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It is now nine years since the
United Nations instituted sanctions on Iraq. Over this period, the
toll has been on the population in the two extremes of age - the
children and the aged. Our concern, as paediatricians, is with the
children, whose war they are neither involved in nor have they any
say. Numerous attempts to lift the sanctions based on humanitarian
reasons have fallen on deaf ears and were even vetoed by the major
powers led by the United States of America. Two of the United Nations'
top officials in Iraq have resigned in succession and the head of
the UN world food programme in Iraq also resigned recently in protest.
An ITV documentary entitled "Paying
the Price the Killing of the Children of Iraq : a special report
by John Pilger" created enough anger and resentment that the British
Medical Journal had a review by Tony Delamothe on the subject (BMJ
2000; 320:722 (11 March)). Even our own Prime Minister's wife, Datin
Seri Dr Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali, was disturbed by the plight of the
Iraqi people and organised a visit to Iraq to witness first-hand
the real situation on the ground.
The World Health Organisation (WHO)
estimates that since the sanctions, the mortality rate among children
has doubled, thus adding another 500,000 deaths to the world statistics.
Iraqi hospitals have limited drug supplies, aspirin is used for
cancer pain rather than morphine and crucial chemotherapy is unheard
of. The incidence of childhood cancers has increased since the Gulf
War - testimony to the lacing of weapons with depleted uranium?
These are not taking into account the malnutrition and reemergence
of infectious diseases afflicting the children. In the streets,
people are turning their possessions to cash for food and medicines.
Doctors are selling their textbooks to put food in their families'
mouths. A shipment of vaccines against yellow fever and diphtheria
were blocked because of the western world's fear of their possible
use in weapons of mass destruction. Is there a rational explanation
for this absurd phobia?
Who is the war against anyway?
While the whole world knows the real enemy is Saddam Hussein, it
is ludicrous that the United States, with their infinite technology
and expertise cannot target this one person and his cronies instead
of putting the whole Iraqi population in a downward spiral of health
and economic decay. The British Prime Minister and a former US President
have remarked, "Our quarrel is not with the Iraqi people. It never
has been." Yet, the sufferers in this whole conflict are the children
of Iraq, not the leaders who have access to all the food and medical
supplies they require. Perhaps what the world should really be asking
is: What is the real agenda? The Security Council of the United
Nations, an organisation set up to protect the rights of peoples
of the world, 'Is now destroying the human rights of the Iraqi people"
(quote from Derek Halliday, former assistant secretary general of
the UN in charge of humanitarian operations in Iraq).
In the ITV production John Pilger
states that "Every UN agency dealing with health, food, agriculture
and children has repeatedly reported that tens of thousands of the
most vulnerable in society have died or are suffering as a result
of the sanctions. Why should the civilian population, including
children born since the Gulf War, innocent people, be held hostage
to the compliance of a dictator?" Why, indeed.
ZULKIFLI ISMAIL
Editor
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