Killing the children of Iraq

I am a firm believer that the current military activities in Iraq are only phase 3 of the ongoing war on Iraq since 1990. Phase 1 was the 1991 “first gulf war” followed by phase 2 which was the 13 years of US/UK backed UN sanctions.

I lived with my family in Baghdad during all the phase 1 and 2 and nearly 3 years of the phase 3 (in all 16 years) before I was forced flee my country for our safety.

What makes the following film important to me is that it documents thing that I have seen while I visited the same Basra hospitals, seeing the same horrifying picture of children suffering from cancer due to the US military using Depleted Uranium (DU) in the Area.

I spent 2 days talking to the same D.r Jenan and Dr. Jwad Al-Ali and others in Basra in 2001. I spent one day taking radiation measurement in and around Basra. Destroyed Iraqi military vehicles and the destroyed oil pumping station showed a very high and dangerous radiation levels.

A study, by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations published 1995 in the prestigious British medical journal BMJ concluded that the deaths of more than 560000 children can be attributed to the UN's sanctions.

Few months later US Ambassador Madeleine Albright was asked by 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl “We have heard that half a million children have died. I mean, that is more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?”. Albright responded, “I think that is a very hard choice, but the price, we think, the price is worth it.”. Click and see it. It is so repulsive!!!

Madam Albright nothing in the world justify killing half a million children ever. The technical definition of the crime of GENOCIDE is (when persons are killed for WHO THEY ARE and not for WHAT THEY HAVE DONE). Those children were killed because THEY WERE IRAQIS, they could NOT have done anything AT ALL. It is a crime committed against innocent civilian CHILDREN for God sake!!.

CRIMES committed by dictators should NOT be the yard stick with which America is to be judged!! Surely America should be judged by a higher standard than that of dictatorships. Damn you Madam Albright you brought SHAME to your country.


Paying the Price: Killing the Children of Iraq
A documantary film by John Pilger

After Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, the United Nations (backed strongly by the US and UK) imposed harsh sanctions on Iraq that lasted for 10 years (1991-2001); the harsh restrictions on imports of everything, including access to key medicines, resulted in over a million deaths, more than half a million of which were women and children. That's more deaths than the two atomic bombs dropped on Japan and 9/11 combined. The purpose was regime change, but it never came. The overwhelming majority of those killed were the poor, elderly, women and children. Empirically, sanctions overwhelmingly punish the poor, the destitute. While the sanctions were in place, the richest people in control of the resources (Saddam Hussein et al.) still had everything they wanted: food, cars, mansions, access to the best medicines, etc. Award-winning journalist John Pilger has documented the reality of UN harsh sanctions in this hard-hitting film.
Click to see the Film

Conditions in Iraq

To help Americans understand the actual situation in Iraq I have selected few video documentaries on living conditions in Iraq that are available on YouTube. Theses documentaries were shown on Al-Jazzera International and are in English language. In general it paints a completely different picture from what is being shown on US televisions.

American NPR had some good videos that will be posted at a later date. Leila Fadel, McClatchy's Baghdad Bureau Chief, was interviewed on the current fighting in the center of Baghdad it is worth seeing it. I suspect that similar fighting will be erupting in other places.

I have selected Al-Jazeera International because it is one of the few Arabic satellite stations that are broadcasting in English. It is one of the most important instruments to bridge the gap of misunderstanding and the overcome the language barrier.

I welcome your comments. It is only through dialog and exchange of ideas that we can achieve a better understanding that will lead to real peace.

City of Widows

Filmmaker Rashad Radwan follows Zahra, a Shia in Iraq, as day after day, she visits police stations, hospitals and morgues in a desperate search for her kidnapped husband, and in the face of disapproval from a society where widows are still expected to be invisible.

Click to see: Part 1 Part 2

Betrayed in Iraq

Leila Fadel, Baghdad Bureau Chief of McClatchy Newspapers speaks to Paul Jay about the recent escalation in violence in Iraq's capital. She says the former fighters termed the "Sons of Iraq" who have turned on Al Qaeda and joined the U.S. are now being persecuted by the Iraq government. She says the Maliki government is afraid of the power they've accumulated in the neighborhoods they were put to protect by the U.S. and many are now in exile or in hiding.

Click to see: Interview

Return to Iraq

Witness presenter Rageh Omaar returned to Iraq five years after reporting on the US-led invasion. He found much had changed and, as ordinary Iraqis told him, rarely for the better.

Click to see : Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

Iraq's healthcare crisis

Inside Iraq looks at the crisis facing Iraq's healthcare system. Experts say that as many as half of the estimated 655,000 civilian deaths in the war so far might have been avoided if proper medical care had been provided but billions of dollars intended for the reconstruction of the country's medical and hospital network have gone missing while 18,000 doctors have left the country and the remaining ones have been the targets of kidnappings and murder.

Click to see: Part 1 Part 2

Failing health care in Iraq

Five years after the invasion, Iraq's health care system remains in crisis.
Hospitals have to deal with the aftermath of bombs and shootings on a daily basis.
It is very hard for doctors to do their job. They often lack basic equipment and the necessary drugs to treat the injured.
And many health workers have just been murdered or kidnapped.

Click to see: Health

Half of Iraq hit by cholera

Cholera is spreading throughout Iraq, with half of the 18 provinces affected, Kirkuk and Sulaymaniyah being the hardest hit.

Over 3,000 people have been infected with the disease, according to the World Health organisation, but it's estimated that number could be much higher, and as many as 30,000 people could now be suffering from Cholera.

Al Jazeera's cameras have travelled to a remote area of Al Anbar province.

Click to see: Cholera

Iraq's Education System

The education system is now in a state of collapse after the US invasion in 2003.

Click to see: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

Iraq casualties

We examine the controversy surrounding civilian casualty figures in Iraq.

Click to see: The Listening Post

Ongoing struggles make Iraqi voters cautious

Iraq's provincial elections are seen as a test of the country's stability, ahead of a general election planned for later this year.

However, many people hold out little hope of real change as they continue to struggle with shortages of electricity and water.

Click to see: Iraqi voters

War Without End: 2006

On May 1, 2003 George Bush, the US president, gave a speech on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln declaring an "end to major combat operations" in Iraq.

Five years on, with violence continuing unabated across the country, Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel Hamid looks at the major events of the Iraq war.

Each episode in this special five-part series will focus on one of the last five years - looking at the events, policies and people that helped to shape Iraq and its current chaos.

As well as speaking to top policy makers from the US and UK, along with their senior Iraqi advisors, War Without End hears from ordinary Iraqis and US soldiers.

Click to see: Year 2003 (Part 1 Part 2) 2004 (Part 1 Part 2) 2005 (Part 1 Part 2) 2006 (Part 1 Part 2) 2007 (Part 1 Part 2)

Letter to a listener

One of KTAR listeners called me "a sore point with this radio show". Here is my respons to him. His letter is inclouded at the end.

Dear Philip

Thanks for the message. I hope that this will give you an idea about the way I look at situation in Iraq. You will see that it is based on facts and figures. I will be happy to answer any question you have.

Regards

Ghazwan

The best way to judge whether an ACTION is good (beneficial) or bad is to look at the BEFORE and AFTER effects. This applies to any action irrespective. I have realized few years ago that I must work to find out where Iraq was before 2003.

Data for conditions of 2002-2003 were not available and not universally acceptable. It was either data from the Iraqi government (hence the west considered it (Saddam propaganda) or from the west (and it was western propaganda). The best “independent and unbiased” data were available from UN reports prior to the war of 1991.

For this reason I collected data of where Iraq was in 1991 as my bases of reference. This is also connected to my belief that the war of 1991 was phase 1 of the war between USA and Iraq. The 13 years of sanctions were phase 2 of the war and the 2003 war is phase 3. Therefore the 1991 data also used to compare the effects of the war (in its 3 phases) to the current situation. I sometimes use US pre occupation data and compare it to current US data to show progress or the lack of it.

Having established my BEFORE reference point I could easily use that data and compare it to the AFTER and judge quantitatively.

In 2004 I was to present this paper in New York which deals in details with BEFORE and AFTER conditions. I have not found any reason to change the validity of the BEFORE condition. Today I can assure you that on EVERY single point raised conditions are a lot WORSE than it was in 1991!!!!

How do we describe this? 1- Saddam was doing a very good thing then!!!! Or 2- US is doing a bad job now. Take your pick.

Few years ago Bush said “you are either with us or with the terrorist”. I said sorry Mr. Bush I am not with you because I think what you are doing is wrong. I refused to be terrorized into changing my ideas of what is right or wrong. He can call me whatever he wants but I am not with him.

I base my assessment of Iraq situation on solid facts and figures. Those who disagree with me must show me where I am wrong. Just calling me “Anti-American” does not scare me. By the way “dictators” like Saddam could not scare me I called him atrocious dictator from Baghdad 2002!!!

Maybe I am not seeing the “good” things that the US is doing in Iraq. Maybe I am closing my eyes. Please let me know and I will be grateful. I will even admit my mistakes on Radio but please be specific.

From: Philip ,,,,,

Sent: Sunday, November 16, 2008 11:56 PM

To: vtafrombaghdad@hotmail.com

Ghazwan,

I have noticed that you are starting to become a sore point with this radio show. I think it is the negativity that you portray on a week to week basis. People are beginning to take your rhetoric as anti-american which is obviously not popular here to listen to. You are starting to sound like the US has done absolutely nothing positive. I know there are many bad things going on, but there have to be something good in your country. Healthcare? Schools? I dunno.Why don’t you tell me. Is there anything positive going on in your country? It doesn’t even have to be something positive the US has done. Maybe your government has done something positive in your neighborhood. Maybe you have done something. Most Americans do not favor the war, don’t favor the occupation, and are not really pleased with the way things are going on in our part. We don’t listen to you on the radio to remind us of what we already know and feel. Your job should be to share with us the things we don’t know. The things that we can’t read about or hear about on TV. Personally, I can’t stand Tony and you are really the only interesting part of his show. Unfortunately, as of recent, I have grown a little tired of hearing you complaining over and over about the same stuff. Mix it up. Become interesting again and you will make us interested again. If you respond, I will happily write you back.

A fan,

Philip A.

Phoenix, AZ USA