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California Creates Family Leave Program

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Iraq for Dummies

The Struggle Against Neo-Colonialism

No New War Against Iraq

Peru: Bayer Responsible in Pesticide Deaths

Schools Implement Pesticide 'Right to Know' Act

September 11 Families Call for Peace

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Iraq for Dummies

by Ruth Wilson

The US (with help from Britain) has bombed Iraq 46 times this year (2002), even before any "war" declared by President Bush. President Bush's current threats of escalation are receiving much news coverage, but generally the bombardment of Iraq is scarcely noticed by the press. The US has been bombing Iraq fairly steadily for the past four years, since December 1998, and the bombs have killed hundreds of civilians and wounded thousands, according to Iraqi reports. There is also an economic war, which has been going on for the past 12 years. This silent war has caused the deaths of 500,000 Iraqi children under age five, according to UNICEF (www.unicef.org/newsline/99pr29.htm). The destruction of Iraq's economy and infrastructure has caused ongoing shortages of food, clean water, and basic medical care for ordinary people. Now things are a little better, due to the UN "oil-for-food" program, which allows Iraq to sell a limited amount of oil to buy food and medicine, but the future of the program is highly uncertain.

In August, Iraqi oil exports were cut substantially, and since then they have fluctuated at lower than previous levels, meaning less funding for the UN oil-for-food program. If this program is cut back further, or eliminated completely, the consequences will be dire for the Iraqi people. Massive shortages of food and medicine could resume. Children are regularly killed and maimed by ordinance left from the Gulf War, including scattered pieces of cluster bombs and thousands of landmines.

US officials like to blame Iraq's problems on Saddam Hussein, but the UN sanctions against Iraq don't target the Iraqi regime. Instead, the oil embargo and other sanctions hurt ordinary Iraqi people. Targeted sanctions could stop Saddam and members of his government from traveling freely, freeze their financial assets abroad, and strengthen the arms embargo against Iraq, rather than destroy the economy of the country. Unfortunately, there is evidence that freeing Iraq from dictatorship may not be a goal of key American leaders. In fact, the real goal may be to keep Saddam Hussein in power as long as possible. There is evidence that the US has been supporting Saddam both overtly and covertly since the Gulf War.

One possible motive is that the oil embargo is profitable for US Corporations. Iraq contains somewhat more oil than Kuwait, and in 1989 it exported some three million barrels per day. In August of 1990, following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, the UN embargo began, which essentially stopped Iraq from exporting oil. Almost immediately, Saudi Arabia stepped in to fill the gap by increasing oil production by 3 million barrels per day. For the past 12 years, as the embargo has continued, Saudi Arabia has gained most of Iraq's potential oil revenues. Saudi Arabia has earned over $130 billion dollars, which Iraq has failed to earn. It is probable that much of this windfall has been invested in US companies and banks. Like Kuwait, Saudi Arabia is ruled by one family, which is very closely tied to the United States. The Iraqi military is actually quite weak, and can barely fight back against American attacks. Nevertheless, Saddam Hussein serves as a useful enemy to scare Americans into paying for the most expensive military in history, long after the breakup of the Soviet Union. The following remarks about Hussein appeared in the New York Times (Oct 31 1997): "'He's done more to promote our policy than we have,' one (Washington) official said. Another added, 'God bless Saddam."'

The current imperative is to boost the stock market by diverting the flow of petrodollars from Iraq to Saudi Arabia or a similar family-dictatorship. Hussein is likely to cooperate in this effort because bombings and sanctions provide a prop to stabilize his shaky regime.

Learn more. See www.wafreepress.org (see Jan.1999 back issue, and click on "American Policy in Iraq"). Also, check out the following website: epic-usa.org (Education for Peace in Iraq Center). This group, founded by a Gulf War veteran, has for several years been lobbying Congress to end the war and stop the economic sanctions against Iraq.

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