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Dear Eric, Your contact infers that a few water facilities may have been mistakenly hit. To reiterate, Dr Levenson, who gave evidence on the subject at Ramsey's Clarks International Tribunal, wrote that 4 out of 7 pimping stations were destroyed, as were 31 municipal water and sewerage facilities - 20 in Baghdad, And the 8 multi purpose dams 'repeatedly' hit. Para 28 states: the entire Iraqi water system will not collapse precipitously... (but) decline steadily ....' Last line of document: 'Full degradation of the water treatment system probably will take at least another six months.' Given the full content of the document, the actions of the allies and the subsequent constant hold on parts for water and sewerage treatment, it sure reads like a statement of intent to me. Art 54 of the Geneva Convention is clear not alone on the prohibition of attacking that essential to sustain life, but 'rendering useless' that indespensible to the survival of the civilian population. The war and the sanctions have done just that to just about eveything vital and the water has become a weapon of mass destruction. Further Basra's only (barely) functioning water tower was bombed about two years ago (can't find date) and was not in a complex where it could have been mistaken for anything else, as it stood alone and visible for what it was. Denial of chlorine, water purifying chemicals and parts, thus further rendering not alone useless, but lethal Iraq's water is not only immoral but illegal. Further, 'assessment' or not the document has certainly become a self fulfilling prophesy, aided and abetted by the sanctions committee with almost all the holds generated by the US. However, re the intent of the document, Levenson, on his immediate post war visit picked up on almost every point the document predicts will be a consequence of the destruction of Iraq's water, as having happened. Further, due to the collapse of water systems at every level and the denial of parts and reverse osmosis (to which the document also refers and which has been constantly vetoed or 'held') there are hospitals which do not even have hot water. Basra paediatric and maternity hospital is one - new born babies are stalked by death from the moment of their birth. As for chlorine being a potential weapon, we havent barred it from Turkey who has so far destroyed 3,226 Kurdish villages, pillaged northern Iraq and has one of the worlds most lamentable human rights records - or indeed from plenty other woefully appalling regimes. We should also bear in mind that when the US signed the chem and biological weapons treaty it sold much of its stocks to Iraq. There are no clean hands in this whole shoddy affair of Iraq. Further, if as your correspondent states, this is a fine, high minded assessment of how vulnerable Iraq's water system is, put out to Nato Central, Maritime Central, UK Strike Command etc etc to warn them to be extra careful, either they scrupulously ignored instructions or their smart weapons were even dumber than we thought. There is an allied reason for thinking that water was deliberately targetted in that in addition to bombing, it seems Turkey reduced the flow of the Euphrates during the war and an estimated 5.5 million people reliant on it for agriculture etc. were affected. The document was also circulated to 'Ankara'. And now, as I mentioned in the piece, the Ilisu dam if it goes ahead, will give Turkey control over water to Iraq and Syria. As for not targetting civilians - the Basra road springs to mind - targetted even after the ceasefire. And the ongoing bombings - including six flocks of sheep since Dec 98 and the child shepherds who mind them - all in remote areas, near no installations of any kind. It would be of interest to this observer, who has visited all but one sheep bombing and interviewed eyewitnesses and surviving families, to know what threat sheep pose to US and UK aircraft. Kindest regards, Felicity Arbuthnot. -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 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