IRAQ SANCTIONS MONITOR Number 202 Friday, February 02, 2001 The Monitor is produced each week day by the Mariam Appeal. www.mariamappeal.com __________________________________________________ FOR ALL THE LATEST NEWS AND VIEWS ON IRAQ VISIT THE ORIENT MAGAZINE WEBSITE. www.orientmagazine.co.uk Constantly updated news, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, on Iraq. __________________________________________________ CNN, in its anniversary coverage of the Gulf War, is conducting a poll on whether sanctions should remain or be removed. It is presently running at over 50% in favour of the status quo. ISM subscribers may like to cast their votes on: http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/01/16/gulf.anniversary/index.html ________________________________________________________ Hussein remakes his image in the Arab world. Iraqi leader's doctors treat Palestinians injured in the intifada, and he . gives money to their families. >From CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, February 2nd, 2001 In early October, as graduate student Aladdin Salim hurled stones at Israeli troops during a demonstration in the Gaza Strip, the soldiers fired some sort of explosive ammunition at the back of his legs. Iraqi surgeons have treated the burly Palestinian, and last Friday, leaning heavily on his cane, he stepped out of a rehabilitation ward at Saddam Medical City to begin his return to Gaza. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has provided free medical care to the Palestinians most severely injured in their four-month-old uprising against Israel, but there is a quid pro quo. The Palestinian patients themselves are the instruments of Mr. Hussein's program for rehabilitating his standing in the Arab world. In contrast to other Arab leaders, Hussein has backed up tough rhetoric with concrete action in support of the Palestinians. He is reinforcing his image as the lone Arab leader who walks the walk in confronting Israel and the US. As Hussein works to strengthen ties among Arab nations, his pro-Palestinian stance gives him street credibility among Arabs that no other leader shares. Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank increasingly carry Hussein's picture at demonstrations against Israel. Arab leaders have been unanimous in their denunciations of Israel's reaction to the uprising, or intifada, but some Palestinian officials have complained about a lack of concrete support. Meeting in Cairo last October, the 22-member Arab League established two funds, worth a combined $1 billion, to benefit those injured in the intifada and the families of those killed, and to fund programs aimed at shoring up the Islamic identity of Jerusalem. The problem for the Palestinians and particularly for the officials of the Palestinian Authority, is that no one has shown them any money. "We have received nothing from the $1 billion in funds that were approved by the Arab League in Cairo," says Sa'di Al-Krunz, minister of industry in the Palestinian Authority. That is because the funds were never intended to be handed over to the Palestinian Authority, according to Abdurrahman Sehebani, a senior economic official at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo. Contributions from Arab-League member states are being deposited at the Islamic Development Bank in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, while a committee of the Arab League decides how to spend the money. So far, League members have made pledges totaling $693 million, of which $285 million has actually been committed to the two funds, Mr. Sehebani says. Iraq did not make pledges to these funds, choosing to offer its support in other ways, and that is a major reason why Hussein stands out. "Iraq is the only Arab country which is sincere in its commitments to support Palestinian people during the intifada and to fulfill these commitments on the ground," says Mr. Al-Krunz. Like many other countries, Iraq has provided medical assistance to the injured. But an Iraqi-backed party in the Palestinian territories has also made $10,000 grants to the families of every Palestinian killed in the intifada and lesser gifts to those injured. Hussein is also asking the UN, which oversees Iraq's oil sales in order to fund humanitarian programs here, to spend 1 billion euros ($940 million) to help the Palestinians instead. Britain and the US, the chief enforcers of a decade-old embargo of Iraq, have refused, saying the oil money should benefit Iraqis. Hussein has even offered to attack Israel if an Arab country would simply offer his troops adequate space on one of Israel's borders. At various times in the past four months, he has moved troops close to Iraq's border with Syria, where they would presumably be available to assist if a confrontation with Israel occurred. Judith Yaphe, an Iraq specialist at the National Defense University in Washington, says these threats should not be taken too seriously. "It's rhetoric; it's PR," she says. "It shows he's the only Arab leader willing to stand up and fight the US and Israel." For one thing, an attack on Israel would inevitably disclose Iraq's military capabilities - exactly the thing Hussein has been shielding from UN inspectors since the end of the Gulf War. Iraq has long been an enemy of Israel - the country has never signed a cease-fire with the Jewish state - but the Gulf War banded Palestinians and Iraq more tightly together. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat chose to support Hussein instead of the US-led coalition that came together to evict Iraqi invaders from Kuwait. Many Palestinians cheered when Iraq fired Scud missiles into Israel during the war, elated that an Arab leader was confronting Israel militarily for the first time in nearly two decades. This shared history is on display in the Palestinians' ward in Baghdad. The patients' rooms feature a framed picture of Mr. Arafat and Hussein - both in military uniform - striking a cheery, victorious pose. The sense that Palestinians and Iraqis share a common enemy is palpable in the ward, and that enemy isn't necessarily Israel. Salim, a postgraduate student in microbiology, decries the US role here and in his homeland. The Israeli weapons say "Made in the USA," he asserts. "How can those people who ... give weapons to Israel make the peace?" And he has a question about the US-led embargo of Iraq: "How are the children of Iraq guilty that they should suffer under sanctions for 10 years?" _________________________________________________ US State Secretary Powell signals caution in Mideast peacemaking Washington, Feb 02, 2001 (FWN Financial via COMTEX) -- Signaling a cautious approach, Secretary of State Colin Powell said the Bush administration will "watch carefully" what happens in the Middle East peace process and in Tuesday's election in Israel for prime minister before making a judgment on a U.S. role. While declining to be drawn into comparisons with the Clinton administration, Powell on Thursday indicated a more deliberate approach on peacemaking between Israel and the Arabs. "I am of a view you can't just concentrate on one thing. There are just many things going on at the same time," he told reporters at the State Department. For example, Powell said he was "mindful" of the problems in Africa, in Congo, for instance. In Israel, Prime Minister Ehud Barak faces Likud leader Ariel Sharon in an election that could replace the dovish Barak with the more militant Sharon. "I think, of course, we have to look at the (Persian) Gulf and especially Iraq," Powell said. "Those things come to mind." Denouncing Iraq as a threat to "the children of the region," Powell said the Bush administration intends to hold Baghdad to its promise to get rid of its weapons of mass destruction. "They are threatening their neighbors," Powell said as he provided some clues to the new administration's approach to foreign policy issues. "Iraq is a problem for its own people," he said. "I think we have to keep reminding everybody that this is an arms control problem." Meanwhile, the Bush administration is giving Iraqi opposition groups permission to use U.S. funds for their activities inside the country, The Washington Post reported in Friday editions. The decision means the Iraqi National Congress, an organizational body for groups opposed to the Iraqi government, can use $4 million set aside by Congress in September for gathering information relating to Iraqi war crimes, military operations and other internal developments, the Post said. Some of the money has already been used by the Iraqi National Congress for logistics and training outside Iraq, but now it can also be used by opposition groups for operations inside the country, the Post said. That has been impossible since the United States cut off similar financial support five years ago. At the end of the Persian Gulf War in 1991, which reversed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's annexation of Kuwait, Iraq promised to eliminate its weapons of mass destruction--chemical, biological and nuclear. Subsequently, it managed to limit U.N. weapons inspections, although the United States is using other means to try to monitor Iraq's activities. Powell, who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the war, said Iraq is now unable to threaten its neighbors with conventional weapons so it is trying to gain strength with weapons of mass destruction. "They made a commitment to do away with these weapons, and I think that the international community and the United Nations have to hold them to that commitment," he told reporters in a visit to the press area of the State Department. Touching on how the new administration was organizing itself to deal with foreign policy issues, Powell said, "We've established a system where we will have working groups, chaired by the State Department." "Surely we will look at any region that requires looking at in particular," he said. Africa is the topic of one such group, Powell said. Also, Powell said, "I want to begin working closely with our European allies and our friends in Asia, as well." "I am trying to reach out as much as I can and convey a message of openness and American interests in these regions," he said. __________________________________________________ UN sanctions resulted in massive loss of life in Iraq. UNITED NATIONS, February 2 (Itar-Tass) - Ten years of sanctions, imposed on Iraq by the world community after the Persian Gulf war, have brought about the death of 1.5 million people, mostly children. This information is contained in a report, submitted by the Iraqi government to the U.N. Secretary-General, which is entitled "The impact of the current embargo on Iraqi children." The authors of the report quote the results of the study, made by U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF), whose experts came to the conclusion that the mortality rate among children under five in the densely populated areas of Iraq is twice as high, as the similar figure, registered ten years ago. Polluted water, the absence of high-quality foodstuffs and of medical supplies in public health centres are mentioned in the report as the main reasons for the growth of infant mortality rate. During the period of sanctions Iraq was moved from comparative wellbeing to widely spread poverty, the report said. In the opinion of the Iraqi leaders, this is flagrant violation of the norms of international humanitarian law. In this connection Baghdad demanded the payment of compensation to the Iraqi children for direct and indirect damage, inflicted on them as a result of the preservation of embargo and the continuing aggression on the part of the United States and Britain. _________________________________________________ Iraqi Foes To Get Aid From U.S. >From WASHINGTON POST, February 2nd, 2001 The Bush administration has given Iraqi opposition groups permission to resume their activities inside Iraq with American funding, marking the first substantial move by the Bush White House to confront Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. By giving the go-ahead this week to a program with the benign-sounding purpose of "collection of informational materials in Iraq," Bush officials moved beyond the policy of the Clinton administration, which harbored deep reservations about the Iraqi opposition. The decision allows the Iraqi National Congress, an umbrella organization for groups opposed to Hussein's government, to draw from $4 million set aside by Congress in September for gathering information relating to Iraqi war crimes, military operations and other internal developments. Some of the money has already been used by the London-based INC for logistics and training outside Iraq. But this week's decision frees up funding for opposition operations inside the country for the first time since the United States cut off similar financial support five years ago. "We're saying to the INC, you're beyond the organizational phase," a State Department official said yesterday. "Now do something." The move to send U.S.-funded activists back into Iraq comes at time when top administration officials, including Vice President Cheney, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, have been trying to thrash out their strong -- and divergent opinions -- on how best to confront Hussein. State Department officials said the decision to order the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control to issue a license for spending the money inside Iraq -- which is required because of the economic sanctions on the country -- moves U.S. policy across a significant threshold. But these officials said the initiative does not yet reflect a wholesale reappraisal of Iraq policy. While more vigorous backing for the opposition has been endorsed by some -- including Cheney and Rumsfeld -- Powell and others have been more reticent in offering support, speaking primarily about reinvigorating the economic sanctions as a means to deter Iraq's weapons program. President Bush met at the White House on Tuesday with his top national security officials, discussing in particular Iraq policy. A senior State Department official said yesterday that the administration is seeking to develop a policy that combines support for the Iraqi opposition with maintaining the economic sanctions that were imposed after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. In remarks to reporters at the State Department yesterday, Powell said he had not determined whether it would be realistic ultimately to remove Hussein by funding opposition groups. "Iraq is a problem for its own people," Powell said. He said his focus would remain on Hussein's refusal to cooperate with United Nations weapons inspectors. "I think we have to keep reminding everybody that this is an arms control problem," Powell said. But the decision to renew U.S.-funded efforts inside Iraq was heralded by Ahmed Chalabi, a founding member of the INC, as "a major reversal" of U.S. policy. "For the first time ever, the INC has public U.S. funding to operate in Iraq, and for the first time since 1996 there's any U.S. support for operating inside Iraq," he said. The United States had provided covert aid to opposition groups in the years after the end of the Persian Gulf War in 1991. But those efforts came to a tumultuous end when Hussein's military rolled into the U.S.-protected "safe area" of northern Iraq, rousting the opposition. Critics said the INC's battlefield performance had revealed it as a paper tiger. Chalabi said a wide range of anti-government activities are permitted under the license granted this week. "What we want to do is bring out political information, information on the state of Iraq's military and enhance our contacts with our constituency inside Iraq," he said. While the opposition is already involved in gathering information, an adviser to the INC said the funding will allow it to beef up operations inside Iraq in as little as two weeks. He said the money could pay for the efforts of about 40 of the group's members to collect information and shuttle it out of the country. These activists would work with thousands of sympathizers inside Iraq, Chalabi said. A State Department official said funding is limited to the gathering of information, but the INC could put it to whatever use the group decides. This could include monitoring violations of the economic sanctions, providing evidence for any war crimes prosecution against Iraqi officials and building popular support for the INC's ultimate goal of overthrowing the Hussein government. The application for the license issued this week was put in the pipeline during the final weeks of the Clinton administration. It was approved, following consultation between State Department and National Security Council officials, only after Bush took office two weeks ago. "It is a step forward but it's not the whole deal," a senior administration official said. The INC is still looking for at least two more licenses that would allow it to broaden efforts further. One application, pending before the Treasury Department, would permit the group to use American funds to open a permanent office in northern Iraq, where it could publish a newspaper and collect intelligence. A second application that has yet to be filed would allow the INC to tap another $12 million in approved American funding to distribute food, medicine and other forms of humanitarian relief inside government-controlled areas of Iraq. Administration officials consider each step to be increasingly ambitious and likely to provoke a violent response from Hussein. __________________________________________________ Pakistani relief plane leaves for Iraq ISLAMABAD, Feb 2 (AFP) - A Pakistani humanitarian flight left for Baghdad Friday as a goodwill gesture for the people of Iraq with United Nations approval, officials said. Health Minister Abdul Malik Kasi, leading a 25-member team of doctors, officials and representatives of non-governmental aid groups, was aboard the plane. The consignment of medical supplies is a "goodwill-cum humanitarian gesture" from Pakistan, Kasi said before his departure. The flight, the first from Pakistan since UN sanctions were imposed on Iraq 10 years ago, was laden with five tonnes of medicine and surgical items. During his two-day stay in Iraq, Kasi said he would meet President Saddam Hussain and deliver a letter from Pakistani military ruler General Pervez Musharraf. He would also meet Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz and health ministry officials. Iraq has been under sanctions linked to disarmament ever since its August 1990-February 1991 occupation of Kuwait. _________________________________________________ Iraq: Jordanian, Ukrainian aircraft arrive in Baghdad on 1 February Text of report by Iraqi radio on 1 February A delegation of the Jordanian National Mobilization Committee in Defence of Iraq arrived in Baghdad this evening on board a Boeing 737. The delegation is headed by Musa al-Hayari. The visit by the delegation, which comprises 154 political, trade unionist, professional, cultural and media figures, is taking place in a show of solidarity by our Arab people in Jordan with their Iraqi brothers in the face of the treacherous aggression and unjust siege. In a press statement made upon arrival, Al-Hayari said that the pan-Arab feeling we have urges us to work constantly, employing all our energies so that Iraq will resume its normal position as a prominent Arab power that is essential to the Arab nation. He said that Iraq has been and continues to be the first to take part in the battles of the Arab nation. The delegation was received by Sa'd Qasim Hammudi, secretary general of the Arab Popular Congress, and a number of officials. [Baghdad Republic of Iraq Television in Arabic at 2000 gmt on 1 February reported that a Ukrainian delegation headed by deputy head of the Ukrainian People's Party arrived at Saddam International Airport this evening] __________________________________________________ Baghdad urged to create an environment ministry to counter DU fears BAGHDAD, Feb 1 (AFP) - Baghdad should establish an environment ministry to follow up on the health threats posed by the use of depleted uranium (DU) in munitions during the 1991 Gulf War, a newspaper said Thursday. "To face up to the catastrophe, either an environment ministry or a higher authority attached to the presidency should be set up," said the weekly Al-Zaman. Baghdad has called for a UN investigation into the effects of the US and British use of DU munitions against Iraq during the six-week Gulf War. Baghdad, protesting that cancer rates have quadrupled in areas of southern Iraq bombed by the allied forces, has said the United States and Britain fired more than 940,000 armour-piercing DU projectiles during the 1991 conflict over Kuwait. In Europe, several countries whose troops served in Yugoslavia during the 1990s are offering them medical tests following cancer fears linked to the use of DU munitions in Balkans conflicts. DU emits low levels of radiation, and is so far only considered to be dangerous if fragments are inhaled or ingested. The material is used to penetrate armour and concrete bunkers because it is denser than other metals. _________________________________________________ Iraqi child hospitalised in US doomed to life in darkness AMMAN, Feb 1 (AFP) - A seven-year-old Iraqi cancer patient who symbolises the sufferings of Iraqis under UN sanctions is doomed to a life in darkness despite treatment in the United States for the leukemia that caused her blindness. Maryam Hamza will leave the United States for Jordan on Friday on her way back to Iraq, a statement by the Bruderhof Communities, a US non-governmental group campaigning for a lifting of the UN sanctions, said Thursday. The group invited Maryam to the United States in August for medical treatment and she was examined by four eye specialists. "Her eyes were carefully evaluated and it was determined that she had suffered damage to the macular area of her retinas, the optic nerve and the center of sight in her brain," the statement said. "There is no hope for her eyesight to be restored. Maryam has been condemned to live in darkness because of the cruel and criminal sanctions imposed on Iraq by the United States through the United Nations," it said. "Because the sanctions prohibit the importation by Iraq of the parts necessary to maintain the equipment used to determine correct dosages for treating leukemia patients, it is very difficult for doctors to administer the medicines required to successfully treat leukemia," the statement said. "As a result Maryam, an innocent child, became blind," it added. The United Nations imposed sanctions on Iraq following its invasion of Kuwait in 1990. The United States, which led an international coalition in the 1991 Gulf War to liberate the emirate, spearheads the embargo. The Iraqi health ministry said in January that the UN embargo had caused more than 1.3 million deaths over ten years, with the incidence of leukemia up 17 percent. Maryam, accompanied by her grandmother and members of the Bruderhof Communities, arrives Saturday in Amman aboard a Royal Jordanian flight and will go on to Iraq Tuesday after a six-month stay in a Pennsylvania hospital. The Jordanian national carrier offered the child and her grandmother the round-trip ticket while the US embassy in Amman helped the pair obtain the necessary visas to enter the United States in August. Maryam was blinded by leukemia in 1999 and suffers from a defective nervous system. She was spotted in a Baghdad hospital by British MP George Galloway who arranged for her to travel to Britain for treatment, but despite initial signs of improvement she suffered a relapse and was hospitalised again in October 1999 in an Amman cancer clinic. Galloway, a maverick member of Britain's governing Labour party, used the girl's name for the Maryam Appeal Campaign he established to draw international attention to the health situation in Iraq. __________________________________________________ WHO launches appeal for DU research in Iraq and the Balkans GENEVA, Feb 1 (AFP) - The World Health Organisation on Thursday launched an urgent international appeal for funds for research into the effects of depleted uranium (DU) munitions in Iraq and the Balkans. The Geneva-based WHO issued a statement saying it needs two million dollars (2.14 million euros) over the next six months to add specialists to its team for field investigations. It also wants to improve monitoring of suspected cases in the countries concerned, the WHO said. "While experts' current thinking is that the risk from exposure to DU is low, information is not sufficient for firm conclusions," the statement said. Xavier Leus, the director of emergency activities at the WHO, told a press conference that more information was needed urgently. "The current state of uncertainty ... and the consequent levels of widespread speculation that exposure to DU may be responsible for serious health consequences such as leukemia ... illustrate the need to fill the knowledge gap," Leus added. A team of WHO experts visiting Kosovo said Thursday that no link had been found between a spate of illnesses in peacekeepers and the use of DU munitions during NATO's bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999. They also said "the presence of plutonium in the depleted uranium used in Kosovo has not been detected so far by laboratories analysing samples from DU sites." The United States fired around 31,000 rounds of DU in Yugoslavia, about one third of that amount in Bosnia in 1994 and 1995 and an undisclosed quantity during the Gulf War. Depleted uranium, which penetrates heavy armour more efficiently than conventional metals, has been blamed for causing cancers in peacekeepers who served in the Balkans. __________________________________________________ Iraq claims to have shot down US warplane last month BAGHDAD, Feb 1 (AFP) - Iraqi television reported Thursday that a US fighter plane had been shot down by an anti-aircraft missile over the south of the country last month. Footage was shown of the launch of a missile and what was said to be the US target, followed by aircraft gunners celebrating and shouting "we shot it down; we shot it down". The state-run station quoted an unidentified military spokesman saying: "Despite Pentagon denials, our valiant soldiers in anti-aircraft units are resisting the planes of aggression and shot one down over the south on January 21." However, Iraq has made several similar claims in the past that American and British officials have always denied. US and British warplanes daily patrol the north and south of Iraq to enforce zone restrictions imposed after the 1991 Gulf war leading to frequent clashes. Baghdad does not recognize the no-fly zones and regularly reports civilian deaths and injuries. Iraq says 323 people have been killed and nearly 1,000 injured in the two years since a US-British bombing campaign in December 1998. Baghdad said a January 20 raid killed six civilians. _________________________________________________ Kuwaiti MP calls for lifting Iraq embargo Text of report in English by Jordanian news agency Petra web site Amman, 1 February: Prime Minister Ali Abu-al-Raghib on Thursday [1 February] said Jordan supports Kuwait's sovereignty over its territories exactly the way it backs up the territorial integrity of Iraq, noting to the kingdom's keenness to set up balanced relations with Arab brethren apart from coalitions and blocs. The premier's remarks came during his meeting with the Kuwaiti parliamentary delegation headed by Chairman of Foreign Relations Committee at Kuwait's parliament Muhammad Jasim Saqr. He stressed the kingdom's principled stance towards the need to respect the sovereignty of each Arab country and not to interfere in other countries' affairs. Talks during the meeting centred on Jordanian-Kuwaiti relations and means to further bolster them in all fields to best serve the two countries' interests. On his part, Saqr said the delegation's current visit to the kingdom aims at cementing ties further between Kuwaiti Ummah Council (parliament) [National Assembly] and Arab parliaments and finding a mutual vision to promote Arab integrity. "We in Kuwait call for lifting embargo imposed on the Iraqi people and we want Iraqis to receive a better human treatment to cope with the age changes and technological revolution," he pointed out. The Kuwaiti delegation, which arrived late Tuesday as part of its regional tour that has already taken it to Tunisia and Syria, is expected to leave Jordan Friday after a three-day visit. To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
