Stephen Von Sychowski
Communist Party of Canada, Prince George Collective
Although it was the CIA which aided Saddam Hussein into power 23 years ago, the United States government has since waged an extensive propaganda war against the Saddam regime. Everything from blaming Saddam for the poor quality of life suffered by the people of Iraq, to accusing him (most always falsely) of acts of genocide and possession of weapons of mass destruction. Although Saddam has been guilty of numerous human rights abuses in the past, the United States, and the United Nations, did not speak out until his effectiveness as an ally had worn out. “He’s a son of a bitch, but at least he’s our son of a bitch,” stated one CIA official. But there is something more terrible, and less humane, than anything Saddam has done, or even anything the our governments have claimed he has done, it is the ongoing economic sanctions put on Iraq by the United Nations.
The United States and Britain, the two biggest supporters of sanctions on Iraq, have always claimed the sanctions were aimed at Saddam Hussein and his government, not at the people of Iraq. They have also claimed that the problems in Iraq today are a result of the dictatorship of Saddams Baath party. But then why have two Chief U.N. co-coordinators to Iraq resigned as a result of viewing, first hand, the pain caused by the sanctions? What is the real source of Iraq's ills, where do they come from, why do they exist, and who do they hurt?
Firstly we must look at what ill's we wish to investigate.
Lack of medical supplies
United Nation's sanctions are in place to prohibit the selling of medicine or medical supplies including machinery and tools to Iraq. The doctors and nurses of Iraq have their hands more than full in the work of trying to save the lives of Iraqi citizens who die in vain everyday because of U.N. sanctions.
Imagine a hospital room, full of bare, dirty, old beds. Flies are buzzing about the room. Doctors are frantically trying to save the lives of several young children.The hospital is understaffed because many doctors have left. They can no longer stand to watch child after child die in front of them, while they watch helplessly. The remaining doctors have little to work with but their bare hands. Medicine, tools, and equipment don’t exist. The room is dark, the only light comes through a window, the hospital has been without electricity since most of the power plants were bombed in the Gulf War, and there are sanctions on the necessary materials for re-building them. You watch in terror as another child dies needlessly from such a common problem as diarrhea, or for lack of clean drinking water, or a simple vaccine. These are the conditions of the hospitals in Iraq; these problems did not exist before the Gulf War and the sanctions which followed.
According to one Iraqi doctor three to four children died in his department per month. Now he says 30-35 are dying per month. There has also been an increase of 12x in the mortality of cancer victims.
Food Shortages
The U.N. sanctions prohibit the sale of food to Iraq, and of equipment for the processing of food and drink. During the Gulf War food stockpiles, grain silos, food processing plants and water treatment facilities were targeted as bombing sites. The United States Government claimed that these factories were producing biological weapons. One specific example of this policy was the one and only powdered milk factory in Iraq, which was bombed and then written off as a weapons factory. This plant made 17% of the required milk for the people of Iraq, the rest of which was imported. Many water purification plants were also bombed, sanctions were then put on the sale of supplies needed to re-build these plants.
The use of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is prohibited by international law, including The Geneva Convention, The Constitution of the World Health Organization, The Declaration of Human Rights and The Charter of Economic Rights.
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