http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/apr2000/iraq-a13.shtml
By Shannon Jones
13 April 2000
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Arab-American organizations, religious-pacifist groups and academics
participated in a panel discussion April 9 in Detroit, Michigan on the
impact of the US-led sanctions against Iraq that have resulted in the
deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, mainly children.
Despite the presence of a substantial panel, including academic experts
and prominent members of the Arab-American community, the meeting
was boycotted by the news media The silence of the press continues the
policy of suppressing reports on Iraq to hide from the American people
the terrible suffering being inflicted on civilians by the US government
and
its allies.
The meeting featured a showing of part of the documentary by British
journalist John Pilger , Killing the children of Iraq—a price worth
paying? The documentary recently aired on British television and
presents a devastating exposure of the “humanitarian” pretensions of the
regimes of US President Bill Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony
Blair.
During the panel discussion a psychologist from the University of
Michigan recounted experiences from a visit to Iraq he made last August
and September. Among the stops on his trip was the southern Iraq city of
Basra. “I confirmed a picture of deteriorating physical and mental health.”
He reported that one-third of Iraqi children are malnourished and 13
percent of Iraqi babies die within the first year.
“The medical system in Iraq, which was once one of the best in the
Middle East, is now in worse condition than in most Third World
countries. There are minimal antibiotics, and these are shared equally,
insuring that no one gets an adequate dose. There is a lack of parts for
air
conditioning in hospitals. I was in emergency rooms that were 100
degrees. Blood cannot be stored due to a lack of plastic bags. Surgical
gloves are washed with contaminated water and reused again and again
until they are worn out. Iraqi doctors, who are very dedicated, have been
without access to updated medical journals or texts since 1990.”
He reported that because of the lack of medicine and basic medical
supplies surgical procedures have been reduced by 75 percent. Some
are performed without anesthetic.
He noted that leukemia and congenital abnormalities have increased
dramatically, possibly as a consequence of exposure to depleted uranium
from the weapons that rained down on Iraq during the Gulf War.
Furthermore, there has been a growth in mental health disorders,
including in particular those related to stress. Social breakdown is evident
in the form of increased theft and vagrancy.
Vicky Rob, a relief worker with the aid organization “Life for Relief and
Development,” told of the devastating fall in the standard of living for
the
Iraqi population due to the impact of sanctions. “The Oil for Food
program has been a failure from the start. Contracts may take months to
approve.”
She reported that much of the infrastructure in Iraq has not been
repaired. “A multi-tiered bureaucracy must approve any exports. The
UN does not allow the repair or upgrading of schools or clinics.... Today
Iraq is the poorest country in the world. One kilo of meat is 1500 dinars.
The average salary of an Iraqi is 4000 dinars per month. The cheapest
pair of pants for a child is 4000 dinars. Clothing is a luxury.”
Dr. Hikmet Jamil, MD, PhD, a health consultant for the Arab Community
Center for Economic and Social Services and a member of the Wayne
State University faculty in Detroit, reported that the Iraqi people were
exposed to about 630,000 pounds of depleted uranium weapons during
the Gulf War. A pilot study he conducted on Iraqi refugees who
emigrated to the United States after the Gulf War found that congenital
anomalies and mental disorders in this group were much higher than
among immigrants from other Arab countries. Sixty percent of the Iraqi
immigrants in the study suffered from depression and 24 percent suffered
more serious mental disorders; 74 percent suffered from respiratory
problems.
Following the meeting Dr. Jamil told the WSWS, “Before 1997 I was a
professor in the medical school in Baghdad. There has been a dramatic
change in the trend of disease and cancer, specifically leukemia in
children, since 1994-95.
“I myself was exposed to depleted uranium. After the war I treated
soldiers who brought back empty shell casings and gave them to us as
souvenirs. We didn't know that we were exposing ourselves to uranium.
Kids were playing with these things. In the south of Iraq, where there
were major battles, the exposure was unbelievable.
“I will give a good example of how the impact of the sanctions on the
infrastructure of Iraq could be seen. You go to a teaching hospital. Say
you found in a ward 16 to 20 patients; if six needed an injection, they
would have to inject all six with one needle, without sterilization, because
the sterilization equipment isn't working. That is only one simple example.
“Between 1989 and 1997 there has been a 100 percent increase in the
cases of malignant cancer in Iraq. There has been a 14 percent increase
in renal diseases and a 13 percent increase in cardiac diseases.”
“In 1998 I returned to Iraq for two weeks to give a talk on the research
I
was doing in the United States. There has been a long-term impact of the
Gulf War on the Iraqi people. I did studies among Iraqi refugees living
in
the United States. They are still complaining of what is called Gulf War
Syndrome. This is only a pilot study. I am still seeking funding for a
major
study.”
While those addressing the gathering described the horrors inflicted on
the Iraqi population by US imperialism, the general political orientation
of
those organizing the town hall meeting is to apply pressure on the
Democratic Party and the Clinton administration. This is the same regime
which continues to bomb Iraq almost daily, and has overseen the
extermination by disease and malnutrition of some 500,000 Iraqi men,
women and children for the sake of American geopolitical interests.
The meeting was chaired by Congressman John Conyers, Democrat
from Detroit, who has sought to divert opposition to the sanctions into
the dead end of appeals to the conscience of Clinton and Secretary of
State Madeleine Albright.
In the face of mounting international revulsion over the sanctions,
Conyers recently cosponsored, along with a handful of liberal House
members, a bill that would modify the current sanction policies of the
Clinton administration. The bill, which has no chance of passing, would
not end the suffering of the people of Iraq. The proposed legislation
would lift the embargo on medical and food supplies. However, it would
maintain the existing ban on spare parts needed for restoring Iraq's water
purification system, electrical grids and other vital infrastructures.
The bill
also stipulates that food and medicine exports to Iraq be subject to
review for “potential threats to the national security of the United States.”
The UN committee overseeing the sanctions has routinely banned the
shipment of many medical supplies, such as syringes, on the grounds that
they have a potential military use.
The measure also does not address the question of how Iraq would pay
for additional imports of food and medicine. The current restrictions
imposed by the so-called Oil for Food program limit the amount of oil
Iraq can export and earmarks a large part of its oil revenue for reparation
payments to Kuwait and administrative costs.