When the founding delegates to the United Nations met after
World War II to draw up rules for the new international body, they
envisioned economic sanctions as a humane alternative to military
intervention for encouraging better behavior from recalcitrant
governments.
The worst case of sanctions is Iraq, where the widest-ranging
embargo ever imposed by the Security Council has devastated a
nation of 24 million without compelling the regime of President
Saddam Hussein to comply with weapons inspections. U.S. officials
claim to acknowledge the suffering caused by the sanctions, but at
the same time, they blame Saddam, who can end the embargo by
cooperating with inspections to ensure Iraq is not building
nuclear, chemical or biological weapons. However, this “blame
game” fails to help those innocent people, who have little
say in the policies of a government that discourages dissent with
torture and execution.
The effects of the sanctions are limitless. In the past 13
years, well over 1 million Iraqis have died. Figures from UNICEF
show that 5,000 to 6,000 children die monthly from sanction-related
causes ““ mainly malnutrition, waterborne diseases and lack of
medicine. More than half of Iraq’s population does not have
access to clean drinking water, yet chlorine is blocked by
sanctions.
Unfortunately, these are only a small portion of the health
disasters caused by the sanctions. Before the embargo, Iraq’s
socialized medicine and general oil made obesity the biggest health
issue. Today, it is infant mortality. The number one killer of
children under five is dehydration from diarrhea. These problems
are especially severe in the south, where birth defects and cancers
in women and children have skyrocketed.
The social and economic effects are also numerous. Due to
sanctions, the value of the dinar has plummeted, and the majority
of Iraqis have seen their lives go from comfortable to desperate,
with many women forced to prostitute themselves in order to feed
their families. The educational system, once the envy of the Arab
world, is now in ruins. The embargo has meant that science,
technology and even literature textbooks are blocked at the border,
as are chemicals for lab experiments and lead pencils.
With all of these disastrous consequences, the United States is
still planning on war with Iraq. It is very unfortunate that the
only possible solutions that the United States deems effective,
involve the direct deprivation of a people who were once so proud
of their rich cultural heritage in the cradle of civilization.
This is where the wheel was invented, along with agriculture,
writing and mathematics. More recently, oil money fueled health and
education systems that approached European standards. Now, the
babies ““ who die of curable diseases for want of basic
medicine ““ will never be able to partake in the prosperity
that the previous generation had strived for and achieved, nor will
the schoolchildren who struggle to educate themselves in crumbling
classrooms without pencils, papers or books.
The current U.S. policy revolves around protecting the world
from the Saddam’s catastrophic nuclear capabilities. However,
it seems ironic that the United States is further causing what it
is claiming to be preventing. Millions of innocent Iraqis will
continue to die as a result of a counterproductive foreign policy,
while at the same time the United States is justifying war to
prevent Saddam from killing innocent civilians. The imposition of
embargoes was extreme and contradictory enough, which makes war an
even more ludicrous and double-standard solution.
Once the sanctions are lifted, it is probable Iraq can once
again obtain the productivity to finally oust Saddam through
internal rebellion. But first, this will involve U.S. support for
the innocent Iraqi people who seek change themselves. If the United
States realizes the ongoing death of Iraqis will only breed further
hostility, there will be change.