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Orlando Sentinel
6/29 Author: CHARLEY REESE
Johanna Berrigan, a Catholic Worker layperson out of Philadelphia, is used
to working with poor people, but she wasn't prepared for a "death row for
infants" that she found in Baghdad hospitals.
The hospitals, devoid of almost everything they need and staffed by doctors
exhausted and grieving, are just a place to die for thousands of Iraqi
children suffering from diseases and infections brought on by malnutrition
and contaminated water.
Our government is responsible for this.
The embargo on Iraq, which even denies the Iraqis chlorine to use for
purifying their water supply, has become a weapon of mass destruction.
Half a million dead children--and that's a United Nations number--is mass
destruction, I would say.
According to Ms. Berrigan, in 1989, about 92% of the Iraqis had access to
health care, and their education was free through the university level.
In that year, there was not a single case of cholera in the country. Today,
there are thousands of cases--a direct result of contaminated water.
There's been a four-fold increase in childhood leukemia, possibly linked to
the depleted uranium the United States used in its shells.
She said a small infection that could be easily dealt with escalates to
kidney failure and coma for the malnourished Iraqi children whose doctors
lack medicines and even antiseptics.
In one hospital ward she toured, they were using kerosene in an attempt to
sterilize because it was all they had.
But don't think the U.S. government isn't on the job.
It has just threatened another group of Americans with tens of thousands of
dollars in fines and long prison sentences for taking "medicines and toys"
to Iraq.
Under this administration, compassion for dying children is apparently a
criminal activity.
But, as Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf said, long before he came back to do
speeches at $50,000 a pop:
"We have bombed Iraq back into the pre-industrial age."
That was a great feat for a superpower taking on a Third World country with
only 100 or so out-of-date airplanes. But he was admitting what is now
evident: We bombed a heck of a lot more than just military targets.
We need to halt this asinine and inhumane policy of killing children and
elderly. It has not hurt Saddam Hussein one bit.
In fact, people in Ms. Berrigan's group picked up the information that the
Army and the Baath party are pressuring Saddam to take a tougher line.
Bill Clinton, of the forked-tongue tribe, tries to pretend that letting Iraq
sell a little oil can solve the problem.
Unsaid, of course, is that Iraq's oil-producing equipment is in such bad
shape that it can't even pump what Iraq would be allowed to sell.
And unsaid is all the delays and outright blocking of contracts the United
States does behind the scenes.
And, of course, we now know the UN arms inspection team was riddled with
spies and covert agents.
So much for all those lies.
There's food in Iraq, smuggled and at black market prices. People suffering
are the poor, the rural, the elderly, the chronically ill--and the children.
Ms. Berrigan noted that in the gift shops in the Al Rasheed Hotel were
nothing but the personal possessions of Iraqis who had pawned them to get
money for food or medicine.
If you have no compassion for Iraqis, then consider your own welfare.
If we keep this up, long after Saddam Hussein is only a memory, Iraqis will
be stalking Americans in search of vengeance.
We are showing the world a cruel and ugly face.
Sooner or later, there will be payback. And by the way, don't blaspheme by
calling yourself a Christian while turning your back on these dying
children.
@1999 by King Features Syndicate
=========================================================
Charley Reese e-mail address is OSOreese@aol.com
Albright: Death of 500,000 Children 'Worth It'
The following exchange occurred in a "60 Minutes" segment, "Punishing
Saddam" (airdate May 12, 1996):
Lesley Stahl (speaking of post-war US sanctions against Iraq): "We have
heard that a half million children have died. I mean, that's more children
than died in Hiroshima. And - and you know, is the price worth it?"
Madeleine Albright (at that time, US Ambassador to the UN): "I think this is
a very hard choice, but the price - we think the price is worth it."
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Aftermath in Iraq
Orlando Sentinel
6/29 Author: CHARLEY REESE
Johanna Berrigan, a Catholic Worker layperson out of Philadelphia, is used to working with poor people, but she wasn't prepared for a "death row for infants" that she found in Baghdad hospitals.
The hospitals, devoid of almost everything they need and staffed by doctors exhausted and grieving, are just a place to die for thousands of Iraqi children suffering from diseases and infections brought on by malnutrition and contaminated water.
Our government is responsible for this.
The embargo on Iraq, which even denies the Iraqis chlorine to use for purifying their water supply, has become a weapon of mass destruction.
Half a million dead children--and that's a United Nations number--is mass destruction, I would say.
According to Ms. Berrigan, in 1989, about 92% of the Iraqis had access to health care, and their education was free through the university level.
In that year, there was not a single case of cholera in the country. Today, there are thousands of cases--a direct result of contaminated water.
There's been a four-fold increase in childhood leukemia, possibly linked to the depleted uranium the United States used in its shells.
She said a small infection that could be easily dealt with escalates to kidney failure and coma for the malnourished Iraqi children whose doctors lack medicines and even antiseptics.
In one hospital ward she toured, they were using kerosene in an attempt to sterilize because it was all they had.
But don't think the U.S. government isn't on the job.
It has just threatened another group of Americans with tens of thousands of dollars in fines and long prison sentences for taking "medicines and toys" to Iraq.
Under this administration, compassion for dying children is apparently a criminal activity.
But, as Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf said, long before he came back to do speeches at $50,000 a pop:
"We have bombed Iraq back into the pre-industrial age."
That was a great feat for a superpower taking on a Third World country with only 100 or so out-of-date airplanes. But he was admitting what is now evident: We bombed a heck of a lot more than just military targets.
We need to halt this asinine and inhumane policy of killing children and elderly. It has not hurt Saddam Hussein one bit.
In fact, people in Ms. Berrigan's group picked up the information that the Army and the Baath party are pressuring Saddam to take a tougher line.
Bill Clinton, of the forked-tongue tribe, tries to pretend that letting Iraq sell a little oil can solve the problem.
Unsaid, of course, is that Iraq's oil-producing equipment is in such bad shape that it can't even pump what Iraq would be allowed to sell.
And unsaid is all the delays and outright blocking of contracts the United States does behind the scenes.
And, of course, we now know the UN arms inspection team was riddled with spies and covert agents.
So much for all those lies.
There's food in Iraq, smuggled and at black market prices. People suffering are the poor, the rural, the elderly, the chronically ill--and the children.
Ms. Berrigan noted that in the gift shops in the Al Rasheed Hotel were nothing but the personal possessions of Iraqis who had pawned them to get money for food or medicine.
If you have no compassion for Iraqis, then consider your own welfare.
If we keep this up, long after Saddam Hussein is only a memory, Iraqis will be stalking Americans in search of vengeance.
We are showing the world a cruel and ugly face.
Sooner or later, there will be payback. And by the way, don't blaspheme by calling yourself a Christian while turning your back on these dying children.
@1999 by King Features Syndicate =========================================================
Charley Reese e-mail address is OSOreese@aol.com
Albright: Death of 500,000 Children 'Worth It'
The following exchange occurred in a "60 Minutes" segment, "Punishing Saddam" (airdate May 12, 1996):
Lesley Stahl (speaking of post-war US sanctions against Iraq): "We have heard that a half million children have died. I mean, that's more children than died in Hiroshima. And - and you know, is the price worth it?"
Madeleine Albright (at that time, US Ambassador to the UN): "I think this is a very hard choice, but the price - we think the price is worth it."
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