Iraqi child death rates soar

[Alexandre Fenelon]

At 11:13 12/08/99 EDT, you wrote:
>
>>From the BBC and dedicated to  the supporters of neo nazis. In a few years 
>we will be sending reports on the soaring child death rate in the Balkans. 
>No war crimes investigation will take place because neither the Iraqi kids 
>nor the Balkan ones are considered humans by the "humanitarian bombers".
>
>elias
>
>elias
>
>World: Middle East
>
>Iraqi child death rates soar 
>
>Hospitals say they are short of even the most basic medicines 
>
>Iraqi children under five are dying at more than twice the rate they were 
>10 years ago according to a report from Unicef, the United Nations' 
>children's fund. 
>
>
>  
>The BBC's John McIntyre reports on the effects of the sanctions 
>The report, compiled with the co-operation of the Iraqi Government, is the 
>first survey of child and maternal mortality in Iraq to be carried since 
>the end of the Gulf War in 1991. 
>
>In what it describes as an "ongoing humanitarian emergency" the report 
>shows a dramatic rise in child mortality rates in central and southern Iraq 
>- areas controlled by the Baghdad government. 
>
>Unicef estimates that over the last 10 years at least half a million child 
>deaths could have been prevented. 
>
>Preventable deaths 
>
>
> 
>Thousands of children are dying of preventable diseases 
>Iraqi doctors have warned that many more children will die of preventable 
>diseases unless sanctions against the country are lifted. 
>
>Unicef says that other factors, such as Baghdad's delay in distributing the 
>aid supplies it is allowed to import under a food-for-oil deal, have 
>contributed to the problems. 
>
>To make matters worse, the social and physical infrastructure of Iraq is 
>crumbling. 
>
>
>  
>Unicef spokeswoman Anita Tiessen: "Half a million children who are now dead 
>would be alive" 
>The education system has been run down and figures show that children of 
>educated mothers have a better chance of survival. 
>
>Sewers and water mains are not being maintained, which means that some 
>children are falling victim to water-borne diseases that were virtually 
>unheard of 10 years ago. 
>
>Stunted growth 
>
>
> 
>Food shortages have hit Iraqis hard 
>Some sewers have collapsed allowing raw sewage to soak through the earth 
>and into cracks in drinking-water pipes. 
>
>The report also says that Iraqis are not eating enough and estimates that 
>20% of Iraqi children under five suffer stunted growth caused by 
>malnutrition. 
>
>It adds that in the northern Kurdish areas, where the UN runs the relief 
>operation, the number of child fatalities has decreased by more than a 
>fifth. 
>
>
> 
>The UN agency says sanctions aimed at Saddam Hussein are hurting Iraq's 
>children 
>The report recommends that more money is needed for humanitarian aid. 
>
>It says the Iraqi Government should do more to promote breast-feeding, and 
>it says the Iraqis and the UN Sanctions Committee should try harder to 
>bring in supplies which children need for survival. 
>
>Since 1996 the UN has allowed Iraq to sell limited amounts of oil to raise 
>funds for food, medicine, and other humanitarian aid. 
>
>
>  
>The BBC's Claire Doole in Geneva: "Survey shows a dramatic rise in child 
>mortality" 
>But in a two-year review of the programme released in April, UN Secretary 
>General Kofi Annan said although billions of dollars worth of food and 
>medicine had been delivered, the programme could not and was not meant to 
>meet all the humanitarian needs of the Iraqi people. 


>The UN agency says that sanctions may have been intended by the 
>international community to promote peace and security, but its says they 
>should not harm children. 
>
>

That's a good question for our cruise-missiles liberals
-Is there any word better than genocide to name this?
This led one to another question.
-Is a UN backed genocide better that Serban, Turkish, Croatian or any other
ethnic cleansing?
-Is there something more pathetic than the humanitarian attitudes from
imperialist
countries?

                Alexandre Fenelon