>X-Authentication-Warning: beirut.leb.net: majordomo set sender to >Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >=========Iraq Action Coalition ========http://iraqaction.org/ ======= >Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2000 15:02:51 +0000 (GMT) >From: Mariam Appeal <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: *****IRAQI SANCTIONS MONITOR (17)***** > >*****IRAQI SANCTIONS MONITOR (17)***** > >-WASHINGTON LOOKING TO EASE SANCTIONS? >-UNICEF (IRELAND) DIRECTOR SAYS ALL UNICEF STAFF WANT SANCTIONS LIFTED >-DEATH OF A GENERATION >-IN ISRAEL, MEANWHILEÖ >-ACTION > > >-WASHINGTON LOOKING TO EASE SANCTIONS? >AP reports 25/2/00 that the White House is ělooking for ways to ease >restrictions that block Iraq from importing machinery, oil industry spare >parts, pesticides and other industrial products, according to a published >report.î >Due to ěgrowing international and domestic pressureî, the administration has >ědiscretely been reviewing its screening of imports under the sanctions,î as >reported by the the Washington Post today, quoting unidentified U.S. and >Western officials. >AP says that ěwhile maintaining a hard line against Saddam Hussein, the >administration has been trying to accommodate U.N. Security Council allies who >want to ease restrictions.î >ěU.S. officials agreed this week to release a $80 million electrical repair >contract on condition that U.N. workers verify that the parts are used as >intendedî says the WP. >The United States has frequently exercised its right as a member of the >Security Council to block Iraq from acquiring ``dual use'' items such as >pesticide sprayers, which can be [arguably; ISM ed] used for biological >warfare as well as for helping farmers to grow food. The WP addss that the >Washington veto on the sanctions committee has held up $601 million in >contracts for repairing Iraq's power grid, and $297 million in spare parts >intended for Iraq's oil industry, according to U.N. data. >Britain, France and other U.S. allies are concerned restrictions on such >technology are undermining efforts to ease humanitarian suffering in Iraq. >Earlier this month several [in fact 70; ISM ed] congressmen asked President >Clinton to ease the sanctions on Iraq, insisting children were suffering >needlessly and Hussein's regime was benefiting from the measures. > > > >-UNICEF (IRELAND) DIRECTOR SAYS ALL UNICEF STAFF WANTED SANCTIONS LIFTED > >The Irish Times reports 24/2/00 that the director of UNICEF Ireland, Ms >Maura Quinn, said after a 12-day visit to Iraq that Iraq has been >devastated by the UN sanctions. > >Ms Quinn said her UNICEF colleagues in Iraq found it hard to deal with the >situation, particularly because of the attitude of ordinary people. > >"It's awful that people don't feel as if it's ever going to change. They >feel that the sanctions are going to go on and on. Instead of having >three hours' electricity in Baghdad they will have one hour in a couple of >years' time. That they'll have dirty water. They will have problems with >sanitation," Ms Quinn said. > >Ms Quinn said the monthly food rations the Iraqis are dependent on from >the UN last only two to three weeks and do not contain any protein, >according to Ms Quinn. > >A UNICEF report which came out last August showed that 25 per cent of >children under five years in Iraq are malnourished and over 4,500 die >every month as a result (actually over 8,000 according to latest >statistics. See ISM 16, ed). Ms Quinn says she expects this year's UNICEF >report to show an even higher rate of death among children. > >Ms Quinn described hospitals as under-equipped with medicines and >facilities and overcrowded, with up to three people sharing some beds and >people lying on floors in corridors. The sanitation and water systems were >also showing strain. The pillars supporting the main sewerage plant in >Baghdad were crumbling and there were pools of stagnant water on the >litter strewn streets. > >She said she visited schools where there was "no running water, no >windows, no benches, holes in the roof, no clean water, no toilets, no >books, the playground under rubbish with stagnant water". > >Long-term malnourishment, Ms Quinn said, was having an effect on >children's development. "You could see it in the kids that were small for >their age, in their reactions." All of the UNICEF staff Ms Quinn spoke to >in Iraq wanted the sanctions lifted. > > >-DEATH OF A GENERATION > >Arabicnews.com surveys 24/2/00 the grim hospital wards of embargoed Iraq. > >It mentions that ěthe cancer service of the Baghdad-based Saddam hospitalî >has taken the name of "the death ward," ěin view of the high number of >death cases.î > >Dr. Bassem Attallah Abdali told MAP's special envoy, "Every day we >diagnose two cancer cases and the death rate of children with leukemia >stands at 100%." > >Figures disclosed Wednesday by the Iraqi health department show that ěmore >than 12,000 children and elderly have died since last January due to the >sanctionsî, of which the major causes were ědiarrhoea, pneumonia, >breathing infections, malnutrition, hypertension, heart diseases and >cancer.î > >ěThe figure brings to 1.27 million the death toll among children and >elderly since 1990î, the article reports the department saying. > >The Saddam hospital, ěwhich was built in 1986 to accommodate 360 patients, >now receives 1,000 daily,î Dr. Bassem is reported as saying. > >"The medicines available are insufficient to treat the patients, while the >vaccines are inefficient or are just outdated, because of the long >distance they cross between Jordan and Iraq before reaching the >hospitals," the physician adds. > >ěSome diseases that have been eradicated before the Gulf War, like the >whooping cough and polio, appeared again in Iraq. Other diseases, >including cholera, malaria and cancer are becoming more and more >commonplace due to the use of chemical weapons against Iraq, physicians >say.î > >ěThe doctors, who are in a state of deep despair, argue that several >diseases could have been easily cured, had the embargo been liftedî, the >report concludes. > > >-IRAQ AND THE US ELECTIONS > >In a Jerusalem Post editorial 25/2/00, it is noted that ěthe four major >candidates in the race - Al Gore, George W. Bush, Bill Bradley, and John >McCain - can all be considered "pro-Israel." They have ěunquestionable >voting records or statements in favor of Jerusalem being the eternal and >undivided capital of Israel, and all pledge a strong commitment to help >maintain Israel's security against all enemies.î > >ěAccording to Washington Post analyst Jim Hoagland, the real Clinton >policy is to keep Iraq out of sight and out of mind during an election >year, even if that means allowing Saddam to develop nuclear weapons.î > > >ěEveryone agrees,î the editorial continues, ěthat the prospect of rogue >regimes with nuclear weapons and long-range missiles is among the greatest >threats of the post cold war era. The primary ways of confronting this >threat are: economic isolation, support for democratic opponents where >they exist, and reducing the value of weapons development programs by >building effective missile defenses.î The JP says ěforeign policy has not >figured prominently in the campaign debatesî and so ěis difficult to tell >how much difference there really is among the candidates.î > >George W. Bush would only "work to reestablish weapons inspections in >Iraq." > >Of the four candidates John McCain is ěthe only one not to mince words.î >"[T]he proliferation of weapons of mass destruction is the clearest danger >we currently confront," says McCain. "Nowhere is the threat more worrisome >than in rogue states such as Iraq, North Korea, and others. The United >States should formulate a policy, in many ways similar to the Reagan >Doctrine, of supporting indigenous and outside forces that desire to >overthrow the odious regimes that rule these states. Call it 'rogue state >rollback' if you will. Such a policy serves both our security and our >ideals because, again, they are inseparable from one another." > >The editorial adds that ěboth Bush and McCain favor deploying strategic >defenses as soon as possible, if necessary by withdrawing from the ABM >treaty. But McCain argues for it with a greater sense of urgency and >conviction.î > >ěWith all four presidential candidates clearly in the "pro-Israel" and >internationalist camp, it is too soon to pick favorites. So far, however, >McCain is setting the standard for serious discussion of how to confront >the most deadly threats facing both the United States and Israel.î > > >-IN ISRAEL, MEANWHILEÖ > >With all this talk of ěrogue statesî and nuclear weapons let it not be >forgotten that Israeli Foreign Minister threatened yesterday to trade ěa >child for a childî if guerrillas rocket northern Israel. Earlier this >month Levy threatened that ěthe soil of Lebanon will burnî if Hizbullah >attacked Israel, and this was said in the same week that members of the >Knesset stated that Israel possesses 200-300 nuclear weapons And yet it is >Israel not the Lebanese resistance which has been violating the 1996 April >Accords, by attacking non-military targets, as attested by UNIFIL >commandeer Timur Goksel. It has been ěspunî out of the media that Israel >is in continual violation of UN resolutions, and that it forbids >international inspections of Dimona. Yet who are the ěrogue statesî? Who >are the threats to security in the Middle East? > > > > -ACTION: AMNESTY PETITION > >Despite a generally disappointing lack of activism against sanctions by >the NGO itself and its partner-in-silence HRW, AI (USA) has a petition to >the UNSC (on its website) addressing the humanitarian situation in Iraq. > > http://www.amnestyusa.org/countries/iraq/ > >Non-Americans might wish to contact their own branches to check/lobby for >similar petitions. > > >Iraqi Sanctions Monitor >Mariam Appeal > >t: +44 (0)207 872 5451 >f: +44 (0)207 753 2731 >e: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >w: www.mariamappeal.com > > > > > > __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi ___________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________
