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]
Dear Colleagues, Does Helen Fein bother to read the materials she send out? First of all the report she has sent us is not may be from WHO url but the report itself is from something called "Pacific Disaster Management Information Network [PDMIN] Everyone knows the WHO, but who has heard of PDMIN, which on every page modestly appends the disclaimer, "This report has been compiled from publicly available information...and cannot be guaranteed". Helen, what is this? Bait and switch? You promise us the WHO and but gave us instead PDMIN which admits on every page that it's data cannot be guaranteed and makes no claim that its source is the WHO but rather "publicly available information?" Feels like old times, when you confronted me with press clippings from the NYT instead of primary sources . For example, at p. 3 your MDMIN report claims without any hint of its source that "Baghdad now has about 8 hours of power a day" -- wonderful way to keep in a ruined condition any water treatment system which relies on continuous power. Intermittent power results in continued ruin. Rotate the nouns, would NY or LA try running its water system on 8 hours of power per day unless it wanted to destroy equipment and kill kids? What fair minded scholar would not find your cite of Leitenberg (limited to the cryptic notation (July 14) anything but pathetic)? The quote ""I [ML} doubt it was US bombing, and there have been no reported that US bombing hit sewage or water purification systems, but several press reports in mid and late June of sabotage of water purification -- presumably ones still obeying Saddam 'government' directions-- and not the the US" would be a joke, an ungrammatical and scarcely coherent one, except for the US's continued killing of Iraqi infants by putting priority on oil rather than safe water, even for infants. This crime that "outrageous the mute earth" endangers our children and those of our allies. Recall that Article 54 forbids under all circumstances "rendering useless" items indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, not merely the destruction or removal of Article 54 infrastructure. Again to rotate the nouns, is Lietenberg so confident that the invasion with its "shock and awe" terror bombing did not burst significant numbers of water and sewage pipes from the concussion alone, that he would be willing to test his cheerful interpretation by subjecting College Park, MD to an identical bombing and then looking for leaks (except that in Iraq, the US's blocking of items needed to repair water resulted in a pre invasion leakage rate of about 40%, even before the 2003 invasion) so the comparison would hardly be fair. Of course since the sole cite to Leitenberg is Helen's cryptic (July 14), it's rather had hard to judge if Leitenberg acknowledges that a good portion of the "sabotage" consisted of Iraqi so desperate for any water, they pounded or shoot holes in the miserable pipes the U.S. had for so many years prevented from being replaced. Thank you, US killers in stripped suits at the 661 Committee in NY. Neat trick Helen to give us a WHO url that provides, not a WHO report as one might expect, but a hodge podge of tossed together stuff from PDMIN, an organization I've never heard of, but perhaps Helen can educate us all. Finally I cannot believe that Helen and Garfield and Leitenberg are so hard hearted about a demolished people, people that the U.S. demolished under the fig leaf of U.N. sanctions, that they can bear to continue to be utterly indifferent to the fate of US infants whose future relies on a the lives of all infants including Iraqi infants. Nor can I believe that this trio of Americans can continue to persist in this form of genocide denial that threatens to destroy us all. Om mani padme hum. tom Thomas J. Nagy, Ph.D. Associate Prof. of Expert Systems George Washington University Washington, DC 20052 nagy@gwu.edu Researcher in Baghdad for Canada's IPPNW affiliate Member: Tikkun Community p.s. Helen, wonder if you would give us a slightly more precise citation than (July 14) and provide us with ACTUAL WHO reports. Till then may I suggest the shamefully outdated, but best I could find, http://www.who.int/disasters/country.cfm?countryID=28&doctypeID=5 which is at least consists of WHO and UNICEF reports and more modestly the last item at home.gwu.edu/~nagy until I can work with medical doctors and epidemiologists to prepare a through post invasion study during my upcoming sabbatical. May God and the mothers of Iraq forgive us all for act more cowardly than even the "Good German Professors" of the 1940s who could at least claim threat of immediate deportation to death camps with their families if they spoke out. How can we justify our continued silence? helen fein wrote: ... > Rather than appending 20 pages in response to my e-mail of July 8, > largely consisting of a) personal accusations and defenses (many of > which are defamatory, ad hominem and irrelevant), b) excessive > technical information and c) forwarded forwarded e-mails not intended > for general dissemination, I think it best to frame the central > question of current concern and note an information source you may > use (among your other sources) to make your own judgment. The > question implicit is whether responsibility for damage to Iraq's water > treatment system and putative decline in public health (which affects > children especially) can be attributed to damage during to bombardment > in the war, lack of security in Iraq for repair of facilities (due to > armed attacks and looting) or lack of planning or of concern to > maintain the system by the occupying power. Milton Leitenberg (July > 14) said that "I doubt if it was US bombing, and there have been no > reports that US bombing hit sewage or water purification systems, but > several press reports in mid and late June of sabatoge of water > purification and --presumably ones still obeying Saddam 'government' > directions--and not the US.." Tom Nagy (July 11) said that "there are > scores of statement from WHO, UNICEF and CARE, Inc. of the dire > conditions in Iraq....[which] were exacerbated by the massive invasion > and its inevitable aftermath, given the priority of the US/UK: save > the oil for looting and don't worry excessively about anything else > except possibly force protection of the US/UK militaries." All agree > on the authoritative information reported on the World Health > Organization website: www.who.int/disasters/repo/10216.pdf _______________________________________________ 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