Iraq
Behind U.S. 'Oil For Food' scam
By Saul
Kanowitz
In mid-January the fourth Iraq Sanctions Challenge spent
five days in Iraq. Seeing the situation there firsthand gave
the delegates excellent information to combat the lies and
distortions of the U.S. government and corporate media.
We heard from Iraqi government representatives as well as
from Iraqi workers about the difficulties involved in trying
to meet the country's needs under the U.S./United Nations
sanctions. One topic that came up was how the United States
and Britain use the "Oil For Food" (OFF) program--an
ostensibly humanitarian effort--as a tool to punish the Iraqi
people for their intransigence.
On Jan. 14 we had the opportunity to hear from Minister of
Trade Dr. Mohammed Mahdi Salih. He explained that Iraq
entered into the UN's OFF program in December 1996 as a way
to buy medicines and increase the food rations distributed to
every citizen and non-citizen.
Between January 1997 and January 2000, Iraq sold $40
billion of oil. The money from the OFF program is deposited
into an account controlled by the UN 661 Committee.
Resolution 661 imposed sanctions on Iraq on Aug. 6, 1990, and
created the infrastructure to enforce the genocidal sanctions
that have killed over a million Iraqis.
Salih explained that as of this January, only about $9.6
billion has been distributed to Iraq, or about 24 percent of
total sales. The UN has taken $13.6 billion, or 34 percent,
to compensate the U.S. puppet regime in Kuwait for the war
and to "administrate" the OFF program.
In other words, more money has gone to compensate Kuwait
than to feed and provide medical care for the Iraqi
people.
'Dual-use technology'
Salih told us that the U.S. and British representatives on
the 661 Committee have continually denied or delayed
proposals submitted by Iraq. The reason given was that the
materials requested constituted "dual-use
technology"--meaning it could have a military application as
well as the specified civilian use.
This definition includes almost everything needed to
return Iraq to the status of a modern industrial society and
to the living standard its people enjoyed before sanctions
and the war. For example, Iraq has been denied the right to
import pencils in any substantial amount because the graphite
in them "could be used to help build nuclear weapons,"
according to the U.S. and Britain.
Chlorine, desperately needed for the purification of
drinking water, is highly restricted because it could
theoretically be used in the production of chemical and
biological weapons.
The committee has denied over 90 percent of Iraq's
contracts for irrigation and water/sewage treatment
facilities, one-third of its food proposals and 60 percent of
its agricultural contracts. (See accompanying chart)
Salih translated the real impact of the OFF program in
human terms when he explained that $9.6 billion averages out
to $7 per month per person over a four-year period.
With this minuscule amount of money Iraq's food rationing
system--described by the UN as one of the least corrupt in
the world--has managed to increase the average daily food
ration from 1,275 kilocalories to 2,188 kilocalories. But
this is still only two-thirds of the daily average before the
sanctions.
Rostamia Sewage
Treatment Plant
Several delegates later visited the Rostamia Sewage
Treatment Plant in Baghdad. There we heard a similar story.
The 661 Committee rejected the purchase of gas masks and
aeration tubes for the workers, who wear this equipment when
they descend into the sewage tanks to clean clogged filters
and gates. The equipment protects them from toxic gases.
The workers continue to do their jobs without the safety
equipment. Eight months ago, one worker died after ingesting
the toxic gases. The 661 Committee rejected the purchase
because the gas masks could be used as a "component of
chemical warfare."
We also visited the State Enterprise for Drug Industries
and Medical Appliances in the city of Samara. This
state-owned facility was the source of 80 percent of the
medicines produced in Iraq before the sanctions.
The plant's director general described a production line,
scheduled for replacement in 1990, that had produced 1
million doses of gentomycin, a third-generation antibiotic,
annually. Prior to sanctions, quality control rejected about
5-10 percent of the product. Ten years later, using these now
antiquated lines, quality control rejects 60-70 percent of
the medicine.
A request to replace the production line was submitted and
approved by the 661 Committee. As part of the contract,
signed with a foreign company, a spectrometer critical to
quality control was included. The contract was sent back to
the 661 Committee, which approved the production line but
rejected the spectrometer because it had "dual use
capability."
In effect, the director general said, the 661 Committee
had voided the practical application of the contract. It was
impossible to produce medicines efficiently without a
spectrometer for quality control.
After spending five days in Iraq, we could clearly see the
genocidal intent of the sanctions. The deliberate sabotage of
the OFF program, and the policy of punishing the Iraqi people
for fighting for their sovereignty, has generated a
justifiable anger at the U.S. government.
But the Iraqi people are by no means vanquished. We were
impressed by their resolve and the remarkable warmth they
expressed to our delegation. We all left Iraq armed with a
greater knowledge of this crime against humanity carried out
by the U.S. and Britain and the resolve to fight harder to
end all sanctions on Iraq.
The writer was a delegate on the fourth Iraq Sanctions
Challenge.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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