Iraq
Last modified: Mon Oct 25 20:02:46 CDT 2004Senator Joseph Biden, Chair of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, has said that the war on Iraq could cost $100 billion. Others have pointed out that it could cost up to one trillion dollars. According to a report issued by the National Priorities Project, $100 billion is enough to provide health care for every uninsured child in the United States of America for five years, it is more than three times the total international affairs budget of the US, and it is three times what the federal government spends on K-12 education.
Medact has released a comprehensive estimate of the total humanitarian, economic, global, and environmental cost of a war against Iraq. To view the report, please click here.
Key resources
Timeline: War on Iraq Key documents Democracy Domino Theory 'Not Credible' Medact report: "Collateral Damage: the health and environmental costs of war on Iraq" Oxfam Fact Sheet on Humanitarian Implications of Military Action in Iraq Humanitarian Information Center for Iraq! CESR Emergency Campaign on Iraq Phyllis Bennis: Understanding the U.S.-Iraq Crisis: A Primer Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq Tearing Up the Rules: The Illegality of Invading Iraq Declassified documents point to US war crimes in Iraq How PR Sold the War in the Persian GulfRecent News
Report Offered Bleak Outlook About Iraq Oil (New York Times, 05 October 2003) Iraq: A Land Ruled by Chaos (Guardian, 04 October 2003) Civilian death toll in Iraq put at 3,240: Nationwide total doesn't account for some battles, towns (AP, 11 June 2003)The finding: At least 3,240 civilians died throughout the country, including 1,896 in Baghdad. The count is still fragmentary, and the complete number, if it is ever tallied, is sure to be much higher.
The great majority of civilian deaths appear to have been caused by US and British attacks [...]
Revealed: the cluster bombs that litter Iraq (Observer, 1 June 2003)Experts in clearing conflict zones of unexploded bombs say that millions of Iraqi adults and children are at risk, along with humanitarian aid workers, United Nations personnel, civilian staff and military officials.
The map reveals that hundreds, or possibly thousands, of the bombs - which produce hundreds of 'bomblets' scattered out over a large area - failed to detonate.
'This shows an appalling level of contamination,' said Richard Lloyd, director of Landmine Action, who is travelling to Iraq this weekend to assess the extent of the danger. 'It also confirms that American and British forces attacked built up areas in cities with cluster bombs.
'The coalition forces have a responsibility to protect those Iraqi civilians who now live with this lethal legacy all around them.
'It has to be highly questionable whether the use of such weapons in built-up areas is legal under international law.'
Surveys pointing to high civilian death toll in Iraq (Christian Science Monitor, 22 May 2003) Desperate measures: Iraqi children are tampering with dumped ammunition to help feed their hungry families. Their deaths come as no surprise to aid workers in Basra, says Dominic Nutt (The Guardian, 19 May 2003) Troops 'vandalise' ancient city of Ur (The Observer, 18 May 2003) Iraq's Slide Into Lawlessness Squanders Good Will for U.S. (The New York Times, 18 May 2003) Baghdad's Death Toll Assessed: A Times survey of hospitals finds that at least 1,700 civilians were killed and more than 8,000 hurt in the battle for the Iraqi capital. (Los Angeles Times, 18 May 2003) Scott Peterson on depleted uranium contamination in Iraq (Democracy Now!, 16 May 2003) Remains of toxic bullets litter Iraq: The Monitor finds high levels of radiation left by US armor-piercing shells. (Christian Science Monitor, 15 May 2003) Dr. Jim Jennings on cluster bomb use and effects in Iraq/Afghanistan (audio) (Pacifica Peacewatch, 15 May 2003) U.S. under fire for use of cluster bombs in Iraq; Pentagon plays down dangers to civilians (San Francisco Chronicle, 15 May 2003) Iraq Crisis Has Damaged US International Standing: IISS Survey (AFP, 13 May 2003) Baghdad Anarchy Spurs Call For Help: Iraqis, U.S. Officials Want More Troops (Washington Post, 13 May 2003) Britain has capitulated to US hawks over UN resolution (Times Online, 13 May 2003) Victims of Iraq War File Lawsuit Against US Commander (AFP, 13 May 2003) A Minister Quits, Buildings Burn, Rubbish Rots. So Much for the 'Reconstruction' (Independent, 11 May 2003) Iraqi cleric calls for 'independence' (BBC, 10 May 2003)The leader of Iraq's best-known Shia opposition group has told thousands of supporters that Iraqis would not accept a government imposed by foreigners.
Ayatollah Mohammed Baqr al-Hakim was addressing a crowd in the southern city of Basra, after returning from exile in Iran on Saturday.
U.S. Proposes Broader Control Of Iraqi Oil, Funds (Washington Post, 9 May 2003) Fast food comes to Iraq (Sydney Morning Herald, 21 April 2003) Smart bombs aimed at Saddam killed families (Telegraph.co.uk, 21 April 2003) Tank captain admits firing on media hotel (Guardian, 21 April 2003) Playing with death (Mirror.co.uk, 21 April 2003)THE figures are frightening the reality is appalling. Most guns may have fallen silent but the death toll in Iraq continues to rise.
In the city of Kirkuk in the past seven days, 52 people have been killed and 63 injured by mines and dangerously unstable unexploded munitions.
Ba'athists slip quietly back into control (Guardian, 21 April 2003) Ex-U.S. official says CIA aided Baathists: CIA offers no comment on Iraq coup allegations: Claim that Saddam was on payroll `utterly ridiculous' (Reuters, 20 April 2003) 'Russian spies told Saddam how Bush would justify war' (Telegraph.co.uk, 20 April 2003) Blair 'no' to Iraq arms inquiry (Independent, 20 April 2003) Anthrax, chemicals and nerve gas: who is lying?: Growing evidence of deception by Washington (Independent, 20 April 2003) Children main victims of cluster bombs (Times Online, 19 April 2003) American soldiers fire on political rally, killing at least 10 civilians (Independent.co.uk, 16 April 2003) Critical Condition (Mirror.co.uk, 14 April 2003) Carving up the new Iraq (Sunday Herald, 13 April 2003) Saddam aide: Iraq has no weapons of mass destruction (Sunday Herald, 13 April 2003) Exclusive: Saddam key in early CIA plot (United Press International, 10 April 2003) Expecting Iraqi mothers rush to give birth before war Dennis Halliday on Flashpoints, 21 January 2003 America tore out 8000 pages of Iraq dossier Bombs Already Falling on Iraq Aid groups warn of disaster in Iraq American spies yield to Blix over weapons Pentagon chief: We're ready to attack US firms supplied arms to Saddam Julian Borger: Document names western arms suppliers (Guardian, Wednesday December 11, 2002) A bankable ringer to replace Saddam? (Washington Times, 2 December 2002) Toby Dodge: Iraqi army is tougher than US believes (Guardian, Saturday November 16, 2002) Mark Weisbrot: Phase Two of Bush's War Plan Rumbles Ahead as World Leaders Ignore Anti-War Outcry (CommonDreams.org, Friday, November 15, 2002) AP: Former Weapons Inspector Says War with Iraq Inevitable (Thursday, November 14, 2002) Stephen Zunes: UN Resolution Does Not Authorize US To Use Force Against Iraq (CommonDreams.org, Thursday, November 14, 2002) Patrick E. Tyler: Annan Presses Bush to Avoid a Rush to War (NYT, 14 November 2002) John W. Schoen: Iraqi Oil, American Bonanza? In a Post-War Iraq, U.S. Companies Could be Major Players (MSNBC, November 11, 2002) Robert Fisk: Saddam's Merry Dance Cannot Hide the Sad Inevitability of Events (Independent, November 13, 2002) George Edmondson: Iraq Invasion Will Trigger 'Human Catastrophe,' Report Warns (Toronto Star, November 12, 2002) Larry Johnson: Iraqi Cancers, Birth Defects Blamed on U.S. Depleted Uranium (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, November 12, 2002) Maria Elena Martinez and Joshua Karliner: Axis of Oil and Iraq (San Francisco Chronicle, November 13, 2002) Eric Margolis: After Iraq, Bush Will Attack His Real Target (Toronto Sun, November 10, 2002) William M. Arkin: Building a War: As Some Argue, Supply Lines Fill Up (Los Angeles Times, November 10, 2002) Robert Fisk: George Bush Crosses Rubicon - But What Lies Beyond? (lndependent, November 9, 2002) Rumsfeld Commits to 100,000 Troops (Boston Globe, 1 November 2002) JFK Aides Say Bush Is Wrong On Crisis Dan Plesch: Weapons of mass distraction: President Bush wouldn't want to talk about the many issues which the Iraq crisis is obscuring (Observer, Sunday September 29, 2002) Felicity Arbuthnot: Iraq Crisis David Pratt: If Gulf war is coming, when will it start -- or indeed, did it ever end? Oil firms wait as Iraq crisis unfolds Please Help The War Effort: Ten sticky and nicely blasphemous things true patriots can do right now to help keep America free Iraqis Still Suffer From Gulf War (Omaha Herald, 11 November 2000)Comments
So we had to take out Iraq, under the pretense of defending Kuwait. First we bombed Iraq brutally: 110,000 aerial sorties in forty-two days, an average of one every thirty seconds, which dropped 88,500 tons of bombs. (These are Pentagon figures.) We destroyed the infrastructure - to use a cruel euphemism for life-support systems. Take water, for example: We hit reservoirs, dams, pumping stations, pipelines, and purification plants. Some associates and I drove into Iraq at the end of the second week of the war, and there was no running water anywhere. People were drinking water out of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.
--Ramsey Clark in a Sun Magazine interviewThe sanctions regime imposed on the people of Iraq for over a decade is one of the great injustices of our time. UNICEF has shown that economic sanctions have contributed to the death of half a million children.
This is not simply a crime against the children of Iraq and millions of Iraqi families. It is a violation of internationally recognised human rights and humanitarian standards.
Plunged into mass poverty, Iraqis need jobs and living wages. The UN Security Counci Security Council's own 'Humanitarian Panel' concluded in 1999 that the humanitarian crisis in Iraq will continue until there is a 'sustained revival of the Iraqi economy'.
Yet the sanctions are designed to damage the Iraqi economy and prevent such a revival.
--Archbishop Desmond Tutu, quoted in Church Times
Post-Saddam occupation scenario
With a so-called "Shock and Awe" combat philosophy, the US plans to launch 800 cruise missiles at Baghdad in two days -- more than twice what was launched in the entire Gulf War -- in order to create "this simultaneous effect, rather like the nuclear weapons at Hiroshima, not taking days or weeks but in minutes." The Pentagon is also planning for the possible use of nuclear weapons against Iraq.
January 28, 2003"'There will not be a safe place in Baghdad,' said one Pentagon official who has been briefed on the plan."
"'We want them to quit. We want them not to fight,' says Harlan Ullman, one of the authors of the Shock and Awe concept which relies on large numbers of precision guided weapons.
"'So that you have this simultaneous effect, rather like the nuclear weapons at Hiroshima, not taking days or weeks but in minutes,' says Ullman.
"'You're sitting in Baghdad and all of a sudden you're the general and 30 of your division headquarters have been wiped out. You also take the city down. By that I mean you get rid of their power, water. In 2,3,4,5 days they are physically, emotionally and psychologically exhausted,' Ullman tells Martin."