The Sanctions Must Be Ended—Without Conditions
Statement of International Action Center, Feb. 26, 1999
As the movement to end the sanctions against Iraq has grown, some in the anti-war movement have been raising the call for "de-linking" economic from military sanctions. This wing of the movement opposes the impact of the sanctions on Iraq’s civilian population, while at the same time supporting the continued disarmament of Iraq.
The International Action Center, (IAC) which works with a broad range of community, labor, religious and student groups to oppose the sanctions, believes that "de-linking" is a mistaken tactic which has the potential to confuse and weaken the anti-sanctions movement, without achieving any advance for the Iraqi people who have suffered so much. Attached is a statement by Gloria La Riva of the IAC .
We want to extend greetings on behalf of the International Action Center and Ramsey Clark to Denis Halliday who has taken a courageous and principled stand in resigning from his position and expressing opposition to the genocidal sanctions against the people of Iraq.
We in the IAC have been working to end the sanctions since they were instituted in 1990. The sanctions, really the most total blockade of any country in modern history, have never been an alternative to war. This blockade is enforced, as all blockades must be, by air, ground and naval forces. The sanctions are war, just as bombing is war. The hideous toll is more than one and a half million people dead, half children under the age of 5. Iraqi society is devastated. The only way that Iraq’s deep crisis can be resolved is by ending the sanctions, so that Iraq can resume normal economic relations with other countries.
Washington opposes this simple, clear and just solution, saying that it is enough for Iraq to be allowed to export a limited amount of oil and use part of the proceeds to buy food and medicine the UN "oil for food" deal as it is called. We have taken medicine to Iraq as has the Middle East Children’s Alliance, AFSC and other organizations. Last May, the Iraq Sanctions Challenge took $5 million worth of life-saving medicines and it was very welcomed. But it was a drop in the bucket for a country of 23 million. Even if it were possible for Iraq to obtain enough food and medicine, however, that by itself wouldn’t solve the problem. Now, the leading cause of death for more than 5,000 Iraqi children every month is dysentery and diarrhea. A sick child comes to the hospital, if they are very fortunate there is medicine, they’re treated for 10 days, go home, drink the same untreated, dirty water that made them sick to begin with, and then they’re back in the hospital, this time weaker and more vulnerable than before Iraq must be allowed to rebuild its water and sewage treatment systems, its electric power grid, schools, oil industry and the rest of its destroyed infrastructure. And to do this it must be able to buy pipe, pumps, chlorine, spare parts, and machinery of all kinds, which the U.S. government has labeled as "dual use technology." The administration considers virtually every-thing but directly consumable goods as "dual use," that is, having potential military use. That is part of the reason why raising the call for "delinking economic from military sanctions," we believe only confuses the issue.
The Clinton administration claims that they keep the sanctions in place because Iraq is not yet fully disarmed. A couple of weeks ago, Samuel Berger, the National Security Advisor, said about the continuing military attacks in the U.S. self-proclaimed "No Fly Zones," that "We will continue to act in self-defense against Saddam Hussein’s concerted aggression." He actually said that.
This statement is reminiscent of the Rodney King trial. When one of the LAPD cops was asked on the witness stand why he kept hitting Rodney King after he had been viciously beaten over and over, he replied that the cops felt that King was threatening them. How, was he threatening them, he was asked? "He kept lifting up his head off the pavement," was the answer. Isn’t this somewhat like the relationship between the U.S. and Iraq today? Iraq’s much-exaggerated former military might has been drastically reduced according to the Pentagon itself. The same Pentagon spokespersons tell us that in over 2 months of near-daily combat since Dec. 16, the U.S. has suffered exactly zero casualties.
The U.S. has spent $19 trillion dollars on the military over the past half century and will spend another $2 trillion over the next 6 years. This year, the Pentagon budget will be 25 times Iraq’s Gross National Product, and greater than all the rest of the Security Council members put together. Today the U.S. has military forces in 100 countries. Who is the real threat? Who needs to be disarmed to make the world a safer place? We think that demanding the disarmament of the poorer and militarily weaker countries while the U.S. remains armed to the teeth is unacceptable. U.S. officials have themselves admitted that Iraq has very little or nothing left in the way of offensive weaponry. But they take the position, that the burden of proof is on Iraq to prove it and it virtually impossible to prove a negative in this situation, even for a country that has been more thoroughly inspected than any other. In the real world that we live in, the Iraqi people are the victim of military aggression. It is the position of the International Action Center that Iraq, as part of its self-determination, has the right to a military force sufficient to defend itself.
The real motivation for the continuing war and sanctions against Iraq has nothing to do with Washington’s alleged "fear" of Iraq’s weapons, and everything to do with domination of a key strategic region which holds 2/3rds of the world’s oil supplies.
The IAC believes that conditioning an end to the sanctions on either "delinking" or by demanding that the victim be first further disarmed can only lead our movement into confusion and dilute its impact. As Ramsey Clark has said, "There is no greater violation of human rights in this last decade of the second millenium than the sanctions against Iraq." End the war against Iraq. End the sanctions now!
If you would like to get involved in the movement to end the sanctions against Iraq, or discuss the issues in this statement, contact:
International Action Center
2489 Mission St., Rm. 28,
San Francisco, CA 94110
415-821-6545
