Myths and Realities About the Iraq Sanctions

This information, taken from Voices in the Wilderness, will aim to help resolve some common myths related to the sanctions and devastation in Iraq. (Originally from Iraq Under Siege)

Myth 1: The sanctions have produced temporary hardship for the Iraqi people but are an effective, nonviolent way to pressure the Iraqi Government.

Surveys by UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, have found that almost one-third of Iraqi children are suffering chronic malnutrition. An April, 1997 UNICEF report says that (4,500)* children continue to die each month for lack of adequate food or medicine. The UN Department of Humanitarian Affairs reports that "public health services are near total collapse - basic medicines, lifesaving drugs and essential medical supplies are lacking throughout the country. 50% of rural people have no access to potable water and waste water treatment facilities have stopped functioning in most urban areas." The sanctions are an insidious form of warfare that have claimed hundreds of thousands of innocent civilian lives.

Myth 2: The U.S. Government wants to enforce UN Resolutions and uphold the rule of law.

The U.S. has consistently employed a double standard when it comes to UN Resolutions and international law. For decades, the U.S. has vetoed UN resolutions condemning Israel's occupation of Arab territories. It is also relevant to the current situation that the U.S. is in technical violation of a global treaty to dismantle chemical weapons (AP, 2/27/98). A Senate bill passed in 1997 allows the President to deny international inspections of U.S. weapons sites "on grounds of National Security." UN sanctions against Iraq, which continue to be imposed at the insistence of the U.S. (with the UK following suit) are a gross violation of the Geneva Protocol 1, Article 54; Starvation of Civilians as a Method of Warfare is Prohibited. It's significant that the U.S., which has yet to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, considered using nuclear weapons against Iraq in February, 1998.

PS: As of 2002, the latest reports shows that 9000 children in Iraq continue to die each month, for lack of adequate food or medicine due to U.S.A. and U.K. imposed sanctions!