By Ramzy Baroud

 
  August 06, 2000, 07:59 AM
  SEATTLE (AROL) - One decade ago, Iraq was sanctioned,
  presumably for its military invasion of its smaller neighbor to the south,
  Kuwait. Now, “Kuwait is free. It’s rebuilt. It has a thriving economy,”
  according to a Pentagon statement by spokesman Kenneth Bacon on
  August 1. Bacon also proclaimed, as confidently and promptly, “Iraq is
  contained. It has a broken economy. It is an isolated state.”

  And who can disagree with the Pentagon’s honest reading of events?
  In fact, one can enhance the above statement by adding that Iraq’s
  infrastructure is almost non-existent with no spare parts to pump its
  own oil or enough equipment to dig for new wells in order to combat
  the devastating drought. Iraq’s children are deprived of the right to life.

  The number of Iraqi children who have died as a result of the
  sanctions ranges from 1,351,535- the most recent Iraqi figure to
  500,000. The United Nations estimates close to a million civilians, over half of them children under age five, have
  died over the past decade as a result of the sanctions.

  Iraqi children are also denied the right to proper education. UNICEF estimates that no more than 45% of schools
  have the basic infrastructure needed for teaching to take place. Large numbers of Iraqi students have dropped
  out of school to find street jobs, mainly as beggars, and in the case of female students, for early marriage.

  Iraq has little to expect from the future. The United States army’s depleted uranium- with an indefinite life span-
  is actively lurking in most of the South, poisoning crops and nesting in human bodies, containing carcinogens
  and many other unknown contaminants.

  One can safely declare that the Iraqi spirit is itself near complete collapse. Such a fact can hardly be
  demonstrated by a statistical figure, even by examining past UNICEF reports, which endlessly speak of the high
  depression rate among Iraqis, including elementary school students.

  In my visit to Iraq over a year ago, the cheerless faces in the impoverished markets, the sorrowful mothers by
  the bedsides of their malnourished children, and the mournful crowds heading toward Thursday mass funerals.
  Every other Thursday Baghdad witnesses a mass funeral to those who have died as result of the sanctions.
  These are a loud reminder that the Iraqi spirit, too, is slowly decaying.

  In selecting his words, Kenneth Bacon overlooked the unbearable price of the sanctions and commended his
  government’s achievement. “I think that’s [containing the Iraqi government] the fundamental accomplishment over
  the last 10 years,” he cheerfully declared.

  The State Department as well refused to miss such an occasion and insisted on sharing the credit of the
  “accomplishment.” The message, however, was even more distorted.

  State Department deputy spokesman, Philip Reeker said on August 2, commemorating the tenth anniversary of
  the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, “The United States has consistently supported international efforts to ensure Iraq's
  compliance with United Nations Security Council resolutions and international norms.”

  The United States’ respect for international law as always, remains choosy and particular. While the US
  championed its own reading of United Nations resolutions regarding Iraq for ten years, it openly defied these
  resolutions by bombing Iraq’s territories in the last two years and violating the so-called no-fly-zone, which itself
  is another US transgression of international law. This silent war reportedly claimed the lives of 300 Iraqis, and
  the nearly daily bombing continues.

  Furthermore, while Reeker emphasized the US role of upholding the will of the international community, he
  concluded his remarks praising a gross violation of this will. “Under the Iraq Liberation Act, we are working with
  representatives of the Iraqi opposition to bring about a change of regime in Iraq and the establishment of a
  representative, democratic Iraqi government that is responsive to the needs of its people and willing to live in
  peace with its neighbors.”

  Strangely enough, plotting to overthrow a sovereign government is by no means a provision of the international
  law nor was the “Iraq Liberation Act” emphasized in any UN resolution. Reeker also conveys the same “coupes
  for democracy” strategy carried out by past American governments, mainly in Latin America, starting with
  Guatemala in early 1950’s.

  Ten years have passed since the imposition of the sanctions in Iraq, and the American government refuses to
  accept that what was supposedly meant to destroy Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction is destroying an entire
  nation instead. The human tragedy in Iraq is worsening and the genocide is turning into a statistic, with little
  regard for any human cost.

  About a year ago, a weeping young Iraqi mother asked me, with her hand extended to comfort her dying
  6-year-old daughter, “Fida”, which in Arabic means “sacrifice,” will the world do anything to save my daughter?
  “God willing, the world will wake up one day and see the truth,” my answer came hesitant and unsure.

  While Pentagon and State Department officials are patting backs for a job well done in “containing” Saddam
  Hussein, over one million Iraqi children just like Fida have died because of the sanctions. The world has done
  nothing to bring an end to the tears of Iraqi mothers or to halt the deepening catastrophe.
 

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