This article was originally published in the January 17, 2003 edition of the Socialist Worker.
What are conditions like in Iraq after a decade of U.S. war?
The Iraqis have been suffering from the most intense siege in world history--12 years of sanctions. According to UNICEF, at least 500,000 children under the age of 5 have died in Iraq in the years of sanctions.
According to the UN Human Development Index, in 1990--before the war and sanctions--Iraq was 50th among 130 countries in Human Development. In 1995, Iraq had fallen to 106th among 174 countries. By 2000, it was 126th among 174 countries.
The International Physicians for Prevention of Nuclear War have predicted 28,000 to 260,000 deaths in Iraq in the first three months of a war. Typically in wars, there are three major trauma injuries to every direct death. How can Iraq?s demolished health care system cope with the injuries? Skills and facilities are out of date. The medicines are lacking.
Some U.S. generals have talked about the city of Baghdad--an urban city of 5.5 million people--as a target to be heavily attacked by massive air strikes. How many Iraqis--mothers, fathers, daughters, sons--will be killed or maimed from the bombing? Thousands? Tens of thousands?
Consider the consequences if the Bush administration actually uses urban tactical nuclear weapons against Iraq. And will depleted uranium weaponry be used--again?
In the 1991 Gulf War, 300 tons of depleted uranium--a radioactive weapon--were used. World Health Organization studies show an increase in cancer rates and birth deformities in Iraq. The rates of leukemia in children have skyrocketed, while the medicines needed for treatment have been withheld by sanctions.
Iraqis will not be the only ones who will suffer and die. More than 159,000 U.S. Gulf War veterans are receiving disability payments from the Department of Veterans Affairs due to U.S. activities in the 1991 war. Thousands of veterans suffer from memory loss, dizziness, blurred vision, speech difficulties, nerve disorders, muscle weakness, skin disorders. Veterans also report incidences of cancers in themselves and birth defects in their children, symptoms remarkably similar to ones in Iraq.
Rania Masri is a veteran activist and director of the Southern Peace Research and Education Center at the Institute for Southern Studies.
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Last modified: Mon Jan 27 15:41:50 CST 2003