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by Tom McKay
This August marks the tenth year of sanctions on Iraq. In a country with a
population of only about 22 million people, more than 1 million people have died since
the sanctions began. Millions more are suffering from severe malnutrition, illness and
psychological distress. One-third of Iraqi children are severely malnourished. More than
half-a-million Iraqi children under the age of five have died. A large majority of the
population no longer has access to clean water. In the following article I will list some of the links that are actively involved in stopping this inhumane situation.
The U.S. Trading with the Enemy Act provides for penalties of up to 12 years in
prison and a $1 million fine for taking humanitarian aid to Iraq without a special license
from the U.S. Treasury Department. According to experts on international law, the
sanctions on Iraq violate provisions of the Geneva Convention, the UN Declaration of
Human Rights, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. By breaking the sanctions
and providing humanitarian aid to the Iraqi people, the Campaign of Conscience will
affirm international law and respond to a moral imperative. Thousands of people are
needed to join the Campaign of Conscience to lift the U.S. sanctions.For more information on the Campaign of Conscience see http://www.forusa.org/cciraqframe.html/.
Voices in the Wilderness points out that the "sanctions target the weakest and
most vulnerable members of the Iraqi society - the poor, elderly, newborn, sick, and
young." Their website can be found at www.nonviolence.org/vitw.
After resigning as United Nations Assistant Secretary General and Chief UN Relief
Coordinator for Iraq, Denis Halliday said, "We are in the process of destroying an entire
society. It is as simple and terrifying as that." The Iraq Action Coalition has posted the
full text of his speech explaining why he resigned from his UN post in protest of the
sanctions. It can be found on the internet at http://iraqaction.org/.
Total economic sanctions against any country are a violation of international law.
The Education for Peace in Iraq Center (EPIC) says, "the sanctions, which deny access to
basic healthcare, clean water and electricity, are a systematic violation of the Geneva
Convention, which prohibits the 'starvation of civilians as a method of warfare." Their
website is www.saveageneration.org.
The International Action Center points out that these sanctions are racist and they
are genocidal. The U.S. government practices racist oppression internationally through
sanctions and economic domination in the same way that they practice it domestically
through welfare reform, police repression, attacks on affirmative action, and cuts in
education and healthcare that target poor and working communities of color.
The U.S. is doing all of this in the name of profit. They seek to recolonize an oil-
rich region to benefit Exxon, Mobil, and Wall Street - not to help working people. They
use our tax dollars to conquer, dominate, and control other countries and peoples. For
more information, check out the International Action Center website at www.iacenter.org/iraq.htm.
The Coalition to End the Sanctions on Iraq (CESI) is working to stop this
injustice. On August 28, they will have a press conference in San Francisco to kick off a
nationwide billboard campaign against the sanctions. They point out that "every 12
minutes a child dies in Iraq as a result of U.S. led sanctions. To see their website go to
www.endthesanctions.org.
The billboard campaign is sponsored by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination
Committee (ADC). According to their mission statement, "The ADC is a Civil Rights
organization committed to defending the rights of people of Arab descent." You can
learn more about the ADC from their website at www.adc.org.
Please join me in saying NO to U.S. military domination of the world
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