US imposed sanctions on Iraq
http://japanfocus.org/article.asp?id=030
snip Sanctions
The special agency of the United Nations system dealing with nuclear questions, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has detailed knowledge of the impact of DU in Iraq. At the 42nd General Conference in September 1998, a document entitled "Radiation Effects" included information about the use of depleted uranium against Iraq. IAEA document GC(43)/INF/20 of 29 September 1999 stated that "Diseases which do not commonly appear in the region such as various forms of cancer, and early pregnancy abortion, deformed babies in addition to the after effects which may damage hereditary genes and future effects of radioactive waste resulting from radioactive aerosols due to the bombardment. This effect may be transferred to other regions in the country due to natural phenomena."
The result is mass killing beyond imagination. UNICEF and WHO have spoken of 500,000 victims, mainly children, dying of diseases and under-nourishment as a result of the Gulf War. In 1998, the UN carried out a nationwide survey of health and nutrition. It found that mortality rates among children under five in central and southern Iraq had doubled from the previous decade. That would suggest 500,000 excess deaths of children by 1998. Excess deaths of children continue at the rate of 5,000 a month. UNICEF estimated in 2002 that 70 per cent of child deaths in Iraq result from diarrhea and acute respiratory infections. This is the result, as foretold accurately by US intelligence in 1991 (DIA reports), of the breakdown of systems to provide clean water, sanitation, and electrical power. Adults too, particularly the elderly and other vulnerable groups, have succumbed.
The evidence of the effect of the sanctions came from the most authoritative sources. Denis Halliday, UN humanitarian coordinator in Iraq from 1997 to 1998, resigned in protest against the operation of the sanctions, which he termed deliberate "genocide" (quoted from Research Unit for Political Economy: Behind the Invasion of Iraq. Mumbai Dec. 2002/ Monthly Review Press, March 2003). More than 1.2 million Iraqis have died from soaring mortality rates since sanctions were imposed in 1990. The July 1999 UNICEF Report on Mortality Rates from 1979-1999 revealed that IMR has increased from 47 deaths per 1000 live births for the period 1984-89, to 108 deaths per 1000 live births for the period 1994-99. Mortality rates for children under five increased over the same time period from 56 deaths per 1000 live births to 131 deaths per 1000 live births. (http://www.unicef.org/reseval/pdfs/irqscont.pdf).
"Hans G. Ehrbar" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
I am disappointed that the use of depleted uranium by the US
military does not generate more outrage on this list. If
nothing else, you should be concerned about it that this
contamination of other countries is a standing invitation to
explode a dirty nuclear device on US soil.
--
Hans G. Ehrbar http://www.econ.utah.edu/ehrbar [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Economics Department, University of Utah (801) 581 7797 (my office)
1645 Campus Center Dr., Rm 308 (801) 581 7481 (econ office)
Salt Lake City UT 84112-9300 (801) 585 5649 (FAX)
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