MIM Notes 183 April 1 1999

U.$. WIDENS ARMED ATTACKS ON IRAQ

Over one hundred bombing attacks have been made on Iraq since the 
U.$. bombing campaign briefly ceased on December 19. Although 
relegated to the back pages, if at all mentioned in the 
imperialist press, these attacks are increasing in magnitude.

On March 1, the most extensive attacks were the dropping of "more 
than 30 2,000-pound and 500-pound" bombs. The source here is the 
U.$.-European command at U.$. bases in Turkey.(1) There have been 
repeated reports from Iraq of other bombings that the U.$. does 
not comment on. For all of these reasons, the real number of bombs 
is unknown but clearly growing.

An attack on February 28 apparently damaged an oil pumping station 
in Iraq, ceasing the flow of oil through a pipeline to Turkey. 
This is a part of the oil Iraq is allowed by the U.N. to sell for 
purchase of food and medicine.(1)

Recently, the U.$. attempted to diffuse criticism from other 
imperialists, Third World masses, and Amerikan progressives by 
offering to remove all restrictions on the amount of oil that Iraq 
can sell for food and medicine purchases. This is an inadequate 
response from the perspective of both self-determination as well 
as from the liberal perspective of stopping the unnecessary deaths 
of Iraqis.

Some detail on the pre-1991 Iraqi economy and the full effects of 
sanctions is necessary to expose the Amerikan propaganda for what 
it is: a tricky lie determined to divert attention from the scope 
of the sanctions on Iraq.

The mortality rate for Iraqi children under the age of five is now 
more than six times what it was in 1989, all as a result of the 
Gulf War and subsequent embargo. Child mortality was close to 600 
in 1989 and had multiplied to more than 4,400 in 1995. 750,000 
Iraqi children died as a result of the embargo alone by the end of 
1996.(4)

United Nations Resolution 986 allows Iraq to sell $2.14billion 
worth of oil every six months. Part of this amount goes as 
reparations to Kuwait and to the U.N. for overseeing the oil-for-
food deal, leaving 25 cents per day per Iraqi to buy essential 
food and medicine. The U.N. is currently proposing increasing the 
amount allowed to $5.26billion per six months.(2) 

"However, Iraq says it cannot pump more than $4 billion worth of 
oil because of the deterioration of oil field equipment under 
sanctions."(2) It is surprising that Iraq can pump that much after 
so many years of imperialist war against Iraq. One video made 
shortly after the 1991 Gulf War shown by MIM and RAIL is called 
"Criminal Murder in the Gulf" which focuses on the damage caused 
to Iraqi infrastructure, especially sanitation and electrical 
generation in the 1991 air campaign. This infrastructure relies on 
imported pumps and generators that are not able to be manufactured 
in Iraq. Either destroyed in the bombing campaigns or worn out 
through regular use, they can not be replaced.

A team of U.N. experts agreed with the Iraqi statement: "the 
deplorable state of Iraq's petroleum industry will prevent it from 
exporting the $5.26 billion worth of oil."(3) 

In a sense, this issue is distracting from the real question of 
the illegitimate and oppressive U.$. intervention. But liberals 
who insist on piece-meal solutions must address the inadequacy of 
that solution by confronting the extent of the damage caused to 
Iraq's economy. Meeting Iraq's medicine needs aren't enough.

Dr. Habib Rejeb, head of the World Health Organization told Voices 
in the Wilderness in February 1998 that the U.N. increase in the 
oil-for-food program would meet Iraqi medicine needs "but you 
would be providing this in vacuum because you don't have the 
equipment. If you buy laboratory materials and you don't have the 
equipment it's useless.... You give antibiotics but because of the 
poor hygiene in hospitals it's unlikely that you can prevent 
cross-infections. If you don't provide proper food in hospitals 
then you can't enhance recovery. You can't really work without 
electricity, you can't really work without water, and you can't 
work safely while stepping on sewage which comes out often. To 
improve the health situation you don't only need drugs because 
that is the tip of the iceberg.... If you want to provide proper 
care to the population then you have to rehabilitate the 
infrastructure."(3) 

The U.N. offer to increase the oil-for-food limit, or the U.$. 
proposal to eliminate it entirely are all unacceptable to those 
fighting for genuine justice. Without being able to invest in and 
redevelop its oil infrastructure, Iraq won't be able to meet it's 
medicine needs. And without being allowed to invest in other 
social infrastructure such as hospitals and sanitation, all the 
medicine in the world will prove inadequate at addressing Iraqi's 
health care problems.

Iraq should be treated as a sovereign nation, not as enemy to be 
annihilated from the face of the earth. But for Amerika, there is 
no profit in that.

Notes:
1. Boston Globe 2 March 1999, p. A12.
2. Voices in the Wilderness, Sanctions Page. Myth 6 and 7. 
http://www.nonviolence.org/vitw/sanctions.html March 2, 1999.
3. Voices in the Wilderness, Sanctions Page. Myth 6. 
http://www.nonviolence.org/vitw/sanctions.html March 2, 1999. VITW 
cites the Associated Press April 16 1998.
4. "Embargo Factsheet," http://www.Al-Bushra.org/temp/embargo.htm. 
(December 1997).