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This disgraceful saga is mine but they omitted my biline from the online version in error - all the best, felicity a. ---------- >From: "Hamre, Drew" <drew.hamre@rainier.com> >To: "'soc-casi-discuss@lists.cam.ac.uk'" <soc-casi-discuss@lists.cam.ac.uk> >Subject: "Allies deliberately poisoned Iraq public water supply in Gulf Wa r" >Date: Wed, Sep 20, 2000, 5:13 pm > > An investigation by Professor Thomas Nagy, a CASI contributor, was featured > in Glasgow's "Sunday Herald". The DIA's "vulnerabilities" report can be > found here: > <http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/declassdocs/dia/19950901/950901_511rept_91.html >>. > > === > http://www.sundayherald.com/news/newsi.hts?section=News&story_id=11209 > > 20 September 2000 > > Allies deliberately poisoned Iraq public water supply in Gulf War > > Publication Date: Sep 17 2000 > The US-led allied forces deliberately destroyed Iraq's water supply during > the Gulf War - flagrantly breaking the Geneva Convention and causing > thousands of civilian deaths. > > Since the war ended in 1991 the allied nations have made sure than any > attempts to make contaminated water safe have been thwarted. > > A respected American professor now intends to convene expert hearings in a > bid to pursue criminal indictments under international law against those > responsible. > > Professor Thomas J Nagy, Professor of Expert Systems at George Washington > University with a doctoral fellowship in public health, told the Sunday > Herald: "Those who saw nothing wrong in producing [this plan], those who > ordered its production and those who knew about it and have remained silent > for 10 years would seem to be in violation of Federal Statute and perhaps > have even conspired to commit genocide." > > Professor Nagy obtained a minutely detailed seven-page document prepared by > the US Defence Intelligence Agency, issued the day after the war started, > entitled Iraq Water Treatment Vulnerabilities and circulated to all major > allied Commands. > > It states that Iraq had gone to considerable trouble to provide a supply of > pure water to its population. It had to depend on importing specialised > equipment and purification chemicals, since water is "heavily mineralised > and frequently brackish". > > The report stated: "Failing to secure supplies will result in a shortage of > pure drinking water for much of the population. This could lead to increased > incidents, if not epidemics, of disease and certain pure-water dependent > industries becoming incapacitatedÉ" > > The report concludes: "Full degradation of the water treatment system > probably will take at least another six months." > > During allied bombing campaigns on Iraq the country's eight multi-purpose > dams had been repeatedly hit, simultaneously wrecking flood control, > municipal and industrial water storage, irrigation and hydroelectric power. > Four of seven major pumping stations were destroyed, as were 31 municipal > water and sewerage facilities - 20 in Baghdad, resulting in sewage pouring > into the Tigris. Water purification plants were incapacitated throughout > Iraq. > > Article 54 of the Geneva Convention states: "It is prohibited to attack, > destroy or render useless objects indispensable to the survival of the > civilian population" and includes foodstuffs, livestock and "drinking water > supplies and irrigation works". > > The results of the allied bombing campaign were obvious when Dr David > Levenson visited Iraq immediately after the Gulf War, on behalf of > International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. > > He said: "For many weeks people in Baghdad - without television, radio, or > newspapers to warn them - brought their drinking water from the Tigris, in > buckets. > > "Dehydrated from nausea and diarrhoea, craving liquids, they drank more of > the water that made them sick in the first place." > > Water-borne diseases in Iraq today are both endemic and epidemic. They > include typhoid, dysentery, hepatitis, cholera and polio (which had > previously been eradicated), along with a litany of others. > > A child with dysentery in 1990 had a one in 600 chance of dying - in 1999 it > was one in 50. > > The then US Navy Secretary John Lehman estimated that 200,000 Iraqis died in > the Gulf War. Dr Levenson estimates many thousands died from polluted water. > > > Chlorine and essential equipment parts needed to repair and clear the water > system have been banned from entering the country under the UN "hold"system. > > Ohio Democrat Representative Tony Hall has written to American Secretary of > State Madeleine Albright, saying he shares concerns expressed by Unicef > about the "profound effects the deterioration of Iraq's water supply and > sanitation systems on children's health". Diarrhoeal diseases he says are of > "epidemic proportions" and are "the prime killer of children under five". > > "Holds on contracts for water and sanitation are a prime reason for the > increase in sickness and death." Of 18 contracts, wrote Hall, all but one on > hold were placed by the government in the US. > > Contracts were for purification chemicals, chlorinators, chemical dosing > pumps, water tankers and other water industry related items. > > "If water remains undrinkable, diseases will continue and mortality rates > will rise," said the Iraqi trade minister Muhammed Mahdi Salah. The > country's health ministry said that more than 10,000 people died in July of > embargo-related causes - 7457 were children, with diarrhoeal diseases one of > the prime conditions. > > In July 1989, the figure was 378. Unicef does not dispute the figures. > > The problem will not be helped by plans for the giant Ilisu Dam project (to > which the British government is to give £200 million in export credit > guarantees), which will give Turkey entire control of the water flow to Iraq > and Syria. > > Constructors Balfour Beatty write in their environmental impact report, that > for the three years of construction, water flow to Iraq will be reduced by > 40%. Iraq has also suffered a three year drought, with the Tigris the lowest > in living memory. > -- > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > This is a discussion list run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq > For removal from list, email soc-casi-discuss-request@lists.cam.ac.uk > Full details of CASI's various lists can be found on the CASI website: > http://www.casi.org.uk > -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a discussion list run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq For removal from list, email soc-casi-discuss-request@lists.cam.ac.uk Full details of CASI's various lists can be found on the CASI website: http://www.casi.org.uk