www.suntimes.com
Back to regular view
http://www.suntimes.com/output/jesse/cst-edt-jesse01.html

Print this page

U.S. must bear burden of feeding Iraqis

April 1, 2003

BY JESSE JACKSON

The war was supposed to be ''shock and awe'' and over. Now it looks like it may last not days, but weeks or months. But the longer the fighting goes on, the greater the ''humanitarian crisis in the making,'' as United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has referred to it. Our precision-guided missiles are designed to minimize civilian casualties. But the fact of war itself is destroying innocent lives, particularly Iraqi children's.

The president painted Saddam Hussein as a ''threat to the world,'' but the terrible reality is that 10 years of economic sanctions and air occupation left the Iraqi people in horrible shape. Before the war began, fully 60 percent of Iraq's 22 million people were dependent on the UN-organized ''oil for food'' program. With the outbreak of war, the program was stopped. The UN and international relief agencies pulled out. The result is a crisis that may be horrifying in its implications.

Any humanitarian crisis in Iraq is a crisis for the most innocent: the children. According to the CIA world fact book, 41 percent of the population is 14 years of age or under. (This compares with about 21 percent in the United States.)

A confidential UN report written last summer warned that war in Iraq ''could lead to a humanitarian emergency of proportions well beyond the capacity of UN agencies or other aid agencies.'' More than 1 million Iraqi children could face death from malnutrition. Only 39 percent of Iraqis, the report predicted, would have access to water, even on a rationed basis. This described a medium case, not a worst-case, scenario--and one that we appear to be approaching.

The Gulf War in 1991 was fought in the desert and was brief. Yet, 110,000 civilians died in the eight months following from the paralysis of the urban infrastructure and the lack of food, water and electricity. More than 10,000 refugees died from disease and food shortages.

When this war began, the UN reported that 1 million Iraqi children already suffered from malnutrition, 5 million Iraqis went without safe water, and 16 million were dependent on the UN food program. Now that program is gone, and with the defeat of Saddam, will have to be replaced by something run by outsiders.

The UN reports that in the southern city of Basra, electricity was cut off in the first days of the war. Aid experts were able to restore water to only 40 percent of the city's 1.3 million residents. Diarrhea has broken out among children there, and cholera is a clear and present danger. Food shipments have been delayed for days because the harbor is seeded with mines and the city is not secure.

For all the talk about the UN's irrelevance, the United States is urging the UN to take on the mission of feeding the starving Iraqis. But, as the recent UN resolution--co-sponsored by France and Germany--stated, ''the occupying power . . . has the duty of ensuring the food and medical supplies of the population.'' The United States, Britain and its handful of nominal allies have the moral and legal responsibility for saving the children from the most horrid of deaths or deformity: that caused by starvation or thirst.

Just as the war plan clearly did not expect the Iraqis to resist, the administration's sketchy humanitarian aid plans assumed a brief war, order restored, aid agencies operating. Even then, the Bush people allocated too little for humanitarian assistance. The Pentagon is now rushing troops to Iraq to defend vulnerable supply lines and relieve exhausted troops.

In a time of war, hearts harden toward the enemy. But the death of tens of thousands of children to starvation will be a devastating defeat for humanity and for this country. The United States and Britain will not only be responsible under the laws of war, they will be held responsible in the eyes of a world that opposed this war. The war to liberate Iraq from a dictator may end up turning the liberators into despised occupiers.

Before we wreak havoc in Baghdad, the United States should ensure not only that its own supply lines are secure, but also that food and water is being supplied to the children of Iraq. If in our hubris and our anger, we fail to save the children, then surely all of us should tremble for our country.


Copyright © The Sun-Times Company
All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


--
Situated in Italy, what is Stromboli?
Find out at postmaster.co.uk

http://www.postmaster.co.uk/cgi-bin/meme/quiz.pl?id=181

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]

To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~