industry in the 1970's, the
regime built up the public sector and realized a pre-sanction literacy rate
of 95% and accessible health care for 93% of the population. The US-based
oil industry is unlikely to share its profits for the rebuilding of Iraq's
public sector and social programs.
A new US sanctions policy is expected by June 5. Secretary of State Colin
Powell wants to introduce "smart sanctions" and "stabilize this collapsing
situation and find some basis of stabilization that would bring the coalition
[Gulf War Allies] back together." He rejected the characterization that "we
are easing up or giving up [on sanctions]," and stated that "we want the
world to know our quarrel is not with the people of Iraq." No quarrel with
the Iraqi people -- US-led internationally sanctioned disease and starvation,
responsible for over a million deaths, continue to claim the lives of 180
children each day.
On Powell's Middle East tour in February, angry protesters throughout the
region chanted and held signs that called Powell a "war criminal" and
"coward" for his role in the Gulf War. Vice President Dick Cheney and Colin
Powell were among the architects of the War. They share responsibility for
the 42 days of bombardment which reduced Iraq to a pre-industrial state and
for the decision to drop over 300 tons of depleted uranium (DU), which is
suspected of contributing to the significant increase in cancer and birth
defects. In the course of the war, 125 Americans died [many of friendly
fire] while tens of thousands of Iraqis were slaughtered, hundreds of
thousands wounded and nearly 2 million left homeless. And the warfare
continues, on May 2, 2001, eight Iraqi children were killed when a cluster
bomb dropped a decade ago exploded in the southern city of Fao.
In the longest sustained bombing campaign since WWII, the US/UK, in
contravention of international law and without a Security Council mandate,
maintains no-fly zones in northern and southern Iraq. The US bill for the
southern zone alone in the fiscal year that ended in September 2000 was $1.4
billion. Powell recently stated "these zones have a purpose and the purpose
is to protect people." The bombing has killed and wounded hundreds of Iraqi
civilians and terrorized hundreds of thousands more.
The Administration maintains Iraq has a weapons program and refuses to accept
reports from former and current UN weapons' experts. Scott Ritter, a former
UNSCOM (UN weapons inspection program) inspector stated: "In terms of
large-scale weapons of mass destruction programs, these had been
fundamentally destroyed or dismantled by the weapons inspectors as early as
1996, so by 1998 we had under control the situation on the ground." Saddam,
says Ritter, poses no immediate threat. Dr. Blix, executive chairman of
UNMOVIC (successor to UNSCOM), answered a question whether there was any
indication that Iraq was trying to rearm. "No, I do not think you can say
this. We have nothing to substantiate this."
If the Bush Administration was honestly concerned with the proliferation of
weapons of mass destruction, it would end sanctions and implement Article 14
of UN Resolution 687. That resolution calls for "establishing a zone in the
Middle East free from weapons of destruction and all missiles to deliver
them." This would include Israel's estimated 200 nuclear weapons. Instead,
US companies lead the world in weapons sales to the region in preparation for
a regional apocalypse.
A recent "arms bazaar" in Abu Dhabi brought together 860 international arms
producers. Gulf countries account for 20 percent of all arms purchases in
the world -- over $16 billion last year. The United Arab Emirates purchased
80 F-16 fighters from Lockheed Martin last year and Oman, flush with a 38%
defense spending increase, also wants to buy F-16's. Earlier this year, Iran
signed a $7 billion arms agreement with Russia. Saudi Arabia, with 35%
unemployment amongst men, outspends all other nations in the world in the
purchase of weapons.
As countries throughout the Middle East militarize and the Palestinian and
Israeli conflict escalates, economic warfare is isolating and destroying a
second generation of Iraq's young people.
The US Administration refuses to enter into direct negotiations with Iraq's
representatives, but maintains communication with the PLO and Israel, the
governments of North Korea, China and Russia. Neither the government of the
US or Iraq can claim the moral high ground. The Administration should
consider the words of Iraq's former UN Ambassador Nizar Hamdoon: "Iraq
welcomes any diplomatic approach, any meaningful approach that goes beyond
the bombing and use of force."
Three of five permanent members of the Security Council (France, Russia and
China), the Arab League [including Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria, Jordan and
Turkey] and countries throughout the world have called for an end to the
sanctions regime. None the less, the UN has been unable to act. The UN has
become a casualty of sanctions, for its authority has been marginalized, its
charter compromised, and its personnel demoralized. Evidence that countries
may be tiring of US dominance, a humiliating vote in early May excluded the
US from serving on the UN Human Rights Committee
Just prior to the Arab Summit this past March, The New York Time's columnist
Thomas Friedman wrote, "From the smallest pistachio seller here on the shores
of the Persian Gulf to the highest Arab ministries, there is not only total
opposition to any Bush plans to tighten sanctions on Saddam Hussein...but in
fact virtually unanimous support for lifting sanctions immediately."
Patriarch Raphael Bidawid, the spiritual leader of Iraq's Catholic
population, said "I am afraid that if the USA and Britain continue in this
way, the whole of the Middle East will be set on fire. The whole of the Arab
world is now against the Americans and the British, and ready to commit
violence against the USA and Britain in their own countries. It is time to
start sincere dialogue to reach a solution. Blood and violence lead only to
more blood and violence. Think of the common good which peace can give to
all, us and you. If we do not resume dialogue the ghost of a war is not
improbable and we risk new chaos."
Jibrael's despair is shared by an increasing number of people. The director
of a medical center in southern Iraq confided to me this past March that his
wife, seven months pregnant, had given birth to a still born child and
refuses to get pregnant again. She is said to have witnessed too many
children born with birth defects, too many spontaneous abortions, and she is
frightened. The director, with all his medical expertise, feels helpless.
After nearly 11 years of sanctions, many people are dreaming of a life beyond
Iraq's borders.
------- End of forwarded message -------
