The following is an archived copy of a message sent to a Discussion List run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
Views expressed in this archived message are those of the author, not of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
[Main archive index/search] [List information] [Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq Homepage]
From: "G. Simon Harak, S. J." <GSHarakSJ@hotmail.com>
________________________________________________________________________
Dear Friends,
This letter to the editor contains some good observations about the
difference in infant mortality in different areas of Iraq, according to the
UNICEF report.
Blessings,
Simon, S. J.
__________________________
Independent 8/15/1999
LETTER(s): IRAQ'S DEAD CHILDREN
Sir: The British government's response to the recent Unicef report on Iraq -
that we bear no responsibility for the deaths of some half a million
children since 1990 ("Children pay price for Iraq blockade", 13 August) -
only holds so long as one ignores the numerous reports by the UN secretary
general, the UN Humanitarian panel on Iraq, and the text of the Unicef
report itself.
The Government hopes we will infer that the higher mortality rates in the
Iraqi-controlled areas compared with in the North (overseen by the UN) are
due to deliberate acts of the Iraqi regime, cynically causing deprivation
for propaganda purposes.
However, Anupama Singh, Unicef's representative in Baghdad, has said that
the fact that the UN has a direct role in the northern provinces does not
account for the difference in child mortality. Many aid agencies have been
providing added relief for Kurds since 1991, and the oil for food deal in
the North includes a vital cash component enabling greater efficiency of
relief programmes.
Kofi Annan's reports also indicate that the North receives a proportionally
greater amount of the oil for food revenues.
The Humanitarian Co-ordinator for Iraq, Hans von Sponeck, has said: "We have
no evidence there is a conscious withholding of medicines ordered by the
[Iraqi] government."
By the evidence of every agency involved, the US and UK are deliberately
perpetuating a situation that is killing thousands of infants in order to
destabilise the leadership of that state.
There is no moral or legal justification for linking these deadly non-
military sanctions to the problem of weapons inspection.
GLENN BASSETT
Enfield, Middlesex
--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is a discussion list run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
To be removed/added, email soc-casi-discuss-request@lists.cam.ac.uk, NOT
the whole list. Please do not sent emails with attached files to the list
*** Archived at http://linux.clare.cam.ac.uk/~saw27/casi/discuss.html ***