During the Gulf War the United States used about 800 tons of depleted uranium against the Iraqi's. As a result cancer in Iraq has soared. The rate of cancer has risen five to seven fold since 1991 according to Iraqi pathologists. Genetic deformities have also drastically increased since the Gulf War. To make matters worse, Iraq has been prevented from cleaning up Gulf War battle fields which are heavily contaminated with radiation. The Iraqi people are not the only ones who have suffered the effects of the uranium munitions. U.S. veterans from the Gulf War are also suffering the effects. Furthermore, radiation seeps into the soil and water which leaves much of the produce in Iraq containing cancer causing agents.
What are some of the other effects on the people of Iraq?
-70% of pregnant Iraqi women suffer from anemia
-The death rate for children under five years of age has risen from 593 in 1989 to 4,578 in 1997.
-1.2 million Iraqi's died of the sanctions by June 1997. This works out to approx. 600 per day.
-Many Iraqi's live on as little as $3-$6 per day
-A study in May 2000 showed that nearly half of the children under age five suffered from diarrhea within two weeks of that month: over a third suffered acute respiratory infections; nearly half suffered from fever.
-Safe drinking water is a nation wide problem
-A drastic rise in begging, violent crime, corruption, exploitation and prostitution as people turn to any possible means of acquiring money.
-In the 1980’s Iraq had problems with childhood obesity, much like we do here in the west right now, but now the children of Iraq have an even worse problem, malnourishment.
-The standard of living for the average Iraqi has gone from standards comparable to many European countries to standards more common in the poorest countries of the world, like Sudan or Afghanistan.
-Iraqi’s turn to selling all their possessions just to afford a bit of food.
-Ethics and moral values are undermined by desperation to survive.
-Families fall apart as fathers turn their backs on their families because they can no longer support them, nor stand to stay and watch them die.
Former U.N. assistant secretary general Dennis Holiday has called the sanctions on Iraq “a humanitarian crisis,” it’s plain to see why.
The effects of the Gulf War are still being felt by the people because of sanctions.
-Almost as many bombs were used on Iraq during the Gulf War as were used in the bombing of Yugoslavia by the U.N.
-Nuclear reactors/chemical plants bombed, unleashing radiation and deadly chemicals on the people.
-The amount of bombs dropped on Iraq was equivalent to 7.5x the power of the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima in World War Two.
-At least 15,000 Iraqi killed, while only 148 Americans were killed. None of these Americans were killed by Iraqi counter-strikes; all were the victims of mechanical defects.
What is the cost of the sanctions?
Other than the obvious human costs outlined above, the United States spends 50 billion dollars in tax payers money to fund the blockade of Iraq every year. Canada spends 35.9 million dollars in tax payer’s money to fund a ship which helps to blockade Iraqi ports every year. These are only examples of two of the many countries involved in the blockade.
What have been the effects on the government of Iraq?
The same political party has remained in power since before the sanctions were put in place. And the same man has lead this party, Saddam Hussein. The effects of the sanctions on the Iraqi leadership are minimal compared to the effects on the common person because the government has the capability to take what it needs to live a comfortable life. Despite the fact that Saddam’s government is a dictatorship, which is guilty of human rights abuses, it enjoys the support of most of the Iraqi population. This is mostly because Saddam’s defiance of the west is exactly what the angry citizens of Iraq want to hear after years of watching each other waste away. The more the U.N. hurts the people of Iraq, the stronger their support for Saddam grows. To make matters worse, the anger at the U.N. and especially the U.S. has caused an increase in militant ideas such as Islamic fundamentalism and militarism. Many new Baath party members are more militant than Saddam has ever been and believe that Iraq should go to war against the United States no matter what the cost. As far as they, and many others in Iraq, are concerned, there is nothing left to loose.
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