Death and Destruction in Iraq

BY GERALD LENOIR
__________

More than a decade of UN sanctions and U.S. efforts to destabilize the regime of Saddam Hussein have produced deprivation and suffering for the 23 million people of Iraq. This humanitarian crisis has been well documented.

• At least 500,000 children below the age of five have died under the sanctions, according to UNICEF. Infant mortality rose from 47 per 1,000 live births during 1984–89 to 108 per 1,000 in 1994–99.

• Access to drinkable water in urban areas is only 50 percent of 1990 levels, and only 33 percent in rural areas, reports the World Food Program. UN sanctions ban the importation of chlorine needed for water purification.

• The number of mental health patients rose by 157 percent from 1990-98, states the World Health Organization.

• Iraq’s economy has shrunk by nearly two-thirds since 1991, according to the International Monetary Fund. Iraqi salaries are as low as $2 a month and unemployment is at 50 percent, estimates the Red Cross.

• Electrical capacity, crippled by bombs and the lack of spare parts, stands at a third of the 1990 levels, affecting hospitals, food supplies and schools. Iraqi civilians experience daily power outages lasting nine to 18 hours. The UN estimates that $7.1 billion is required to repair Iraq’s electrical system.

• There were more than 128,100 refugees and 700,000 internally displaced persons in Iraq in 2001, estimates the U.S. Committee for Refugees. An additional one to two million Iraqis live outside of the country.

How much more will the Iraqi people have to suffer?

Gerald Lenoir is the War Times Art Director.

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