Our crimes against Iraq
Hans von Sponeck, the former UN Assistant Secretary General who resigned
in protest over the continued sanctions on Iraq, visited Iraq in July
2002.
He said…
Now, by my calculations that's about 60,000 child deaths per year above
the "normal" mortality rate for Iraqi children. In other words, deaths
for which we are responsible. Responsible, because its being done
in our name, by sanctions that we have allowed to remain in place.
Isn't it nice to know that you're a serial killer, murdering on average
about seven children every hour, day and night?
If full-scale military action is pursued by sophisticated fighting forces such as the American and the British, many many more innocent Iraqis – men, women, and children – will suffer and die.
What happens when a country's children die in such horrendously large
numbers? Any hope for the future growth and development of that country
is dashed.
The years-long vendetta against Iraq that successive American administrations
have pursued is, in reality, a form of progressive genocide!
And our own Prime Minister, Tony Blair, would have the world believe
that the United Kingdom, alone of all the principal UN member-countries,
will be totally supportive of President Bush.
The people of Germany today still feel an incredible sense of guilt
for the terrible crimes that were committed in their name just over
half-a-century ago.
When it is our turn to be judged do we really wish our children and
grandchildren to bear a far greater burden of guilt than anything
the German nation presently carries? For, unlike them, we cannot claim
to be uninformed. We in Britain cannot claim that we are under the
domination of a fascist dictator.
"The Mater Dolorosa of Iraq"
This baby has a major malformation, nevertheless the mother is trying to calm it. Photograph courtesy of SOS Kinderen Irak |
And while we're arguing the toss; while we're bickering about the wording of sanctions; while we're being fussy about the form our protests should take; while we're debating whether Tony Blair is Bush's lapdog, or the white knight who's brought Bush to the United Nations (only so he can threaten and bribe them of course) – more children are suffering; more children are dying!
Our agenda is clear. And the very first thing that needs to be done
is to send a strong and unmistakeable signal to our Prime Minister
that so far he has not been representing the wishes of the vast majority
of British people. And then, we need to put a stop to Bush's intended
war on Iraq, once and for all.
Once that's achieved we can focus our thoughts and energies where
they should really have been all along – on the needs of the
Iraqi people.
If we fail to do this, then all pretence of civilisation, of humanitarian caring, of spiritual aspirations, are meaningless. Empty words. Empty, dishonest, deceitful words, that promise so much yet in reality deliver so little.
Is this what the West's much-vaunted "democracy" does to the world?
How will a new Gulf War affect Iraqi children?
some relevant articles…
To answer this question, we only have to ask how the previous Gulf War and the resulting sanctions have already affected Iraqi children.
Children in Iraq have already suffered through one war and over a decade of harsh sanctions. Despite the fact that these actions were meant to help free them from the rule of Saddam Hussein, the conditions in which they live have become only more miserable as a result of these measures. Now they face a new threat in the form of another war.
http://peace.moveon.org/r2.php3?r=177
Over 500,000 children have died as a result of the sanctions against Iraq. This compelling article tells the story of a doctor who has the knowledge to treat the leukemia that his young patients are suffering from, but due to the sanctions, the equipment and medicine that he needs are unavailable. Child mortality rates are high, and fewer children are going to school. Yet the world remains focused on Saddam Hussein and not this humanitarian tragedy.
http://gbgm-umc.org/Response/articles/iraq.html
Children who weren't even born at the time of the Gulf War are still suffering from its effects. Children born in Iraq and the children of soldiers from the US and Britain are affected by a high rate of congenital deformities. Such deformities have jumped since the first Gulf War, a fact which many blame on the use of ammunition coated with depleted uranium (DU), a radioactive substance. Other possibilities include environmental pollution also originating from the Gulf War. Whatever the cause, the effect is tragic – babies are being born with Thalidomide-type deformities and other congenital problems such as heart and lung defects and Down's syndrome. Late miscarriages also seem to be far more common.
http://www.oppression.org/middleeast/children_of_iraq.html
