War on Iraq could produce a humanitarian disaster, health professionals warn

A report from Medact—a UK based organisation of health professionals that was set up to highlight the health consequences of war—warns that a new war on Iraq would produce a humanitarian disaster.

A war would lead to widespread damage to the environment, including oil spills, toxic smoke, and chemical, biological, and possibly radiological pollution. Emergency relief for displaced and sick civilians would cost billions of pounds. Existing relief programmes, such as the oil for food programme, have institutionalised a state of crisis and have failed to provide proper access to food, education, employment or health care.

The authors contend that a new war on Iraq would further destabilise the Middle East and the global economy.

The report was launched this week simultaneously by the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, to which Medact is affiliated, and by organisations in the United States, Australia, Canada, Germany, Guatemala, India, Japan, the Netherlands, and the Philippines.

Drawing on evidence from international organisations, the report states that the 1990-1 war was responsible for 200000 deaths among military personnel, civilians, and refugees in Iraq. Up to 300000 Iraqi soldiers were wounded, some of whom later died or had long term disability.

Air attacks and sanctions targeted Iraq's oil industry, crippling the country's economy, which had been growing in the previous decades. Roads, communications, electricity, water supply, sewage systems, and healthcare facilities were severely damaged.

This damage severely limited water, food, and other resources. An estimated 1.8 million refugees fled to the borders, with disease and malnutrition. The report states that women, children, and elderly people were affected the worst. Some 47000 excess deaths in children aged under 5 years occurred in January to August 1991 alone.

Medact proposes alternative strategies to war, including targeted sanctions against the Iraqi elite, creation of a visible and accountable containment system to restrict the arms trade, establishment of a longer term and sustainable development plan, and an international effort to foster democratic political processes in Iraq.

It recommends an allowance of time for Iraq to comply with international pressure for disarmament.

Figure.

AP PHOTO/JASSIM MOHAMMED

Neighbours search for a family buried in rubble after a 1999 attack on Jesan, near Baghdad, by US planes