MER - Washington - 17 February, 1998:

    The situation in Iraq today is considerably worse than it was in earlier years when many of these studies and statistics were originally published.

    Former Attorney General of the United States has used the term "war crimes" to describe American policies.  Others have used terms ranging from "genocide" to "barbarous".

    The Americans, and their Israeli allies, are making a gross example out of Iraq.  The basic message is fairly simple actually: "Do What You Are Told, Or Else!"

    The American people should be both shocked and ashamed.
 

    Over 1.2 million people, the majority children, have died as a result of medical shortages during more than seven years of U.N. trade sanctions against Iraq. - U.N. Report, September 1997.

    "One out of every 4 young Iraqi children is malnourished. More than 750,000 children are suffering from malnutrition."- UNICEF and WFP, '97

    "More than 4,500 children under the age of 5 are dying each month from hunger and disease." -UNICEF, October 1996.

    "Since the onset of sanctions, there has been a six-fold increase in the mortality rate for children under five and the majority of the country's population has been on a semi-starvation diet." - World Health Organization (WHO), March 1996.

    "More than one million Iraqis have died- 567,000 of them children -as a direct consequence of economic sanctions...  As many as 12% of the children surveyed in Baghdad are wasted, 28% stunted and 29% underweight." -UN FAO, December 1995.

    "Famine threatens four million people in sanctions-hit Iraq -- one fifth of the population -- following a poor grain harvest...  The human situation is deteriorating.  Living conditions are precarious and are at pre-famine level for at least four million people.  The deterioration in nutritional status of children is reflected in the significant increase of child mortality, which has risen nearly fivefold since 1990." - FAO, September 1995.

    "Alarming food shortages are causing irreparable damage to an entire generation of Iraqi children". -FAO and WFP, September 1995.

    "Sanctions are inhibiting the importation of spare parts, chemicals, reagents, and the means of transportation required to provide water and sanitation services to the civilian population of Iraq. ... What
has become increasingly clear is that no significant movement towards food security can be achieved so long as the embargo remains in place. All vital contributors to food availability - agricultural production,
importation of foodstuffs, economic stability and income generation, are dependent on Iraq's ability to purchase and import those items vital to the survival of the civilian population" - UNICEF, 1995