epic MEDIA alert
Was your morning's coffee pleasantly interrupted by NPR's Morning Edition
and a 7 minute-long special report from Basra, Iraq by Quil Lawrence! We
should all take a minute to thank Bob Edwards, Quil Lawrence, and all the
folks at Morning Edition for accurately reporting on a story that too often
gets passed over by the mainstream press: the ongoing humanitarian disaster
in Iraq. Ali Abunimah's work and months of grassroots pressure on NPR has
finally paid off!
Read the transcript below and then CALL, WRITE, EMAIL Morning Edition and
commend them on their excellent coverage of the plight of the Iraqi people.
If you have been disappointed by NPR's past coverage, then encourage them
to keep Quil Lawrence's report in mind and encourage them to follow up on
the story from time to time. Mention the legislation pending in Congress.
Mention AFSC's nomination of Kathy Kelly and Denis Halliday for the Nobel
Peace Prize. Mention the planned August 6 national march on the White House.
NPR will likely catch some flack for this morning's show. Our positive
feedback needs to far outweigh any complaints they might receive. In large
numbers, NPR tends to take listener comments very seriously. Although
today's coverage was wonderful, let's ensure that next week's coverage, and
next month's, and so on are equally as good. Help turn the tide in support
of the Iraqi people! (Note: By tomorrow, this action alert and the real
audio will be posted on EpicNet at www.saveageneration.org) Sincere
thanks, Erik Gustafson
======================
Thank NPR's Morning Edition
======================
CALL Morning Edition's Comment line ... (202) 842-5044
WRITE Morning Edition, NPR
635 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20001-3753
EMAIL [EMAIL PROTECTED]
NOTE: When writing or emailing Morning Edition, address your remarks to the
attention of Bob Edwards, Quil Lawrence, and the editors of Morning
Edition. Be sure to reference Quil Lawrence's report on Tuesday's Morning
Edition's (May 30, 2000).
Also, you can provide additional positive feedback to NPR's ombudsman,
Jeffrey Dvorkin.
EMAIL [EMAIL PROTECTED] or CALL (202) 414-3246
If you have any trouble getting through, call NPR's receptionist at (202)
414-2000.
======================
Summary
======================
Embargo Effect on Iraq -- Quil Lawrence reports on the devastating effect
of the ten-year embargo against Iraq. Even with the recent program
allowing Iraq to trade oil for food and medicine, the average Iraqi suffers
from malnutrition and poor sanitation so that even common diseases or
simple injuries are often deadly under the embargo. (7:23)
You can visit the program on line. Just visit
http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/ and click "Latest show" or, if visited
after today, click "Archives" and the date "May 30, 2000".
======================
Full Transcript of Program
======================
Date: May 30, 2000
Program: "Morning Edition"
Report by Quil Lawrence
Intro by Bob Edwards:
For most Americans the Gulf War 9 years ago ended very quickly in victory.
But in the parched cities of Iraq it's impossible to forget Operation
Desert Storm. The United Nations has enforced an almost total embargo on
the country for 10 years. Bombed out bridges have been left unrepaired
and power grids provide only a few hours of electricity each day. Clean
water is scarce and U.S. and British jets still bomb Iraq about once a week
inside the two no flight zones which cover most of the county's.
Still the government of Saddam Hussein appears firmly in place. The United
Nations is at odds with the US over sanctions as Washington insists the
international embargo must continue. Caught in the middle are the 22
million Iraqis who are feeling a heavy toll from the unintended effects of
the sanctions. From the city of Basra, the southern most part of Iraq,
Quil Lawrence reports
Quil: Basra, near the Kuwaiti border, is the principle city of southern
Iraq. This region of the country is poorer than the north and saw some of
the worst punishment during the Gulf War. And because sporadic bombing
continues today the Iraqis living here are still frightened every time they
hear a jet pass over. The worst bombardment occurred in December 1998,
after the Iraqi government blocked UN inspectors for WMD in Baghdad. The
US launched four nights of punitive air raids. At least one stray bomb
fell on the lower class neighborhood of al-Jumhuriya, just outside Basra.
As the Iraqis claim other stray bombs have fallen around the country since.
Ikbal Um Hayder recalls the night in 1998 when her house was destroyed. An
English teacher at the public school in al-Jumhuriya, she was at home when
the bombs hit. Two daughters were in the house with her and her two sons
were playing outside.
Ikbal: I feel that the blood is coming off my�above my face. Then I saw
my children, they are good, then I remembered my children Hayder and Mustafa.
Quil: Um Hayder ran outside looking for her young sons and found that
several other houses had been destroyed and two of her neighbors' children
killed.
Ikbal: Then I run in the streets. I search looking for my children and
didn't see them. I call, "Hayder, Hayder, Mustafa, Hayder, Mustafa". I
saw Mustafa come up�calling "momma, momma..." I saw him. His face is
covered in smoke and dirt and then I saw beside him�Hayder. He is lying in
a circle of blood. And his head� I say "Hayder, Hayder", there is no
answer.
Quil: There was no ambulance service but Un Hayder found a car to carry
her surviving son Mustafa to the hospital. Mustafa, who is now five, lost
most of his left hand. The hospital, where Um Hayder took her son, which
the Iraqis saw has seen many bombing victims since, is short of medicine
and basic supplies. Doctors at Basra pediatric say their worst concerns
are not the occasional bombing victims but the thousands who suffer from
malnutrition, poor sanitation and disease. Dr. Abdul Karim Hussein is an
obstetrician. He says routine treatable complications like post-partum
bleeding are now often fatal.
Hussein: Sometimes we cry. I lost a woman 16 days back. She is bleeding
continuously. I have no blood bag for her. If I have facilities to
separate the blood, if I have these facilities I can save the woman. I am
looking to the mother she is bleeding continuously I have nothing in my
hand. Only to pray 'God please help me and help her.
Quil: For a visitor from abroad the extent of the problems is hard to
gauge. Regular citizens are frightened to even mention President Saddam
Hussein name and government agents accompany all foreign journalists.
Iraqi statistics claim hundreds of thousands of deaths due to malnutrition
and preventable diseases. They also list nearly 300 causalities from the
regular bombing raids. In authoritarian Iraq, its hard to establish
political responsibility for the burgeoning humanitarian crisis. But
clearly, most average Iraqis blame the West. Dr. Abdul Karim, says he
thinks the US wants to keep Iraqis weak.
Hussein: In the future there will be small babies, there will be handicaps
because of low birth weight. They will be crippled and they will be short
in stature. They will be not health in the future. That is what they [US]
want, that our people will be handicapped and crippled in the future they
cannot face their attacks in the future.
Quil: After a decade of sanctions, the lines of deterioration are
everywhere. In the 80s Iraq was among the most developed states in the
region. Now the tall buildings are empty and rundown. Traveling across
the country every Iraqi has a story of a family member or loved one who has
died due to a lack of basic drugs or medical care. And the situation seems
to be getting worse.
In flea markets, like this one in Baghdad, desperate people sell off their
rugs, furniture, appliances, radios, whatever they can, to get money for
food and medicine. A new black market elite, which is profiting from the
embargo, buys up the family heirlooms at bargain basement prices. Poorer
Iraqis say they can no longer spare the money to send their kids to school,
and the classrooms themselves neither have books or chalk.
Institutions like the universities and medical schools have been left few
of the tools they need to teach future generations. Since 1997 the UN has
sought to dampen the effects of sanctions be implementing a relief program
to allow Iraq to swap oil for food and medicine. But the spokesman for the
plan, George Somerwill, says it is not enough.
Somerwill: So an Iraqi living on 2000 calories per person per day, will
not die of starvation but neither he nor she will become fat. Healthy
people certainly live and they should not become ill. But if people are
already rundown, which is very often the case here in Iraq. If children
are sick for other reasons, for example dirty water, then they require a
higher caloric intake.
Quil: The last two directors of the Oil-for-Food program have resigned to
protest the continued embargo. They say the program has failed to relieve
the humanitarian crisis. But Iraq's problems go way beyond food and
medicine. The infrastructure, bombed during the Gulf War, has not been
adequately repaired. While water may get purified, the pipes are still old
and continue to contaminate water. The dirty water makes people sick and
then the food ration is not enough to keep them healthy.
Back in Washington the United States blames Saddam Hussein for the
continued suffering of the Iraqi people. They say the Iraqi president is
able to siphon enough resources to continue to wage war on Iraqi Kurds and
Shi'a, and rebuild his palaces. But regardless of who is to blame, regular
Iraqis are dying and the infant mortality rate has doubled.
The current situation leaves the UN presiding over the lack of development
of a whole generation of Iraqis.
For NPR news this is Quil Lawrence reporting.
---> Now isn't this a moving and unusually dignifying story of the plight
of the Iraqi people. When I heard it this morning, I was in tears. Let
Morning Edition hear what you think. Be prepared to leave a short 60
second message. CALL Morning Edition's Comment line ... (202) 842-5044
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
For briefings and action alerts, visit our webSITE at...
www.saveageneration.org
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