The Issue

The Gulf War—the UN military campaign that quickly forced Iraq to end its occupation of Kuwait—ended in 1991. The war against Iraq has never ended. It has proceeded on two fronts—economic sanctions and the maintenance of U.S. and British "no-fly zones" covering much of Iraqi territory.

The UN originally imposed sanctions to force Saddam Hussein’s compliance with UN inspection to assure the destruction of his capacity to make weapons of mass destruction. The U.S. and Great Britain, on their own authority, imposed the no-fly zones after the failure of the rebellions they encouraged by the Kurds in the north of Iraq and the Shiite Muslims in the south.

The effects of the sanctions have been so devastating to the civilian population as to constitute one of the great atrocities of a century full of atrocities (see below). The imposition and maintenance of the no-fly zones have been a gross violation of international law and have given the U.S. opportunity to bomb Iraq whenever we want (which we have done with increased frequency the last 18 months).

While Saddam Hussein did not make the job of the UN weapons inspection teams easy, there is great confidence that he has little capacity to resume manufacture of chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons. And the no-fly zones have done nothing to shake his effective control over his nation.

So there remains the question, why do the sanctions and the no-fly zones remain in place?

The explanation never mentioned when U.S. officials justify their policy is that the Gulf War gave the U.S. its long-sought opportunity to station major military forces in the Mideast, and we have no intention of losing the pretext for keeping them there. What dictates this policy are the goals that dictate all U.S. Mideast policy—first, the quest to guarantee uninterrupted access to the oil; second, the furtherance of Israeli security objectives as Israel perceives them. Supporting this interpretation is evidence that the U.S. encouraged Saddam Hussein to invade Kuwait to resolve his long-standing grievance against Kuwait’s slant drilling into Iraqi oil reserves just across the border from Kuwait.

The Impact of the Economic Sanctions

These sanctions are the most comprehensive ever imposed on a nation. They have had major impacts on Iraq’s ability to supply clean water, medical care, and food to its people. Estimates of above-normal deaths since the sanctions were imposed in 1991 range from half a million to almost two million. Women and children have suffered the most. An entire generation of children have been deprived of a future.

The Oil-for-Food program, which allows Iraq to sell a limited amount of oil to pay for importing food, has disguised the suffering. As UNICEF has reported, the program does not generate the revenues nor provide the imports necessary to address Iraq’s failing civilian infrastructure (especially water purification and electrical systems) and overcome shortages of food and medicine. The last two UN officials in charge of administering humanitarian aid—Denis Halliday and Hans von Sponek—resigned to protest their inability to stem the tide of suffering and death.

Iraq never sees any of the money its oil sales generate. Instead, the money goes into an escrow account in a French bank in New York City. Thirty percent of it is deducted for war reparations to Kuwait and another 16% is deducted to pay costs of the UN operations in Iraq. The UN Security Council’s Iraq Sanctions Committee (where the U.S. can exercise veto control) then decides what Iraq may and may not buy with the remaining funds.

For more information on the impact of the sanctions, including photographic documentation of the suffering, visit the Voices in the Wilderness website, www.nonviolence.org/vitw/

Current Activity

France, Russia, and a number of Middle Eastern states have been sending flights into the newly reopened Baghdad airport on humanitarian missions. For example, Tunisia flew in doctors, humanitarian aid, and a soccer team. A plane from Syria carried 50 members of the Arab Teachers’ Union and schoolbooks.

U.S. Representative Conyers (D-MI) and nine other Members of Congress have introduced H.R 742, the Humanitarian Exports Leading to Peace (H.E.L.P.) Act of 2001. If passed, H.R. 742 would change U.S. law to allow farmers, relief organizations and companies to export food, medicine and agricultural goods directly to Iraq. Circumventing the 661 Committee, U.S. trade with Iraq would hasten the end of the trade embargo. H.R. 742 also calls on the U.S. Government to take all necessary steps to end the suffering of innocent populations in Iraq. For details and the full text of the bill visit http://saveageneration.org/wawatch

Campaigns

Local: For several years, the Houston chapter of the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) has focused on the sanctions. Primary contacts: Lee Loe (president), 1844 Kipling St., Houston TX 77098, 713/524-2682, leeloe@neosoft.com. Bert Golding (membership) 713/977-4025, berthg@aol.com. The Dominican Sisters also have been active, joining delegations to Iraq and giving eye-witness accounts of the suffering after they return to Houston. Primary contact: Sr. Jane Abell, 713/522-8416 or jabell@domhou.org.

National: Many organizations work on this. Some were formed especially for this purpose; others existed previously and added sanctions work to their program. In addition, a number of major church bodies, most prominently the Roman Catholic, have called for lifting the sanctions. A good place to start is the Iraq Action Coalition http://iraqaction.org. Other places to start plugging into national campaigns are Voices in the Wilderness (www.nonviolence.org/vitw/) and EPIC (Education for Peace in Iraq Center): 1101 Penn Ave. SE, Washington, DC 20003; 202/543-6176; www.saveageneration.org.

The Fellowship of Reconciliation’s Campaign of Conscience for the People of Iraq enables people to defy U.S. legal prohibition on sending food and medical supplies to Iraq. Individuals can sign up on-line at the website, http://www.forusa.org/CampaignsFrame.html. FOR has another campaign, Campaign to Save a Generation (Iraq) with a broader focus. Go to same website. To order an FOR-created action kit for sanctions work, send an e-mail request to bsp@forusa.org.