IRAQ SANCTIONS MONITOR Number 187
Monday, January 15, 2001
The daily Monitor is produced by the Mariam Appeal.
Tel: 00 44 (0) 207 403 5200.
Website: www.mariamappeal.com.
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Iraq refuses to let in inspectors
>From The Independent January 15th, 2001
UNITED NATIONS weapons inspectors will not be allowed to
return to Iraq, the Oil Minister, Amir Muhammed Rasheed, said
yesterday. They have been barred since leaving in December
1998, ahead of US-British bombing.
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Cracks in the UN's wall around Iraq
>From The Daily Telegraph January 15th, 2001
Western plans to outlaw Saddam are failing, Anton La Guardia
in Baghdad writes
A ROAR of applause went up from the Americans at the back of
the plane as the wheels bumped on to the tarmac of Saddam
International Airport. The 90-minute Royal Jordanian flight from
Amman was humdrum for an age of global travel. But when the
destination is Baghdad, flying in a passenger airliner carries the
excitement of making history. As the door of the aircraft opened,
so did another crack in the wall of sanctions around Iraq.
Television lights and camera flashbulbs lit up the ramp as the
passengers descended into the crisp night air towards an Iraqi
welcoming committee. "We are probably the first Americans who
have flown over Iraq for a long time that haven't dropped bombs
on the country," said James Jennings, head of Conscience
International, a coalition of American religious and humanitarian
organisations.
About 70 American activists arrived in Baghdad on two flights at
the weekend in a gesture of protest at international sanctions
against Iraq as the country tomorrow marks 10 years since the
start of the Gulf war. The former US attorney-general Ramsey
Clark, who leads the American delegation, claimed that a
decade of embargo was "a crime against humanity". The
American activist carried medical and school supplies. But a
few months after a flurry of "humanitarian" flights began to
challenge the air embargo last September, trips to Baghdad
from Amman and Cairo have become almost routine.
The veneer of "approval" by the United Nations sanctions
committee is thin to the point of transparency. A passenger
need only buy a pounds 200 ticket at a Royal Jordanian counter
for a flight to Iraq. Baghdad is being steadily reabsorbed in the
Arab world. The conflict between Israelis and Palestinians has
accelerated the moves towards solidarity with Iraq. The "double
standard" of the West is starkly apparent to a growing number of
Arabs as they view satellite television images from Iraq and the
West Bank and Gaza Strip.
More than a decade after Iraq was expelled from Kuwait, the
nation is still under sanctions. It is still being bombed by British
and American aircraft while Iraq says the crippling of its
economy and health infrastructure has killed more than a million
people.
Arabs point out that more than 30 years after it occupied the
West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israel still occupies Arab territory,
oppresses the Palestinians and bristles with nuclear weapons.
On the flight from Amman were three Palestinians wounded by
Israeli soldiers and being taken to hospital in Iraq.
Ghazzala Jaradat, 14, from Hebron, sat in a semi-catatonic state
as her father, Jawdat, urged her to eat. She had been shot in the
head and legs, he explained. "Saddam is Number One," he said.
"He is the only one supporting the intifada [the Palestinian
uprising]."
The Labour MP - and founder of the Mariam Appeal - George
Galloway was refused permission to board the flight in Amman.
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Iraqi oil output plunged in December: report
NICOSIA, Jan 15 (AFP) - Iraq's oil production dropped to 1.2
million barrels per day (bpd) in December as a dispute with the
United Nations over pricing continued, the Middle East
Economic Survey (MEES) reported Monday.
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Iraq to ask OPEC for big reduction in oil production, minister
says
Text of report by Iraqi radio on 14 January
Oil Minister Amir Muhammad Rashid has stated that Iraq will
ask the forthcoming OPEC [Organization of Petroleum-Exporting
Countries] meeting, which will be held in Vienna on 17 January,
to reduce the organization's production by 2m barrels per day.
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Iraq releases details of search for missing U.S. pilot
By WAIEL FALEH Associated Press Writer BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) _
Responding to U.S. reports about a missing American pilot from
the Gulf War, Iraq on Sunday divulged details of a 1995 search of
a crash site in its western desert carried out by the U.S. military
and the Red Cross.
U.S. intelligence officials in Washington said Friday there were
unconfirmed reports in recent years that Lt. Cmdr. Michael S.
Speicher survived the Jan. 17, 1991, downing of his F-18 Hornet,
and was detained by the Iraqis. The U.S. government sent a
diplomatic communication to Baghdad on Wednesday
demanding an accounting, U.S. officials said.
The Iraqis say Speicher didn't survive the downing of his plane.
In 1995, U.S. crash site specialists from the Defense
Department, working with the International Committee of the Red
Cross, entered Iraq with President Saddam Hussein's
permission.
Wreckage from Speicher's aircraft was found and the U.S.-ICRC
team reported that there had been previous digging at the site.
Also found near the site was Speicher's flight suit. A Pentagon
report later said the flight suit apparently had been cut off the
pilot.
In its account of the search released Sunday, Iraq's Foreign
Ministry said in a statement, ``The Americans demanded the
issue to be carried out secretly,'' the ministry added.
``The team, accompanied by Iraqi experts and ICRC
representatives, found the pilot's uniform, but not his remains,''
the Foreign Ministry said.
Parts of the plane were found at the site, along with ``evidence
the pilot was killed,'' the ministry said without elaboration.
The Iraqis said prior digging at the site had been carried out by
desert-dwelling bedouins in the area. The bedouins took some
parts of the plane, the Iraqis added.
Iraq's government ``did not know where the site was prior to the
visit. The American team supplied Iraq with the details on the
location,'' the statement said.
Meanwhile, Iraq renewed its demand that the U.S. government
pay dlrs 70,000 for Iraqi expenses incurred during the
investigation.
Speicher is the only American lost in Iraqi territory during the war
who has not been accounted for.
The U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said
more than one informant had reported to U.S. intelligence
agencies that an American thought to be Speicher was being
held prisoner in Iraq after the war ended.
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U.S. Contingent Lands in Iraq to Deliver Aid
>From LOS ANGELES TIMES, January 14th, 2001
>From Associated Press More than 70 American activists arrived
on two separate flights Saturday to provide medicine, books and
school supplies as part of the growing international challenge to
the 10-year-old international embargo against Iraq.
The Americans, mostly members of religious and humanitarian
organizations, make up one of the largest U.S. contingents to
visit Iraq since the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Two chartered Royal
Jordanian airliners ferried them from Amman, the capital of
neighboring Jordan, to Baghdad's Saddam International Airport.
"We're probably the first Americans who have flown over Iraq for
a long time who haven't brought bombs," said organizer James
Jennings, head of the Atlanta-based Conscience International.
Sanctions imposed on Iraq after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait
include a ban on international flights, but humanitarian trips are
allowed with prior permission from the United Nations sanctions
committee.
The second group of Americans, headed by former Atty. Gen.
Ramsey Clark, arrived Saturday night.
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ABBASID GOLD COINS UNEARTH BY IRAQI ARCHEOLOGISTS
>From IPR MIDDLE EAST NEWS, January 14th, 2001
Arabia.com reports new finds by Iraqi archaeologists are
estimated to date from the period of the Abbasid Caliphate Al
Nasser Leddin Allah. This treasure of 32 gold coins are believed
to be connected to the ancient city of Anbar, located northwest of
Baghdad. The find has local museoligical experts excited. The
excavations are under the study of Mahab Al Bakri, an expert at
Iraq's antiquities and heritage department. Among the artifacts
discovered were a collection of and gold, silver and copper coins
and pieces of pottery and the remains of a complete residential
area with walls and roads. Further excavations of the site are set
to continue throughout the year.
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10 Years Later, Iraq Burdened but Unbroken Middle East: To
Americans watching on television, the Gulf War looked so easy.
But today the clarity of war has yielded to the fog of peace.
>From LOS ANGELES TIMES, January 14th, 2001
By GREG MYRE ASSOCIATED PRESS Khalil al-Suhail, a wealthy
Baghdad restaurateur, has a theory:
After a decade of war, sanctions and poverty, Iraqis have become
virtually crisis-proof.
For years, when showdowns with the United States loomed,
Iraqis hoarded food and gasoline and braced for doomsday. But
the last time the Americans and the British bombed, during a
December 1998 confrontation over U.N. weapons inspections,
Iraqis took it in stride.
"We just watched like it was a big fireworks display," said
al-Suhail.
"We decided the crisis just wasn't going to dictate our lives
anymore." A decade after President Saddam Hussein led Iraq
into the 1991 Gulf War, its once prosperous middle class has
been decimated, its children die at an alarming rate, and
international sanctions, although showing cracks, remain a
heavy burden. But Hussein's rule, repressive as ever, faces no
serious threats.
What's changing in Iraq is the steady lifting of the siege
mentality, and the U.N. oil-for-food program that has restored a
measure of stability for Iraq's 23 million people.
On Arasat Street, Baghdad's fanciest commercial strip, new
Mercedes and BMWs, imported in defiance of sanctions, are
parked in front of al-Suhail's restaurant, Castello's, a little castle
complete with turrets, a small moat and a wooden drawbridge.
To decorate his new eatery, al-Suhail scavenged piles of junk.
Old wagon wheels gave a rustic touch. Car suspension
systems, hung from the walls, made decorative torches.
"What I did in my restaurant, all Iraqis have done in their own
way," he said. "We've all learned to improvise and adapt.
Sometimes hardship brings out the best in you." A combination
of historic grievance and greed for oil revenue drove Hussein to
invade Kuwait on Aug. 2, 1990. After months of brinkmanship,
the Gulf War coalition launched a six-week bombing campaign
on Jan. 17, 1991, followed by a four-day ground war that
liberated the emirate.
The Americans and their allies made the Gulf War look so easy:
the videos of laser-guided bombs making pinpoint strikes,
Western and Arab armies steamrolling into Kuwait, the
Iraqi soldiers tossing rifles into the sand and surrendering by the
battalion.
But today the clarity of war has yielded to the fog of peace.
Hussein stood in his presidential box at a recent military parade, cigar
dangling
beneath his bushy mustache, casually loosing rifle shots into
the air as he surveyed the cavalcade of tanks, missiles and
warplanes that still make up one of the largest armies in the
Middle East.
United Nations inspectors, sucked into a maddening game of
hide-and-seek in pursuit of Hussein's most dangerous
weapons, left more than two years ago, their mission
incomplete. The exact status of Iraq's weapons program is still
an open question.
The international sanctions campaign has evolved into a
propaganda war between the United States and Iraq over who is
to blame for the heavy toll paid by Iraq's citizens. As the
Americans try to hold the line on sanctions, some Gulf War allies
are joining the growing ranks of those who would rather trade
with Iraq than punish it.
"People aren't coming to Iraq for the love of Iraq. People are
coming because there's business to be done," said A.K.
Hashimi, a senior member of Hussein's Baath Party. "The U.S.
has tried hard to minimize Iraq's role in the world, but Iraq can't
be neglected." Iraq's economy bottomed out five years ago,
forcing Hussein to grudgingly accept the oil-for-food program.
Iraq bitterly denounces the terms, which give the United Nations
full supervision over Iraq's spending. Also, nearly 30% of Iraq's
oil revenue pays for war reparations and U.N. costs.
Iraqis derisively call it an "oil-for-the-U.N. program." Still, a ration
card system ensures that every citizen gets the basics--flour,
rice, beans, milk and cooking oil. And with sanctions loosened a
bit, Iraq is pumping 3 million barrels of oil a day, a figure close to
its prewar output.
The U.S. military presence in the Gulf has deterred Hussein from
threatening his oil-rich neighbors. Incoming Secretary of State
Colin Powell, the U.S. military chief during the Gulf War, has
vowed to "re-energize" sanctions. But it will be much tougher
finding partners today.
"Rest assured, the people of Iraq can face sanctions and fight
the Americans," Hussein recently declared.
Iraq has rebuilt much of the war damage, and few scars are
visible in Baghdad.
Modern apartment and office blocks have changed the skyline,
their nondescript colors offset by elegant turquoise domes on
mosques, and the Las Vegas-style palaces Hussein built during
even the leanest days.
Hussein is also building the Hussein Grand Mosque, the largest
in the Middle East.
Hussein statues at traffic circles multiply, along with the
larger-than-life portraits on buildings: Hussein with flowers,
Hussein holding the scales of justice, Hussein at prayer.
His picture is on every front page of the state-controlled press,
every day. Iraqi television manages to transform his
comments at a Cabinet meeting into a week's worth of
programming. Alternative viewing is hard to come by.
There's no escaping Hussein's image, yet the president himself
rarely appears in public. Iraqi exile groups routinely spread
rumors that he is ill but have a perfect record for misdiagnosing
him.
The latest speculation had Hussein suffering a serious stroke at
a New Year's Eve military parade. But he then appeared on TV
and showed no signs of illness.
At 63, Hussein has been the most powerful man in Iraq for more
than 30 years, and his security services have eliminated all
dissent and serious challenge to his rule.
The United States has sought to create a viable opposition by
uniting disparate exile groups under the umbrella of the Iraqi
National Congress, but to no apparent effect.
"These people haven't set foot in Iraq for years. They don't know
the people and they don't have support," said Baathist leader
Hashimi.
Iraq also feels that it scored a victory by chasing out the U.N.
weapons inspectors. It says it won't allow inspectors back until
the sanctions are lifted. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is
likely to wrangle with the Iraqis over the question in talks next
month.
Iraq claims it isn't reconstituting its nuclear, chemical and
biological weapons programs. But Richard Butler, the Australian
who headed the U.N. weapons inspection operation, is intensely
skeptical.
"There is strong reason to think that Iraq has used this two-year
period to get back in business in all weapons fields," Butler said
in a telephone interview from New York. "The fundamental goal
must be to get inspectors back into Iraq as soon as possible."
The U.N. inspectors uncovered and dismantled many key
components of the program over nearly eight years, but Iraq
never accounted for everything the inspectors sought.
In making their case on sanctions, the Iraqis invariably steer
visitors to places such as Hussein's General Hospital for
Pediatrics.
The leukemia ward has more than a dozen children receiving
chemotherapy, a treatment more widely available but still scarce,
said Dr. Mohammed Firas.
Azhar Kamel, age 7, her strength depleted and her hair gone,
sleeps soundly as she receives her treatment from a drip bag.
Her case is serious and the mortality rate is high, the doctor
says.
Ten children die at the hospital in a typical week, many from
leukemia, and Firas believes half could be saved with more
medicine and better equipment.
The sanctions have never prevented Iraq from importing
medicine. The Americans argue that Hussein spends the money
on weapons and palaces.
Iraq has received $21 billion through the oil-for-food program
since 1996. It wants $1.7 billion of that sum earmarked for
medical needs.
Nothing prevents it from requesting more.
The Iraqis say the problem is the collapse of infrastructure:
malnourished mothers bearing weak babies, immunizations
down, dirty drinking water causing fatal illnesses.
Hussein's government has often predicted the embargo was
about to fall. These days it insists the momentum is on its side.
Since September, dozens of civilian flights have arrived, many
from Middle Eastern states. The skies over the capital had been
silent for nearly a decade, but the prospect of trade deals,
including billion-dollar contracts to develop Iraqi oil fields, has
brought flights from France and Russia as well.
"The international atmosphere is well prepared for the lifting of
sanctions," said Iraq's deputy foreign minister, Nizar Hamdoun.
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Iraq picks squad for World Cup qualifiers
BAGHDAD, Jan 14 (AFP) - Iraq's Yugoslav coach Milan
Zivadinovic said Sunday he has picked a 39-player squad for the
World Cup qualifiers and plans friendlies in Algeria, Japan, Italy
and the United Arab Emirates.
And a training course is to be held soon in Tunisia, ahead of two
friendlies in Jordan next month, he told journalists. Another
course is planned for Nepal to familiarise the players with its
climate.
Iraq sit in Group 6 alongside Kazakhstan, Macau and Nepal for
the Asian qualifiers for the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South
Korea, with the matches starting on March 25.
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Sanctions working against Iraq, says Cohen
WASHINGTON, Jan 14 (AFP) - US Defense Secretary William
Cohen on Sunday defended existing sanctions against Iraq in
the face of criticism from President-elect George W. Bush.
Bush, in a New York Times interview published Sunday, said
sanctions against the former Gulf War enemy were so porous
they resembled "Swiss cheese."
Cohen, however, insisted in a CNN interview that the sanctions
regime had indeed been effective in containing Iraqi leader
Saddam Hussein and limiting his ability to rebuild his military.
"It's been very difficult to hold onto a sanctions regime for so
long, and the incredible thing is we've been able to maintain it,"
he said.
"But ... we have been successful in sustaining support for the
sanctions regime, which, in effect, has curtailed Saddam's
ability to rebuild his military.
"He is in no position to attack his neighbors at this point, and so
the sanctions regime, whatever its faults, whatever its
deficiencies, it still has been the thing that's kept him in his box."
Economic sanctions were imposed on Iraq following the 1990
invasion of Kuwait which triggered the Gulf War.
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MISCELLANY++++++
Etudiants Contre l'Embargo, in association with Cultures du Sud
and the Mouvement des Citoyens-Jeunes, invite you to attend a
conference-debate : "Irak, 10 ans d'embargo" (Iraq, 10 years of
embargo).
Thursday, January 18th 2001, from 7pm to 9 pm
at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris
27, rue St Guillaume - Paris 7e
métro : Sèvres-Babylone
entrée libre
Speakers :
- Mr Serge Boidevaix (former ambassador)
- Mrs Alice Bséréni (writer)
- Mr Jacques Desallangre (Member of Parliament)
Informations : (33) 1.42.66.30.35. or http://france.irak.free.fr
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The Unfinished War: A Decade Since Desert Storm
60 min. Upcoming television programme
The legacy of the 1990 Persian Gulf War is examined.
Included: the future of Iraq and U.S. dealings with Saddam
Hussein; U.N. efforts to curb Iraq's military capability, particularly
the development of weapons of mass destruction; plans to ease
tensions in the Middle East.
Anchored by Brent Sadler.
Category: Documentary
Release Year: 2001
Show times
Tuesday, 16 Jan. 10:00 PM CNN
Wednesday, 17 Jan. 1:00 AM CNN
Sunday, 21 Jan. 10:00 PM CNN
Monday, 22 Jan. 1:00 AM CNN
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Just wanted to inform any of you that are in the North East that on
the 16th there will be a vigil for Iraq in Newcastle, at Gray's
Monument, at 1pm. This is to coincide and show support for the
London actions on the same day. If you can make it, please
come along!
Cheers all, keep up the good work,
Ronan
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The University of Wales International Politics Society presents
GEORGE GALLOWAY M.P. & a UNITED STATES Embassy
Representative chaired by Professor Mick Cox Department of International
Politics, University of Wales in a debate concerning the
sanctions against Iraq.
8pm. Tuesday 13th February 2001
University of Wales Aberystwyth
Old College
Old Hall
King Street, Aberystwyth
Tickets 50p each. For all enquiries e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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