The following is an archived copy of a message sent to a Discussion List run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
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Dr Leon Eisenberg of Harvard Medical School noted that the destruction of the country's power plants in 1991 'brought its entire system of water purification and distribution to a halt, leading to epidemics of cholera, typhoid fever and gastroenteritis, particualrly among children.' 'There were approximately 47,000 excess deaths among children under five years of age during the first eight months of 1991. The deaths resulted from infectious diseases, the decreased quality and availability of food and water and an enfeebled medical care system hampered by the lack of drugs and supplies. '(Leon Eisenberg, MD 'The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters - Human Costs of Economic Sanctions', New England Journal of Medicine, Volume 336(17)24 April 1997, pp1248-1250(Quoted in 'War Plan Iraq', by Milan Rai, Arrow Publications). The destruction of the clean water system was inevitable given the destruction of power supplies. The US says it did not mean to destroy the power stations - it was simply aiming to disable them in the short-term and additional damage was a result of 'the heat of battle.' I suggest that this is about as plausible as Saddam saying that he did not mean to target civilians when he bombed Halabja. If he said his 'intention' was to kill only combatants would we demand written evidence of an 'intention' to kill civilians on his part? ----- Original Message ----- From: Alun Harford <alunharford@yahoo.com> To: <casi-discuss@lists.casi.org.uk> Sent: Sunday, January 26, 2003 2:54 AM Subject: Re: [casi] (Bert Gedin) targeting of water treatment facilities > > --- Bert Gedin <gedinbert@hotmail.com> wrote: > > > > Dear Alun, > > > > Aren't you jumping to (unfounded) conclusions? A > > useless document? > Yes, both sides will read different meanings into it. > People (particularly Americans) will tend to believe > the US military because they know more about them. > > The US > > military NOT bombing Iraqi infra-structure? Do you > > really believe that Iraqi > > water systems have never been bombed? > Of cause I know theyu were bombed - why do you think > I'm on CASI. > > The US > > military may be full of really > > nice people, but it is those very "really nice > > people" who cause so much > > havoc, including "collateral damage". Maybe you're > > underestimating CASI - it > > includes a number of experts in politics, science > > etc., as well as ordinary > > folks with plenty of common sense. > > CASI is no "ship of fools"! > Exactly why I'm sure it will have the good sense to > avoid this issue for a while and make arguments it can > win. > > Alun > > __________________________________________________ > Do you Yahoo!? > Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. > http://mailplus.yahoo.com > > _______________________________________________ > Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. > To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss > To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk > All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk _______________________________________________ Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk