- Yet another Ramadan has embarked uponn us, and the people of Iraq are still facing difficulties surviving. Once a prosperous nation, Iraq is still unable to cope with one of the worst and longest humanitarian disasters in history; its children are still dying.

Ramadan is a month of reflection, at least for Muslims, and during this month there is much to think about. For Iraqis, fear is the dominant thought; fear of the ever-bleak future, their ability to withstand this human-made catastrophe; and the fear that their plight will always be overlooked, and that sanctions would become their fate for many years to come.

It?s rather interesting that a heated debate occupied the time and minds of politicians and intellectuals around the world: should the US continue bombing Afghanistan during the holy month of Ramadan? But few wondered why there is no debate regarding the ongoing genocide in Iraq against defenseless children, for the last 10 Ramadans.

The situation in that dear Arab country is worsening, not only is the mortality rate ceaselessly increasing, but what else could happen if the hawks of the American government manage to fabricate a need to bomb the already devastated country again?

The American people were already supporters of their government?s sanctions? policy even before the September 11 attacks. Now, one can only assume that the government, through the American media, can sell any proposal to the anxious Americans. Whether there is ?need to bomb Iraq? or not, few are those who will protest the bombing.

Yet the scenario of Iraq's future is dim regardless of the possibilities. As far as Iraq is concerned, the United States? "war on terrorism" means only one thing; the humanitarian disaster in Iraq is no longer relevant to the Security Council?s current agenda.^

The present discussion about yet a newer ?new world order?, reminds us of the old ?new world order? declared by former US President George Bush. If the 1991 ?world order? resulted in the death of over one million Iraqis due to sanctions, the newest ?world order? is unlikely to remove or lessen the hurt of the sanctions.

The possibility of bombing Iraq, in a ?second phase? of America?s ongoing war, has undermined the fact that the US is already leading a war on Iraq. Although American warplanes are routinely bombing Iraqi sites, villages and small towns, the primary war has been and remains: the deadly sanctions.

Even if the US has generously decided to spare Iraq its wrath and refrain from attacking under its ready-to-serve pretexts for wars, that doesn?t change the fact that the US, through its sanctions has killed thousands of Iraqis, mostly children, every month for the last ten years.

One can hardly understand how such killings are ?containing? the Iraqi government or halting its mass weapons build-up if such an alleged arsenal even exists.

Although Ramadan is a month of reflection for Muslims, I urge not only the American people, but the whole world to reflect on the issue of the sanctions, a deepening scar in the forehead of the world?s integrity.

According to various sources, there are more people in Iraq who die every single month due to the sanctions than those innocents who fell to their death in the World Trade Center on September 11.

It?s also a well-known fact that these deaths are a direct result of the sanctions, sanctions that are led and championed by the United States.^

It is neither foolish nor absurd to argue that the United States is directly responsible for the death of these children, therefore the Iraqi people are justified in blaming the United States for their misery and their ongoing genocide.

Remember, the United States is not fully denying such responsibly; former secretary of state Madeline Albright was blunt and honest when she told CBS? 60 Minutes a few years back that the killing of over half a million Iraqi children at the time was a worthy price. Albright?s cold stated words that the ?price is worth it? might not be uttered as openly by US officials, but they are certainly carried out in full. However, since then, the number of dead Iraqis has doubled.

The catastrophe in Iraq is in fact chapters of depressing tragedies, where the shortcomings of the Arab world, the failure of the United Nations, and the US government?s disregard for the lives of people are all mixed in an incredibly disheartening mosaic.

Most unfortunate is that the attack on America happened at a time where Iraq was successfully liberating itself from the grip of the US-led UN sanctions, by winning the support of many countries, who once were classified as part of the US alliance.

Sadly, Iraq?s fate has fallen again into the American lap, where the latter is arrogantly deliberating the possibility of striking Iraq, and studying such a possibility on merely technical grounds; will it be part of the second phase of war, third or forth?

Yet while the US is deciding whether they will bombard the impoverished country, Iraqis are left to ?celebrate? Ramadan, the month of reflection for all Muslims, on a constant search for food for the greatest bulk of Iraqis.

Strangely enough, as war experts are pondering if Iraq will be hit next, a few are mentioning that the US war on Iraq has never ceased.

Pay a visit to Saddam Hospital in Baghdad where dying children share rusty beds without medicine or food, and you will see a horrifying battlefield, where children fall alone, frail and defenseless.