-----Original Message----- From: epicenter at igc.org <epicenter at igc.org> To: saveageneration at egroups.com <saveageneration at egroups.com> Date: Thursday, November 09, 2000 10:22 PM Subject: [saveageneration] EPIC refutes CLINTON
Below is a transcript of a rare interview of President Clinton by Amy Goodman of Pacifica Radio. The interview was broadcast on Democracy Now, November 8. Following the interview is a brief rebuttal by the Education for Peace in Iraq Center (EPIC). Be sure to let President Clinton know your thoughts, call the White House Comment Line at (202) 456-1111.
DEMOCRACY NOW November 8, 2000 http://www.democracynow.org/news/clinton.html
[snip]
AN EPIC REBUTTAL
In the above interview with Amy Goodman, President Clinton said, "...How much money did Iraq earn last year from oil? How much money did they get, cash on the barrel head, to Saddam Hussein? Answer - $19 billion that he can use exclusively for food, for medicine, to develop his country..."
This and other remarks were extremely misleading and trivialize a very real crisis in U.S. policy and in Iraq.
First, Saddam did not make $19 billion last year. Iraq's oil sales only reached $11.4 billion.
If we give the President the benefit of the doubt, we can assume he was referring to this year, as opposed to 1999. Focusing exclusively on this year, when the price of oil is at a historic highs, is a convenient way of creating the false impression that Iraq has been making money hand over fist for years. The current price of $33 per barrel has doubled Iraq's purchasing power under the Oil-for-Food program. Thus, Iraq's oil sales will likely exceed $19 billion for 2000.
However, we should not forget that the UN program is dependent on Iraqi oil sales. If prices fall, then Iraq's "oil-for-food" revenues fall. In 1998 when oil prices averaged less than a third of current prices, Iraq could hardly even generate $5 billion in oil sales.
Regarding the President's remark about Saddam getting "cash on the barrel head," he is flat wrong. Baghdad gets nothing. All oil revenues are deposited into a UN bank account in New York City, under the absolute control of the UN 661 Sanctions Committee.
Which brings us to a second point. President Clinton and his administration cannot escape some blame for the thousands of excess deaths of Iraqi children each month. After all, who is running Iraq's economy? Iraq? Think again.
The Iraqi government literally has to submit contracts for what it needs to the 661 Sanctions Committee. Iraq has no representation on this committee. The U.S., which is represented, regularly exercises its veto option. In fact, according to UN diplomats interviewed by the London Guardian, the U.S. representative is responsible for 98% of all vetos and holds placed on contracts. Currently, over $2 billion of contracts are still held up by the UN 661 Sanctions Committee. And so, the President's remarks were incredibly disingenuous. His administration regularly makes decisions that directly affect Iraq's economy and the lives and welfare of 22 million Iraqis.
Of the "$19 billion" Iraq will likely earn this year, the President claimed that Iraq can use the money "exclusively for food, for medicine, to develop his country." This is also untrue. 30% of this revenue goes toward exorbitant war reparations to needy countries like Kuwait. The UN takes an additional 2% to cover administrative costs. As a result, only 68% of the revenues are potentially available for food, medicine and other goods. As a result of the manifold problems and delays mentioned already, what actually reaches the Iraqi people is a fraction of that. Since 1997, although Iraq has sold over $37 billion of oil, only $9 billion of goods have actually arrived in Iraq! That's an average of less than $3 billion per year. Compare this to 1989, a year before sanctions were imposed, when in that one year Iraq imported $11.1 billion in civilian goods.
More importantly, the entire Oil-for-Food program is fundamentally flawed. It forces Baghdad to purchase all of its goods outside of Iraq, thus doing nothing to rebuild and "develop" its shattered economy and infrastructure. As a result, despite more Oil-for-Food goods entering the country than ever before, massive unemployment and poverty persist. Couple this with the fact that Iraq gets zero investment to repair infrastructure, and you have all the ingredients for an indefinite, manufactured humanitarian crisis. Over 20% of children remain chronically malnourished. And epidemics of water-borne diseases continue.
Blaming it all on Saddam is convenient, especially when speaking to American audiences, but the facts demonstrate otherwise. Facts that are not lost on the Iraqi people, nor the international community. America's ongoing war against the people of Iraq (not Saddam) is doing more to isolate the U.S. in the eyes of the world than any other foreign policy of the Clinton era.
Call the White House comment line and urge President Clinton to end the humanitarian crisis in Iraq. The economic sanctions against Iraq have impoverished millions and led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of children (UNICEF). The Iraqi people have a right to regain their economy and livelihood. Urge the President to end the U.S./UN siege. Call the White House Comment line at (202) 456-1111.
Thank you for your consideration and action.
APPENDIX - Below are the latest UN figures to back up the numbers...
Phase I - VIII Oil barrels(mils) Oil sales($mils) Ave.price/barrel($) Jan - June 97 120 2,150 17.92 June - Dec 97 127 2,125 16.73 Jan - June 98 182 2,085 11.46 June - Dec 98 308 3,027 09.83 Jan - June 99 360.8 3,947 10.94 June - Dec 99 389.6 7,402 19.00 Jan - June 00 343.4 8,285 24.13 June - Dec 00 316 8,071 (so far) 25.54 Totals/average 2,146.8 $37,092 $17.28
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Erik K. Gustafson, Education for Peace in Iraq Center (EPIC) 1101 Pennsylvania Ave. SE, Washington, D.C. 20003 tel. 202-543-6176; fax 202-543-0725; EPICenter at igc.org =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= For briefings and action alerts, visit our webSITE at...
www.saveageneration.org
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