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Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Nov. 20, 1997
issue of Workers World newspaper
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Report from Iraq

Lethal U.S. sanctions stiffen mass resistance

By Gloria La Riva
Baghdad, Iraq

Noted international human-rights attorney Ramsey Clark visited Iraq Nov. 5 to Nov. 10 with a delegation from the International Action Center. Our group came here to expose the genocidal effects of the sanctions imposed primarily by the U.S. military, and to express solidarity with the Iraqi people as they face new war threats from Washington.

Just getting here was a challenge. Because the U.S. prohibits any plane flights to Iraq, we had to drive 12 hours from Amman, Jordan, to Baghdad.

In trips to hospitals and in travel throughout Iraq we witnessed suffering of devastating proportions caused by the lack of basic medicines, food and clean drinking water—all brought about by the sanctions.

The U.S. government claims its latest military threat against Iraq is part of a campaign to uncover Iraq’s "weapons of mass destruction."

But its real objective remains what it has been since the end of the U.S. bombing of Iraq in 1991: to justify the continued use of United Nations sanctions.

These sanctions are the real weapons of mass destruction. Sanctions are a vicious and genocidal means of warfare that the U.S. increasingly employs against any country that does not bend to its will.

In the case of Iraq, the blockade has now killed 1.4 million people since March 1991, including 560,000 children under the age of five.

Sanctions still kill

According to the nation’s Ministry of Health, 6,000 Iraqi people died in October and the numbers are growing. Health Minister Umeed Madhat Mubarak said, however, that the country’s health care providers are engaging in remarkable efforts to try to save as many people as they can.

"Doctors are using many different alternatives," said Mubarak. "We have had very good results from a national rationing card system for the 700,000 people with chronic illness, diabetes and malignancies who should take drugs monthly. We can’t provide them full doses but it is a successful method."

But even these creative measures are limited attempts to overcome the extreme shortages caused by the total blockade. Before sanctions, Iraq imported $500 million worth of medicines from Jordan. Last year it could only afford $7 million worth.

At Basra’s General Hospital we saw a 15-year-old boy in a coma near death. The doctors can only give him one of the six pints of intravenous fluids needed to sustain his life because more is not available.

A 34-year-old man lay in pain, unable to have kidney dialysis because there are no catheters to administer his treatment. He awaits a slow but certain death.

At Qaddisiyah hospital in Baghdad, a 9-month-old baby with a swollen belly was shrieking in pain. The doctors told the visitors they cannot diagnose his illness because no diagnostic tests or reagents remain, even for simple tests.

Everywhere the delegation traveled we saw the heroic efforts of doctors and nurses who struggled to clean and reuse IV bags, catheters and syringes.

The sanctions have thrown Iraq, once renowned throughout the Middle East for its modern health care system, back to 17th-century levels. People are dying of preventable and curable diseases.

The UN sanctions created a "661 Committee," which decides what food or medical products Iraq will be allowed to import. These very restricted imports amount to only $1.6 billion every six months, not nearly enough for a country of 22 million people.

The director of the Red Crescent Society of Iraq said Iraq’s recent request for 100 ambulances was denied by the 661 Committee. He said the vehicles represent only 1 percent of the country’s needs. "Now, if someone needs help, we can transport them only by bus or private taxi."

Iraq complies, then faces new demands

Iraq has complied with every UN resolution, only to find more demands and resolutions placed on it by the UN Security Council, under the direction of the U.S.

Just as the debate on lifting the sanctions takes place, the U.S. government has managed to create a new crisis. On Oct. 23 Washington pushed a new resolution, 1134, through the Security Council despite five abstentions. Due to go into effect in six months, this resolution bans certain Iraqi officials from traveling.

Iraq announced shortly thereafter that U.S. inspectors would no longer be allowed on the UN Special Inspection (UNSCOM) teams that conduct weapons searches throughout Iraq.

The U.S. news media claim that the UN teams are being denied access, but Iraq says only the U.S. members cannot be on the teams. The whole teams have refused to inspect.

Richard Butler, head of UNSCOM, said U-2 reconnaissance flights would be resumed Nov. 10, which they were. Iraq moved various equipment out of sight of possible U.S. military attack.

Then the U.S. accused Iraq of hiding weapons of mass destruction.

Iraq’s position

In a special meeting in Baghdad on Nov. 9, Dr. Al-Muktar, director of the Iraqi Organization for Friendshipment, Peace and Solidarity, explained Iraq’s position to Clark and the IAC members.

"After six and a half years, and big sacrifices made by Iraq, Iraq did not see any hope for the lifting of the embargo, even partially. On the contrary, the U.S. has imposed a new resolution 1134, calling for more sanctions on Iraq.

"We have to look for another option to free our people from the genocidal plan of the U.S. We have now lost one and a half million human beings who died because of the shortage of food and medicines. And every year, we’re losing hundreds of thousands of people, besides the suffering of our people, every day, every hour.

"Your visit at this time is very important to us, to inform the public opinion of the U.S. of the reality of Iraq. We have no other option but to resist the U.S. intention to destroy our society, to ignite civil wars, to dismantle the Iraqi state into smaller states, as they have done in Yugoslavia and Rwanda."

Clark supports Iraqi demand

Ramsey Clark responded, "It was never right that any Americans should be on the inspection team. Not only are they not neutral but their nation, their government has the direct policy and commitment to continue the sanctions."

Iraq’s stance of calling for the removal of the U.S. inspectors, and of demanding an end to the sanctions, is a courageous act, given the overwhelming power and military presence of the U.S. Pentagon in the region.

It is hoping for international support to end the blockade, whose only objective is the disintegration of Iraq. As of Nov. 11, France, Russia, India and the Arab League have called for no U.S. military action against Iraq.

Unity among the Iraqi people is evident, and programs such as the country’s national food rationing and distribution system, which guarantees a minimum diet, have created a sense of unified struggle.

The IAC group visited the massive distribution warehouse for the 1.3-million Saddam City district of Baghdad. Workers are busy 24 hours a day loading and delivering flour, rice, infant formula, tea, cooking oil, sugar and salt to every person through neighborhood stores at greatly subsidized prices.

"The International Action Center stands with the people of Iraq against this genocide," said delegation member Deirdre Sinnott. "All progressive people must recognize this crisis for what it is—an attempt by the U.S. to crush Iraq."

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