Just a reminder to those who think we should have continued with the “Containment” strategy of Iraq:
According to the humanitarian reports, the ongoing embargo imposed in 1990, coupled with the destruction caused by the 1991 Gulf war, has in turn directly caused the following:
1) As of March 2003 (just prior to the war), between 1.7 and 2 million Iraqi civilians have died due to malnutrition and disease, about 700,000 of them are children. Health Ministry documents under-5 and over-50 deaths due to disease and/or malnutrition at 1.7 million. If over-5 and under-50 age sectors are added, which is well over 500,000 deaths, that makes the total number of deaths over 2 million. Estimates of deaths due to the 2003 war range from 10,000 to 100,000.
2) Prior to the 2003 war, 1.5 million children were made orphans.
3) Prior to the 2003 war, 10,000 Iraqi civilians were dying every month (half of which were children). That amounted to 333 deaths a day, or 14 deaths an hour. An Iraqi civilian died from malnutrition and disease every 4 minutes. Since the 2003 war caused even more destruction of the civilian infrastructure (water, electricity, etc), coupled with the extensive of anti-personnel cluster bombs dropped on Iraq, and the mass lootings of hospitals and pharmacies, this average will be greatly skewed for the initial months after the 2003 war, until such a time when the civilian infrastructure is properly rebuilt.
More?
The 10-year-old UN sanctions have claimed lives of over 1.2 million Iraqi children by the end of last November, said Iraqi Health Minister Omid Medhat Mubarak on January 11.
Mubarak was quoted by the Iraqi News Agency as saying that 502,000 children died under five and some 748,400 others died before they were of age.
He said that the high child mortality rate was caused by the acute dearth of medicines and medical equipment and prerequisites.
The most common diseases that led to the massive deaths of children included respiratory infections, severe diarrhea, intestines inflammations and malnutrition, he said.
The child mortality rate is 108 per thousand living births, which is much higher than normal, he added.
Iraq (1990-): 350 000
- International Embargo
- According to the 21 March 1998 Times Union (Albany), the UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimated that 1,000,000 Iraqis, incl. 560,000 children, died as a result of malnutrition and disease caused by the international embargo imposed following the invasion of Kuwait. The article mentions the use of these numbers by an official of the United Church of Christ, and also labels the figures “commonly used — but also disputed”.
- 9 Oct. 2001 Slate “Explainer” acknowledges the possibility of 350,000-500,000 excess deaths among children since 1991, but points out that Saddam blames the UN and the US blames Saddam [ or ; it’s a moving target.
- Ramsey Clark: 1,500,000 including 750,000 children
- UNICEF: 500,000 excess child deaths (under-five) 1991 to 1998
- 6 Aug. 1999 CNN
- UN: 1M excess deaths
- Al-Thawra newspaper: 1.5M
- Project on Defense Alternatives, 20 Oct. 2003: “[T]he sanction regime probably cost the lives of 170,000 children. (Much higher estimates for 1992-1998 sanction deaths … are based on faulty baseline statistics for prewar childhood mortality in Iraq).”
I guess maybe we should of just continued doing what Clinton started, appease and contain. France, Russia, and Germany could of gotten even more richer while the rape rooms continued.
I guess maybe we should of just continued doing what Clinton started, appease and contain. France, Russia, and Germany could of gotten even more richer while the rape rooms continued.
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