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UN Sanctions on Iraq Dunia Faleh, 9 months old, has diarrhea and nutritional marasmus. Weight is 4 Kg; ideal weight would be 8 Kg. Basrah, September, 1998. (Photo by Chuck Quilty) The Gulf War ended in 1991, right? Yes, unless ? of course - you are an Iraqi citizen. Because of the devastating economic sanctions imposed by the UN (currently these sanctions are only supported by the US, and, to a lesser extent, Britain), Iraq has been cut off from the world for ten years. Hospitals lack such necessities as syringes, painkillers, and blood for transfusions. Children, who are starving to death, play in streets flowing with sewage. The infant mortality rate is one of the highest in the world. Over 1.5 million Iraqis have died as a direct result of the sanctions, and the country is bombed weekly by the US. These certainly seem like the conditions of war to me. Now you may be thinking all of this is justifiable, after all Saddam Hussein is the leader of Iraq, and he is such a very bad man. While Hussein is used for propaganda in the US the sanctions, which directly affect the lives of common citizens, are an even more powerful tool used in Iraq. Hussein can point to the US as the cause of pain, thus increasing feeling of hatred towards US citizens, and alleviating any pressure on his regime. There are 25 million people, aside from Saddam Hussein, living in Iraq and they are suffering greatly in our name.
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