All health promoters should be concerned by the new spate of sabre
rattling towards Iraq coming from Washington, and the possibility
of complicity from other Western countries, including Canada. Aside
from the non-compliance with the U.N. resolution, there remains the
immorality of the sanctions against Iraq and the devastating effects
of a new bombardment on an already crippled country.

Asked on the US television programme "60 Minutes" on 12 May 1996 whether
the cost of the lives of over half a million children "was worth it" in
order to get rid of Iraq's President, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
(then US Ambassador to the UN) replied that it is a hard choice, but the
price -- we think the price is worth it."

American-Iraqi sociologist, Ayad Al-Qazzaz, points out in Peace magazine
Feb, 1998, (www.peacemagazine.org) that getting rid of Saddam Hussein was
never the intent of the Gulf War, but rather to ensure Western control of
the price of oil, and maintain a steady demand for U.S. armaments.

But more sinister even than the sanctions, which are causing rampant death
through lack of sanitation, and the most basic medical supplies, the effects
of the 1991 bombardment itself are continuing to cause disease and death,
reports Felicity Arbuthnot, after seven years of visits to Iraq since the
Gulf War (for the full text of this report, write Eric Fawcet of Science for
Peace : [log in to unmask]).

Unknown to the public or the allied troops at the time, much of the
56,133.32 tonnes of ordnance dropped during the 45 day war was coated with
depleted uranium (DU) from the nuclear industry, which has replaced titanium
as armour piercing coating. "If DU enters the body, it has the potential to
generate significant medical consequences. The risks associated with DU in
the body are both chemical and radiological." (U S Army Environment Policy
Institute: Health and Environment Consequences of Depleted Uranium Use in
the US Army, June 1995).

In 1990, the UK Atomic Energy Authority sent a report to the government
estimating that if 50 tonnes of residual dust was left in the area as a
result of hostilities, there could be half a million extra cancer deaths by
the end of the century. Some experts now estimate that up to 700 tonnes
remain. DU remains radioactive for four thousand, five hundred million years.

Indeed bizarre birth defects are being seen at an unprecedented rate that, a
year before the use of radioactive weapons was revealed, doctors were
comparing to the birth defects seen in Bikini and the Pacific islands after
nuclear testing.

According to Arbuthnot, children are now suffering horrible, painful deaths
from radiation induced cancers, exacerbated by malnutrition and poor
sanitation.

We must not be mislead into supporting another attack on Iraqi civilians for
the sake of Western oil and armaments interests, or to distract the American
public from an embarrassing domestic situation.

David Burman