Death to Iraq!

By Webster Walker

http://www.uwire.com/content//topops043001003.html
04/30/2001

(U-WIRE) SEATTLE -- Question: How many murdered children does it take to awaken the conscience of the people of the United States?

Answer: I'll get back to you on that. We're approaching one million, and it hasn't happened yet.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), over half a million people have died in Iraq as a result of the U.S.-sponsored war and sanctions against the country. WHO analysts estimate that roughly 5,000 children under the age of five die each month from preventable diseases and malnutrition brought on by our war. That's about one every nine minutes. In the time it takes you to read this column, another Iraqi child will die a horrible death, paid for by your tax dollars.

Of course, G. W. Bush will tell you that we aren't killing those children, Iraqi President Sadaam Hussein is. When George's daddy was U.S. president, he said Hussein was "worse than Hitler." This was supposed to justify our destruction of the country in the 1991 Gulf War. Any time questions arise regarding all those dying children, a big picture of Sadaam Hussein fills the screen, and we are all supposed to run away frightened.

Before the war, Iraq under Sadaam Hussein had one of the healthiest and best-educated populations in the region. Our war ignored all international conventions of war, and targeted civilian infrastructure. Here's a quote from an informed source: "To understand the gravity of the situation in Iraq, one must understand the damage inflicted by the 1991 Gulf War. The allied forces destroyed sewage systems, water purification plants, electrical grids, hospitals, schools, grain silos -- in short, the entire civilian infrastructure."

The quote is from Dennis Halliday of Ireland, who had his conscience awakened by being the person in charge of overseeing United Nations "humanitarian" efforts in war-ravaged Iraq. After 30 years with the UN and 13 months in charge of the "oil-for-food" program, the former assistant secretary general of the UN resigned his post in October of 1998 and spoke out publicly against the sanctions.

Halliday's replacement, German career UN official Hans Von Sponeck, also resigned the post in protest in February of 2000.

The sanctions are supposed to prevent Hussein from building weapons of mass destruction and hasten his downfall as leader of Iraq, but like the Gulf War itself, the sanctions go beyond military targets and prevent the rebuilding of the civilian infrastructure required for a modern population. Imagine living with raw sewage running in the streets of Seattle, with no option for constructing the necessary sewage treatment facilities, and no medical treatment available when your children become sick and die from the inevitable diseases. This is the reality of living in Iraq today.

Regarding the weapons of mass destruction, UN Security Council Resolution 687, which is used to justify the continued bombing of Iraq, also prohibits the acknowledged nuclear stockpiles of Israel. We should support the destruction of Iraqi weapons in the context of regional disarmament to include Israeli nuclear weapons.

As for hastening Hussein's downfall, the opposite effect is taking place. An entire generation is growing up under the most degrading conditions, and the people blame the United States for their predicament. Hussein himself has only strengthened his hold on power, while his people suffer the consequences of our brutality. We must allow the basic needs of the Iraqi people to be met.

One million -- almost one out of every 20 people in Iraq. Try to realize that this is not just a number. This number represents incredible personal pain, multiplied over and over again, of families torn apart, mothers forced to watch their children die, children killed by our war against the people of Iraq. Maybe if we are able to understand the astonishing and horrific crime we are committing, a light of compassion will flicker on in the heart of the people, and we will stop our government from carrying out the genocide that is taking place right now in Iraq.

If you have any doubts about the conscience of the U.S. political and military leaders who carry out the ongoing war and sanctions against Iraq, consider this quote from another informed source. Air Force Brigadier General William Looney, the head of the Central Command's Airborne Expeditionary Force, spoke about the Iraqi people in a recent interview in Defense Week magazine: "They know we own their country. We own their airspace. ... We dictate the way they live and talk. And that's what's great about America right now. It's a good thing, especially when there is a lot of oil out there we need."

Gosh, do you suppose international oil politics might have something to do with U.S. policy in Iraq?