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: With New, slow, and improved Genocide, no one will notice. : From Reuters News Wire : Tuesday September 4, 12:11 PM : Life in sanctions-hit Iraq is harsh and short : By Khaled Yacoub Oweis : BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Take a trip round the crippled Iraqi capital and the : consequences of 11 years of United Nations sanctions become apparent -- : power cuts, polluted water, a decaying infrastructure and factories and : people without work. : The almost bankrupt country suffers from widespread poverty, one of the : highest rates of infant mortality in the world and a health service which : barely functions. : "The sanctions are the equivalent of dropping a nuclear bomb," says a U.N. : official in Baghdad who privately sides with Iraq. "So called civilised : countries do not treat other nations like this, even one which lost a war." : The sanctions were imposed in 1990 when the United Nations voted to punish : Iraq for its invasion of Kuwait and prevent it from importing technology to : make weapons. : Six years later the U.N reached a memorandum of understanding with Iraq : allowing it to sell "oil for food" and other humanitarian goods. : Baghdad says it has exported the equivalent of $47 billion (32 billion : pounds) of crude under the deal but received only $12 billion worth of : goods. : According to newly released official Iraqi figures, $16 billion earned by : Iraq in oil sales went as reparations for the Gulf War. Another $19 billion : worth of contracts that it tried to negotiate for goods and food were : rejected or frozen by the U.N. sanctions committee in New York. : "Foreign firms cream off the contracts allowed under oil for food," said an : official at a west European company with an office in Baghdad. : "The Iraqis do not stand a chance to compete. Under sanctions, manufacturers : have inferior quality and traders cannot obtain visas to travel." : "It is pointless to invest even if we could afford to. There is no supply : chain to maintain new equipment," says a senior businessman. : He says it still takes months to receive U.N. approval for orders to replace : simple equipment and even then he is at the mercy of Jordanian and Syrian : middlemen who handle the process. : He has been unable to get any new equipment for his company since sanctions : were imposed. : NEARLY BANKRUPT : "The state is not pumping any money into the economy either," he said, : adding that the nearly bankrupt government could not afford repairs to the : electricity grid or to clean up contaminated water. : The only signs of new business in the streets are traditional kebab : restaurants and billiard salons to entertain masses of unemployed youths. : In the trendy Arasat district, the number of shops selling imported clothes : is on the rise, but their goods are beyond the reach of most Iraqis whose : average monthly salary dropped to the equivalent of $5 after the collapse of : the dinar at the start of the Gulf War in 1991. : The dinar strengthened significantly when Iraq and the U.N. reached the "oil : for food" deal but collapsed again when it became apparent that the : agreement was not going to spur the economy or earn the government enough : cash. : The private sector has been shrinking since the 1958 revolution which : brought down the monarchy and steered Iraq toward a command economy. : Attempts by President Saddam Hussein to sell state assets and decrease : dependence on oil in the 1980s were relegated to second priority during the : war with Iran. : With a large section of the population dependant on the government, depleted : state income has hit Iraq hard. : U.N. officials say almost no new schools have been built since 1990 while : the student population has doubled. Half the schools are not fit to be : used -- they have no desks or functioning lavatories. : Iraq says the U.N. sanctions committee has blocked the import of components : needed to maintain hospitals and rebuild infrastructure. The committee says : Baghdad has not ordered enough health and educational components allowed : under "oil for food". : "SMART" SANCTIONS : The deterioration in the standard of living has strengthened Iraq's case for : lifting the sanctions with increasing support from Russia and China, which : have thwarted U.S. attempts to institute "smart" sanctions targeting the : Iraqi government more narrowly. : "Smart" sanctions called for by the United States and Britain are aimed at : easing restrictions on civilian goods to Iraq, strengthening a ban on : military supplies and curbing smuggling. : "The understanding on the international level is wider than ever now that : the sanctions were imposed to achieve unlawful objectives of the United : States and Britain on Iraq," Foreign Minister Naji Sabri told Reuters. : Iraqis are bitter, remembering how their country used to pioneer human : development in the Middle East, spending huge amounts on adult literacy : programmes, training, public health and information technology. : "Iraq needs billions of dollars to repair this country and the United States : allows it millions," says a leading economist, who forecast the sanctions : will force the economy into its 11th year of contraction. : "It is difficult to quantify the extent of the damage the sanctions : inflicted, but it is massive. The government does not provide any data for : fear it would be beneficial to the enemy," the economist said. : He was one of tens of thousands of Iraqis whom Saddam sent to obtain : post-graduate degrees in the West, and one of the few who remained in the : country after the sanctions were imposed. : "Iraqis will return en masse once the sanctions are lifted. "This was a very : prosperous country," he said, citing few improvements, such as a pick up in : construction activity after the sanctions committee allowed the government : this year to import building material. : Iraqi consumers are also finding a wider choice of goods since the : government struck trade preference deals that abolished import duties on : items from Syria and allowed Lebanese traders in the country. : Business delegations from Thailand, India and Finland last month descended : on Baghdad to assess the market. : As well as encouraging sanction-busting trade, the government is attempting : to adopt a more disciplined monetary policy. Saddam recently asked his : ministers to "reread" old guidelines, to stop printing money and streamline : the tax system. : "They are quietly preparing to be ready when the sanctions are lifted," the : economist said. : Copyright © 2001 Reuters Limited : : : I found this on the Web. please try to help this organization help our people. Signing a petition is the LEAST we can do. : : quote: : : -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : : It is up to the international community in particular to promote solutions that lead to harmony and renewal in social life and to take responsibility for avoiding deviations that could turn populations into innocent victims. – Pope John Paul II speaking about Iraq on 12/17/98. Pax Christi USA urgently appeals to the consciences of all people of faith and goodwill to support efforts to halt the ongoing humanitarian devastation in Iraq resulting from ten years of economic sanctions by calling upon the United Nations to end these sanctions immediately. : : Here is your chance to take part in a global petition, go to this link print the text, get as many people as you can to sign it, and post it to the address given before 30th September. : : Abu Arak : : Find all the information of this address : : : http://www.nonviolence.org/vitw/pages/140.htm

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