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Politics : Moderate Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Brumar89 who wrote (6438)	1/29/2004 4:01:04 PM
From: cosmicforce	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 20773

And the link for that factual refutation would be ... where? I'm missing something here: the people that weren't dead were killed by Saddam, and not 1990 Gulf War or aftermath involving the destruction of the sanitation system and infrastructure? If they didn't die(and it was propaganda), then why does he get the blame and not the people who bombed and blockaded? phmovement.org ... starting at page 61 The US-UN Sanctions on Iraq August 6th, 2000 will mark the tenth anniversary of the US-UN economic sanctions imposed on Iraq. These sanctions unleashed a human catastrophe that is unparalleled in history. Since the end of the Gulf War in 1991, the regime of sanctions imposed by the Security Council on the people of Iraq constitute the most punitive measures ever to have been devised and inflicted on a member State of the United Nations. They are unprecedented and transgress the acceptable norms of international law. The cumulative effects of the more than nine-year sanctions on the Iraqi people have been devastating. Nine years of economic, financial and intellectual isolation have caused enormous human suffering especially among the young, women, and the elderly. It has resulted in death and disease, broken lives, lost skills, violent crimes, prostitution, divorce, family desertion, and rampant corruption which has undermined the entire social and moral fabric of Iraqi society. The collapse of educational institutions have led to levels of illiteracy that are harming an entire generation of children. The six-week long Gulf War in 1991 killed some 250,000 people and devastated all facilities essential to civilian life and economic productivity throughout Iraq. Electricity generating plants, water treatment facilities, sewage treatment plants, communication systems and transportation networks, hospitals, schools and museums, and agricultural fields were all systematically destroyed. Iraq was bombed back to the 'Stone Age'. Because of the sanctions, Iraq has not been able to repair or replace these facilities which have a direct impact on the health and well being of its 22 million citizens. More than 1.5 million people have perished in the last nine and half years as a direct result of the sanctions. Yet, in contrast to the Gulf War event and many other series of conflicts and catastrophes occurring the world over, this silent war virtually garners no interest from the mainstream western media; leaving many sadly unaware of the unspeakable human suffering that is unravelling in Iraq. Infant and Child Deaths Last August, Iraq UNICEF Executive Director, Ms. Carol Bellamy said the findings in the latest UNICEF survey entitled Child and Maternal Mortality Survey 1999 (released for the first time since 1991) reveal an ongoing humanitarian emergency; highlighting a staggering increase in the death tolls of infants and children. The key findings of the Survey, (conducted in central and southern Iraq which comprise 85 per cent of the country's population) reveal: • Under 5-mortality more than doubled from 56 deaths per 1000 live births before sanctions were imposed (1984 - 1989) to 131 deaths per 1000 live births between 1994 - 1999. • Infant mortality increased from 47 per 1000 live births to 108 per 1000 live births within the same time frame. • Maternal mortality ratio was 294 deaths per 100,000 live births over the ten year period 1989 to 1999. The Survey also states that 'the proportion of maternal deaths (31%) shows that maternal mortality is a leading cause of deaths in the last ten years among women of reproductive age'. The comprehensive survey conservatively estimates that half a million children have died because of the sanctions during the eight-year period 1991-1998. This means that more than 5000 Iraqi children die every month from the impact of sanctions on Iraq's water and sewage treatment facilities, food and nutritional needs, and health care and delivery system. Access to potable water is currently 50 per cent of the 1990 level in urban areas and 33 per cent in the rural areas. The April 1998 UNICEF Report stated: 'the increase in mortality reported in public hospitals for children under five years of age is mainly due to diarrhoea; pneumonia and malnutrition.' Many of the children who survive death suffer severe physical and mental injury from the cumulative effects of the sanctions. Apart from diarrhoea, there are also threats of outbreak from other communicable diseases such as cholera and typhoid due to the lack of access to safe water and sanitation.