 |
Military Interdiction Ops troops from San Diego in Persian Gulf hunt for sanctioned chlorine & infant formula |
I |
R A Q a r c h i v e | |
|
IraqDaily re "water supply" Turkey, Syria & Iraq water issues |
||||
|
extremely comprehensive links from Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq
Fed. American Scientists re Iraq |
DIA Water Vulnerability Report Cong.Staff Delegation rpt 3.00 UN FAO report 9.13.00 UK & ICC Tribunal 8.25.00 | |||
|
DEATH STATISTICS IN IRAQ UN imposed economic sanctions in place since the end of Gulf War in 1991. Sanctions had little effect on policies of Iraqi Govt, chilling toll on civilian population. The Iraqi Ministry of Health estimates that 109,720 persons have died annually between August 1990 and March 1994 as a direct result of the sanctions. • From The Children are Dying: Reports by UN Food and Agriculture Organization. Since Aug. 1990, 567,000 children in Iraq have died as a consequence of the sanctions. • THE LANCET, Volume 346 Number 8988. Saturday 12.2.95. After the sanctions, there was two-fold increase in infant mortality and five-fold increase in under-5 mortality. • The LANCET Volume 346, Number 8988. Saturday 12.2.95 There are 4,500 children under the age of 5 dying each month from hunger and disease. In Central/Southern Iraq, 27.5 percent of Iraq's three million children (some 900,000) are now at risk of acute malnutrition. • UNICEF Report Due to the hazards of the water supply, government statistical office figures show 1,819 cases of typhoid fever in 1989 and 24,436 cases in 1994. Similarly, there were no reported cases of cholera in 1989, but 1,345 cases in 1994. • 4/99 Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility effect of sanctions on Iraqi citizens, especially children. Intentionally defied sanctions with, visit, medicine, equipment & medical textbooks without required UN approval. or US travel permit.
9/5/00 PDF Human Rights Impact of
Economic Sanctions on Iraq bkgd paper by Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights for
ExecComm on Humanitarian Affairs U.K.
Russian Flight Departs For Baghdad
MOSCOW In yet another apparent challenge to U.N. sanctions, a Russian airliner left for Iraq on
Saturday with a soccer team, a musical group, businessmen and medical supplies. The flight, carrying 143
passengers and five tons of cargo, was the latest challenge to sanctions on Iraq, imposed after Saddam Hussein's
army invaded Kuwait in 1990. A dispute over the controls has fractured the U.N. Security Council, some of whose
members sharply disagree on the effectiveness of the sanctions. Russia did not ask permission for the flight from
the U.N. sanctions committee, saying authorization was not required because the flight is humanitarian. A plane
from France flew to Baghdad Friday without U.N. authority, and officials from Russia and France say more flights
will follow. U.S. & Great Britain, meanwhile, insist that all humanitarian flights must get permission to fly to
Iraq. They say passenger flights are an economic resource and a breach of the sanctions.
Iraq, Russia Win Sanctions Battle
UN Russia & Iraq won the latest battle on overhauling sanctions against the oil-rich Mideast
nation as the U.N. Security Council extended the oil-for-food program. But the United States & Britain are
adamant that the sanctions war isn't over yet. At the end of a 6 week campaign, Americans & British got 14 of
the 15 council members to support key elements of their plan to lift most restrictions on civilian goods entering Iraq,
tighten enforcement of an 11-year-old arms embargo and block lucrative Iraqi smuggling routes. But Russia, Iraq's
closest ally on the council, remained staunchly opposed and threatened to veto the plan. So the Americans &
British decided to indefinitely postpone a vote and simply extend the 4½ year-old program, which allows Iraq
to sell unlimited quantities of oil on condition that the proceeds are spent on food, medicine & other essential
goods.
After a day of wrangling over a reference to the U.S.-British plan in the resolution, which Russia opposed, the
council voted unanimously Tuesday night on a five-month extension of the oil-for-food program. The vote came
less than 6 hours before the current phase of the program was set to expire. To protest the proposed sanctions
overhaul, Iraq halted its oil exports June 4. Even before the council vote Tuesday, the Iraqi military's Al-Qadissya
newspaper called the extension "a victory for Iraq's rights.'' But Iraqi U.N. Ambassador Mohammed al-Douri
declined to say Tuesday night whether Baghdad will reopen its oil taps. He said the new resolution's mention of an
earlier resolution that referred to the U.S.-British plan, "is not acceptable in principle.''
He said London & Washington will use the coming months to press ahead with their plan and try to sway
Russia. "We have made considerable progress and come too close to agreement to concede the field to Baghdad,''
Cunningham said. "We've won a lot of the battles in this process. We haven't yet won the war. But we're going to
continue to go forward.'' Russia isn't giving up, either. Lavrov said Moscow's rival resolution to hasten an end to
Iraqi sanctions remains on the council table. The Russian resolution would suspend sanctions on civilian goods
once U.N. weapons inspectors certify that a long-term program to monitor Iraq's weapons programs is fully
deployed. Under council resolutions, sanctions imposed after Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion of Kuwait cannot be lifted until U.N. inspectors certify that Iraq has dismantled its weapons of mass destruction & long-range missiles. Weapons inspectors left Iraq ahead of U.S.-British airstrikes in Dec. 1998 and Baghdad has barred their return. The Iraqi government maintains that it has eliminated its weapons programs and has demanded the immediate lifting of sanctions. Britain's U.N. Amb. Jeremy Greenstock said "there might be more credibility'' to Russia's approach if Moscow could persuade the Iraqi government to accept U.N. inspectors. In the meantime, he said, it was "illogical'' to block humanitarian improvements for the Iraqi people. |
JOIN DELEGATION TO IRAQ Sanctions Challenge
IV 1.16.01 Ship Medicine to Challenge Genocide
Bellicose Saddam jangles world nerves
DUBAI With a finely timed accusation that Kuwait is stealing Iraqi oil, Saddam Hussein has set
Western & Gulf nerves jangling once again. It took only a brief statement from Iraq's Oil Minister Amer Rashid
last Thursday to ignite fears in Kuwait of a new war over the emirate's oil riches. The same accusation sparked the
1990 invasion of Kuwait, taking the world by surprise.
Wouldn't you be "bellicose" ? ] 9.17.00 Reuters
Iraq: 311 killed in US, UK raids since 1998
Between the attack in December 1998 and the present, a total of 18,607 sorties by raiding US & British
warplanes in the south of Iraq killing 311 citizens & 927 wounded.
Turkey admits Iraqi air raid, probes casualty claims
ANKARA Turkey admitted Friday that it had launched an operation against Turkish Kurdish
rebels in northern Iraq and said it was investigating claims by Iraqi factions in the area that civilians were killed in
the strike."Turkey carries out operations in northern Iraq from time to time as part of the combat against the terrorist
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)," a spokesman for the Turkish foreign ministry, Huseyin Dirioz, said. Dirioz said
such military operations started only after measures were taken to prevent any harm to civilians in the Kurdish-held
enclave. "In a similar operation on the 15th of August, necessary measures were taken once again to ensure that
the civilian population would not be harmed," Dirioz said.
Saddam is itching to test another Bush
Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein did not wait long to challenge the new Bush administration. Responding to an
American plan to create "smart sanctions," Iraq promptly turned off the spigot on the bulk of its oil exports.
Saddam's envoys are touring capitals in a campaign to intimidate countries into opposing the U.S. plan. Iraq's
military is on alert, while Baghdad is touting a reward for military personnel who shoot down U.S. or British jets
patrolling the no-fly zones. "We are approaching a new confrontation," Saddam warned his people earlier this
month. This time, Saddam clearly means business. He has spent the past several years chipping away at the
decade-old sanctions regime and is eager to destroy it. He has billions of dollars in the bank. And he has rarely
been so popular in the Arab world, with his support of the Palestinian intifada. Emboldened, Saddam is pledging to
withhold his oil until Washington backs down. The showdown begins this week when the United Nations holds a
public debate on the U.S. plan. "It's a game of chicken," says one U.S. government analyst. "He is ready to stick it
out for the long term." Officials believe he can hold out through 2001.
Failing sanctions
Secretary of State Colin Powell's answer was "smart sanctions." The idea has strong intellectual appeal: Free up
more goods to reach Iraqi civilians, while tightening controls on weapons-related materials and restricting Iraq's
revenues from oil smuggling. But the reality is that new restrictions are likely unworkable. Tightening the embargo
depends on Iraq's neighbors, many of whom are heavily reliant on Iraqi trade and oil. Take Jordan, which is known
to be a busy corridor for smuggling into Iraq. The tiny nation receives its entire oil supply from Iraq at heavily
discounted rates. An additional $450 million in exports to Iraq is a crucial stimulus for its weak economy. If Jordan
clamps down on its border monitoring, Saddam has explicitly threatened to cut off the cheap oil and buy goods
elsewhere. Going along with the U.S. plan "would be suicidal," says a Jordanian official. Where he could score politically would be in shooting down a U.S. fighter jet patrolling the no-fly zone. U.S. military officials have seen a marked increase in the accuracy of Iraqi air defenses in recent months. U.S. News has learned that the White House is concerned that the no-fly operation is not having much effect on Saddam's behavior. As part of a broader review, officials are looking for new targets they could hit to inflict more pain on the regime. The most controversial part of U.S. policy remains its commitment to effecting a change of regime. U.S. officials are sending an additional $6 million to the Iraqi National Congress, mostly to create a radio station to broadcast to Iraq. But in a conclusion many Western govts share, Israeli security sources dismiss Iraqi opposition groups as corrupt and ineffective, finding Saddam's grip as firm as ever. |
U.S. said it had to consult Washington before any final decision, which diplomats said concerned the length of the
delay. "The British have proposed it and I have to consult Washington about it. We have not made a decision," U.S.
rep. James Cunningham told reporters. But diplomats said Washington would have no choice but to drop putting
the new plan to a vote immediately. The council has to vote on the U.N. oil-for-food program before it expires on
Tuesday. Iraq cut off oil sales on June 4 in protest of the U.S.-British plan. British Amb. Jeremy Greenstock, who
drafted the resolution on the new sanctions plan said discussions would continue but the current oil-for-food plan
would be extended without any changes. Without mentioning Russia by name, he called the objections
"unjustifiable, negative and national, but they are there. "
French Ambassador Jean-David Levitte said: "The idea is to adopt a rollover, neutral and to go on quietly with
discussions on the substance." He said Britain had proposed the rollover and Russian Ambassador Sergei Lavrov
agreed, without objections from other members.
Several countries, incl Russia, France, China & Malaysia, believed to want to delay the payout Kuwait's oil
company, which would represent largest award to a corporation since fund's inception. So far, the fund has paid out
more than $8 billion. Iraq highly critical of compensation commission, accusing it of unfair practices and asserting
that most claims, currently 2.6 million claims for a total of $320 billion, have no legal grounds. Some diplomats
& analysts suggested Iraq's accusation last week that Kuwait was stealing its oil designed to put pressure on
the commission to defer a decision on the Kuwait Petroleum Corp. claim.
French Amb.Jean-David Levitte Thursday told Security Council enormous payout to Kuwaiti company, at a time
when oil companies are benefitting from record high oil prices, was unconscionable at a time when Iraqis are
suffering from sanctions. He proposed the council consider reducing money diverted into the compensation
account from 30¢ to 20¢ & proceeds used to buy more humanitarian goods, a proposal backed by
Russia & Tunisia, Western diplomats said.
Baghdad claims U.S. & U.K. deliberately undermined provisions in the process. Non-oil
contracts, covering such areas as power generation and water purification equipment, have also
fallen victim to concerns, again mainly from the US and UK, over their potential "dual use". Rarely in the history
of sanctions has the international community been faced with devising a system that sustains and improves
strategic civilian industries while ensuring that a still extensive military machine does not become an unintended
beneficiary.
Iraqi officials are especially critical of US and British representatives on the Security Council's so-called
"661 Committee", which controls the flow to Iraq of foreign-made spare parts and equipment under the UN
oil-for-food programme. "Out of 377 contracts put on hold by the 661 Committee, 343 are on hold because of
objections from the US representative," according to a senior ministry official. A further 28 are on hold because of
objections by both the US and UK, and four because of British objections only. Representatives from the other
Security Council members have asked that only a total of two contracts be put on hold.
United Nations research links
3.28.01 UNIKOM SecGen rpt
DMZ developments. Also reports on organizational matters & financial aspects of UN Iraq-Kuwait Observation
Mission (UNIKOM). Incl observations &. 3.01 UNIKOM deployment map
9/24/00 "U.N. Arms Inspectors Will Not Return to Iraq"
Colum Lynch Washington Post pA22
U.N. U.S. and British diplomats conceded today that they had failed in a week-long, high-level effort to gain
support in the U.N. Security Council for a proposal to send international weapons inspectors back into Iraq. The
impasse spells the indefinite continuation of economic sanctions on Baghdad, along with a low-intensity U.S.
bombing campaign and an Iraqi ban on international inspectors. … In an attempt to restart the inspections,
Britain and the Netherlands circulated a resolution to create a new arms control agency to replace the United
Nations Special Commission, or UNSCOM. U.S. officials said Russia & China refused to support
that proposal without assurances that economic sanctions would be lifted.
designer destabilization by the West
9/14/00 U.N. favored status of Oil for Food proceeds to autonomous Kurds Chicago
Tribune
Child malnutrition in iraq 'unacceptably high' as drought, lack of Investment aggravate food and nutrition
situation
9.13.00 UN Food & Agriculture Organization
(FAO) and World Food Programme
The report points out that malnutrition is often due to factors other than insufficient food, poor
water (both in quality and quantity) and poor sanitation are key causes of repeated infections
resulting in infant and child malnutrition. Infections in infants are associated with the decline in
breast-feeding, the early introduction of infant formula and an increase in bottle-feeding. The report
calls for the maintenance and rehabilitation of the water and sanitation system as a priority for
meeting basic needs as well as nutrition and health education to promote best practices in health, food and
nutrition including support for breast-feeding.
While highlighting the UN's latest efforts to improve the effectiveness of the Oil-for-Food Programme, the report
recommends speeding up the process for approving Oil-for-Food contracts and ensuring the timely delivery of
humanitarian imports, including food and medicine. The report also recommends more inputs for the rehabilitation
of agriculture, particularly seeds and materials for water conservation and irrigation management.
10/15/98 The Independent "We are in the process of
destroying an entire society. It is as simple and terrifying as that. It is illegal and immoral." Denis Halliday
after resigning as first UN AsstSecGeneral & Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq
U.N. Security Council Resolution 986 authorizes
the sale of $5.2 billion (U.S.) worth of Iraq oil for each 6 month period. Every oil contract must be approved by
the sanctions committee.
House
4/24/00 Rep Tony Hall Iraq trip
3/00 Congressional Staffers Delegation Trip Report
2/1/00 Conyers/Cambell letter, letter signed
by 70 US Representatives asking Pres.Clinton to lift Iraq economic sanctions on Iraq. AIPAC-sponsored "keep the sanctions" letter in response & its signatories "AIPAC letter contains
number of factual errors therefore not a reliable source."
10/20/97 Economic Sanctions to Achieve
U.S. Foreign Policy Goals discussion & guide to current law Congressional
Research Service
Madeleine Albright: 8/4/00 on Iraq
When asked in a 5/96 CBS interview in May 1996 about the estimated million deaths of Iraqi
children, stated: "I think this is a very hard choice but the price - we think the price is worth it."
3/26/97 first major foreign policy address as Secretary of State: "We do not agree with the nations
who argue that if Iraq complies with its obligations concerning weapons of mass destruction,
sanctions should be lifted. Our view, which is unshakable, is that Iraq must prove its peaceful
intentions … And the evidence is overwhelming that Saddam Hussein's intentions will never
be peaceful."
3/24/00 US Ambassador Jas.Cunningham
defence of U.S. policy in Security Council. Cunningham is U.N. DeputyRep. Rep. R.Holbrooke
has avoided statements on Iraq.
Sanctions per
State Dept Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs
pdf Iraqi Sanctions per Treasury
Dept Office of Foreign Assets Control
1999 Human
Rights ¹ & Terrorism reports
re Iraq profile
¹ "For the sixth year, the Government held 3-week training courses in weapons use,
hand-to-hand fighting, rappelling from helicopters, and infantry tactics for children from 10 to 15
years of age. Camps for these " Saddam Cubs" operated throughout the country. Senior military
officers who supervised the course noted that the children held up under the " physical and
psychological strain" of tough training for as long as 14 hours each day. Sources in the Iraqi
opposition report that the army found it difficult to recruit enough children to fill all of the slots in the
program. Families reportedly were threatened with the loss of their food ration cards if they refused
to enroll their children in the grueling course. The Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in
Iraq reported in October that authorities were denying food ration cards to families that failed to
send their young sons to Saddam Cubs compulsory weapons-training camps. Similarly, authorities
reportedly withheld school examination results to students unless they registered in the Feddayin
Saddam organization."
Commerce Dept research links
Russia
2/3/00 Russia demands seized tanker's immediate release
MOSCOW CNN
Russia on Thursday demanded the immediate release of a tanker seized in the Persian Gulf by
the U.S. Navy on suspicion of violating the U.N.-imposed oil embargo on Iraq. "The Russian side
resolutely insists the tanker is immediately released," Interfax news agency quoted Russian
Deputy Foreign Minister Vasily Seredin as saying. Russia had "expressed its puzzlement" to the
United States and the United Arab Emirates over the incident, Seredin said. Sailors from the
cruiser USS Monterey boarded the Russian ship Volgonef on Wednesday without resistance from
its captain or crew, a senior U.S. official told CNN. The deputy minister, echoing earlier remarks by
Transport Minister Sergei Frank, said the tanker was carrying Iranian fuel oil. "The vessel never
entered Iraqi territorial waters or Iraqi ports," he said.
5/19/99 "Russia Wants Iraq Sanctions Ended" Nicole Winfield
U.N AP - Russia, China
and France suggested Wednesday that the Security Council suspend sanctions on Iraq once a
new arms monitoring system is in place, part of a new round of negotiations on drafting a new U.N.
policy for Baghdad. The United States immediately rejected the proposal and said it would instead
consider an alternative draft resolution submitted Tuesday by
Britain and the Netherlands which calls for foreign investment in Iraq's oil sector after U.N. arms
inspections resume.
1/26/98 "Russia expects and opposes military strike against Iraq"
In a
statement to London-based al-Hayat daily issued on Sunday
A high-ranking Russian official expects Iraq to receive a US-British military strike targeting military
positions after Eid al-Fitr, adding that the strike will be carried out without legitimate international
approval.
Cynthia McKinney
6/2000 Iraq: A Decade of
Devastation Middle East Report 215
"And They Called It Peace" US Policy on Iraq Phyllis Bennis Institute for Policy
Studies cf ¶22
As of the spring of 2000, the US-led sanctions remain in place. But changes are undeniably afoot.
The passage of Security Council resolution 1284 provides a useful indication: it did not
qualitatively change the devastating impact of the existing economic sanctions (that failure led von
Sponeck to resign shortly after its passage). It tinkers with the sanctions regime, creates a new
arms monitoring agency and considers, more than a year down the line, the possibility that some
economic restrictions might be temporarily suspended. But economic sanctions remain the default
position, unless the Council, including the US, affirmatively votes to keep them suspended after
each four-month period. Under such restrictions, no oil company worth its stockholders is likely to
risk large-scale investment in Iraq, however much they may covet Iraq's oil wealth. Without such
investment, repair and reconstruction of the oil industry itself will remain impossible, and Iraq's
poverty will only deepen.
Even with those limitations, it is certain that 1284 could not have passed US muster as recently as
two years ago. Ironically, it has long been clear that the sanctions policy holds no strategic value.
Until the last few months, there was no political constituency (except the Kuwaiti royal family)
demanding that economic sanctions remain in place. The refusal even to consider lifting sanctions
reflected craven political concerns: the US couldn't appear "soft on Saddam Hussein."
In early spring 2000, the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) suddenly seized the
pro-sanctions mantle. Until that time AIPAC had largely avoided the fray, deeming Iran a far more
serious potential threat to Israel than Baghdad's degraded military. In February 2000, after a
congressional letter had called on President Clinton to lift the economic sanctions, AIPAC, by
some reports at the urging of the White House, began a campaign supporting a "keep the
sanctions" letter initiated by Rep. Tom Lantos, chair of the House Human Rights Caucus. By
December 1999, US policy faced isolation, both domestically and internationally. In the UN, only
the British remained qualitatively supportive. The Netherlands, with a new foreign minister from the
conservative Liberal Party, moved to defend the US-UK alliance, with half-hearted support from
dismayed Dutch diplomats. But support for sanctions was fraying. Resolution 1284
squeaked by with permanent members France, China and Russia, as well as Malaysia,
abstaining.
France, Russia and China were unwilling to spend the requisite political capital to veto 1284. But,
as the Wall Street Journal described it on May 1, now it was "unclear which side is more isolated:
the dictator who has successfully defied sanctions, or the Anglo-US alliance that insists they
remain in place." In that context, the growing domestic opposition took on new visibility. In 1999
Congressman John Conyers had sent a letter to Clinton signed by 40 of his colleagues, calling for
a "delinking" of economic and military sanctions against Iraq. Earlier that year, during a speaking
tour sponsored by major peace, faith-based and Arab-American organizations, this writer and
former UN Humanitarian Coordinator Denis Halliday spoke to over 10,000 people directly, and
reached hundreds of thousands more through op-eds, radio and TV interviews in 22 cities. But
results would take a while longer.
In the summer of 1999, the first group of congressional staff traveled to Iraq to examine the impact
of sanctions. All but one represented members of the Progressive Caucus of the House; three
were also members of the Congressional Black Caucus. By spring 2000 the latest congressional
letter had 71 signatures, and demanded economic sanctions be lifted. Democratic Whip and close
Clinton ally David Bonior called the economic sanctions "infanticide masquerading as
policy." Rep. Tony Hall, known as "Mister Hunger" for his twenty-year commitment to that
issue, traveled to Iraq in April 2000 to examine the humanitarian conditions. He did not call for
lifting the economic sanctions, but brought back a devastating critique of the sanctions and
admitted that the US was the main problem within the UN's Sanctions Committee. By May 2000,
Representatives Conyers and Cynthia McKinney called for an official congressional delegation to
Iraq.
Spider's Web Secret History of How White House Illegally Armed Iraq
Alan Friedman Fin.Times London (1994, Bantam)
Shell Game Peter Mantius (1995, St. Martin's Press)
Evidence is clear U.S. assisted Iraq in obtaining cluster bombs, nuclear enrichment technology,
U.S. designed munitions, missile technology, $5billion in loan guarantees & much more in
spite of Saddam's open hatred of U.S. and his wanton use of poison gas against his own civilian
population.
references
Islamic news 1
IViews MidEast Mirror newspaper
Bay of Pigs metaphor
Intl Herald Tribune
2.26.98
Osama bin Laden
| presented by § |
OCIAL JUSTICE |