I would like to thank Anne Williams, chairperson of the Lethbridge DisarmamentCoalition and all of you involved with the Hands Across the Border Peace Gathering forgiving me the pleasure of joining you today.
International events such as this constitute another pilgrimage by concerned citizensto make their voices heard in the struggle to secure a world free from war.
At the end of June this year, I had the good fortune to be involved in anotherinternational gathering; that was the Tenth World Congress of the International Physiciansfor the Prevention of Nuclear War held in Stockholm. It was a great privilege to hearfirst hand accounts from physicians living in the war torn areas of the Gulf, as well asto listen to reports from individuals and groups who have recently been to Iraq on factfinding tours. These people included Iraqi, Turkish, Israeli, Jordanian, Palestinian, andEgyptian physicians as well Dr. Eric Hoskins from the Gulf Peace Team and members of theHarvard Study Team. They carried a tale of human misery; their evidence shattered anyillusion of a high tech, victimless war. . Let me share what has been observed by mymedical colleagues and others.
Ninety thousand tons of explosives, mostly bombs, were used in the Gulf War. That isequal to several times the power of the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima.
Estimates of immediate military casualties have been put at 100- 150,000 Iraqi deadwith unknown numbers missing. There were 343 Coalition deaths. To this add an unknownnumber of casualties. Immediate civilian deaths have been estimated at 15,000.
While given much publicity for their precision, the so-called "smart weapons"used missed their targets as much as 20% of the time and standard weapons missed from 50to 70% of the time. Substantial civilian casualties might be inferred from the amount ofmateriel destruction that occured in densely populated cities such as Baghdad and Basra.Although impossible to estimate, there were undoubtedly casualties of the bombing who diedbecause damage to medical facilities precluded appropriate medical care.
An accounting of war related mortality and morbidity must include the approximately 1.8million refugees (1.1 million women and children) displaced to inhospitable camps on theIraq/Turkey and Iraq/Iran borders. In April, the death rate in these camps was up to1000/day with respiratory and intestinal disease leading the list of cause of death. Theincidence of infectious diseases such as measles, cholera and polio also increased,promoted by lack of basic sanitation and adequate nutrition. The rehabilitation of theserefugees in safe areas which are themselves deficient in many life sustaining fundamentalswill be an awesome task, following those months of extreme privation.
The flight of two million itinerant workers from Iraq and Kuwait since August of 1990,to home countries where many face poverty needs to be taken into account. There is noprecedent for an exodus of this kind; the loss of income alone for these people and theirfamilies will place enormous strain on systems already stretched to the limit.
Now how about those who neither fled nor were killed at the height of the fighting.Left behind are people living in a vanquished country with economic sanctions still inplace. These sanctions allowed only urgent humanitarian food relief if provided by outsideorganizations. This country depends on imports for 70% of its food supply and 75% of itsmedical supplies. International humanitarian relief assistance, while most welcome, hasbeen able to supply only 10% of the current urgent needs. The UN’s own charterdeclares food a human right.
Superimposed on six months of sanctions, including food, is the near-apocalypticinfrastructure damage sustained during the bombing. The destruction of electricalgenerating capacity has rendered Iraq incapable of purifying water, treating sewage,irrigating crops, refrigerating vaccines, and operating health facilities. Severemalnutrition and diarrheal illnesses are common among children. During famine conditions,the death rate from infectious diseases is higher than from actual starvation itself, andit is often the very young who are the most susceptible. The Harvard Study Team estimatesthat 55,000 more Iraqi children died in the first four months of 1991 than in the sameperiod a year ago; a further 5% of children under the age of 5 (this means 170,000 youngchildren) will perish in the coming year due to the debilitating conditions created by thewar and sanctions.
The health care facilities are in no condition to deal with the usual collection ofhealth problems let alone the increase in morbidity due to starvation and infectiousdiseases. As one Iraqi physician described, even if you do get to a hospital thathasn’t been gravely damaged, there are still no EKG’s, no blood, no refrigeratedmedicines, no anesthetics, and no oxygen.
While there may be signs of improvement in the condition of the infrastructuresespecially in some of the larger centres, observers generally agree that furtherimprovement in the situation is far beyond relief agencies’ abilities to handle. Dr.Jack Geiger of the US based Physicians for Human Rights has called this (and I quote)"a bomb now, die later kind of war...a slow moving catastrophe of immenseproportions."
Add to this tally of mayhem countless human rights violations-- 10-12,000 Kuwaitisnoted as missing during the Iraqi occupation, post-war Kuwaiti terrorism of non-Kuwaitisremaining in that country and , no less appalling, Saddam Hussein’s brutal post-warrepression of the Kurdish and Shi’ite uprisings.
There is more—consider 10,000 Israeli homes damaged, several hundred Israelicasualties and excruciating panic experienced by those huddling in sealed rooms, gas masksslapped on, waiting for a Scud that may be armed with a chemical warhead.
Countries not even directly involved in the fighting have been affected by this war.Many Third World nations least able to withstand further adversity will endure theeconomic consequences of the loss of earnings by expatriates formerly working in Iraq andKuwait. They will suffer from the drop in exports, and variable oil prices.
The effects on the population of bombing of chemical and biological weapons plants andnuclear facilities, and of the oil well fires is simply unknown.
Like a stone dropped into a still pool, the Gulf War has sent ripples that will be feltfor at least a generation.
This is the shape of the human catastrophe; this is the human cost of the overt aim ofthe war, that is, ending the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait. This is also the human cost ofthe covert intentions to militarily humiliate another country and divert public attentionfrom conditions at home.
The budding hope, as the cold war tensions eased, of a new tomorrow where emphasis ondisarmament could shift resources to truly global threats, was snatched away by thereality of the Gulf War. Peace dividend? A new world order? In fact, the military industryis thriving; high tech weapons are the latest fascination and talk of controls on armssales is a hoax. It is very much business as usual.
The overwhelming lesson of the Gulf War is that we have not relinquished, not by oneiota, our dependence on war. In fact, we have witnessed a new and improved version, aversion so bloodless, so seductive, so thrilling and seemingly justified, that war has ineffect been rehabilitated as an acceptable, no, PREFERRED, method of resolving conflict.Indeed, if one reflects for a moment, it would appear that rendering an urbanized,industrialized nation a Third world country is an acceptable method of disarmament.
I am reminded of a statement by a Canadian economist in a recent lecture. She said thatthe world is now living under a military monopoly and that fact made her feel very safe.She went on to say that this did not mean there would be no more war but wars would tendto be small and system-enchancing. If you wonder what was meant by system-enhancing, as Iand others at the lecture did, she defined system-enhancing as supporting our valuesystem. Her statement may, in part, be quite correct; wars seem destined to be"system enhancing". However, I would substitute the word, national interests forvalue system. And the national interests of the North are served by subjugation anddomination over the South. As Noam Chomsky has pointed out, the lesson of the Gulf War tothe Third World "...is don’t raise your heads. We are the masters. You are theslaves. If you get out of line, you don’t get just defeated, but you get totallydestroyed."
It is distressing for many of us to witness what appears to be a large scale seductionof our fellow citizens by this renewed "might makes right" mentality. But lookaround you. Rejoice in the hope represented by our numbers today. We have had wonderfulexamples of the ability of a collection of like minded people to bring about change. Andas a society, change we must. Protecting narrow self-interests is in fact impossible, ifnot morally reprehensible. .The awareness is growing that this globe and its inhabitantsare truly interdependent. Our system of domination, of others and this planet has put uson a suicidal path.
We can and must point out the glaring contradictions in the information which ispresented to us. We need to encourage others to forsake their denial of the reality ofwarfare and especially the elaborate propaganda concoctions which justify these heinousactivities. We must require an ethical standard of behaviour of our governments no lessthan we demand of ourselves. Even our children are expected not to lie.
The ghastly events in the Persian Gulf over the last twelve months have reminded usthat the war and preparation for war continues to be a human pre-occupation. If we look atthe human costs of the war, it is impossible to justify such action over less violent anddiplomatic methods. We find that the war has found public endorsement because of a studiedeffort to avoid publicity of the human costs—no talk of body bags, no pictures ofstarving children, only dazzling video images.
We know that there is much work ahead to reach our goal of the prevention of war.Gatherings like this one provide a wonderful opportunity to refresh spirits and renewenergy for the long haul. Let’s stick together to achieve our vision.
Thank-you.
Dr. Betty Smith, a past president of Physicians for Global Survival, died from breastcancer in 1994.