Sanctions Against Iraq

July 15, 1999

Issue:

Aug. 6 marks the 9th anniversary of the comprehensive U.N. sanctions against Iraq. The people of Iraq continue to suffer in the grip of a humanitarian crisis caused in large part by the sanctions. But there is growing support within the United Nations Security Council for a change in the sanctions regime. Advocacy toward the U.S. government, asking for the end or easing of the sanctions, is particularly timely now.

Action:

Write to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, your two Senators, and your Representative. Make these points:

• The current United States policy toward Iraq is not worthy of support by the American people. The continuation of the comprehensive sanctions for nine years has devastated the lives of Iraqi people and has been the principal cause of the ongoing humanitarian crisis.
• The oil-for-food program has alleviated the food shortage, but it cannot meet other basic needs. Nor can it fund the rebuilding of Iraq's infrastructure and civilian economy, which alone can ensure adequate nutrition and health standards.
• The objective of disarming Iraq of illegal weapons and the resumption of inspections by a new U.N. inspection commission should be the highest priority for the United States. This is not possible as long as the United States insists that sanctions remain in place until Saddam Hussein is removed from power.
• The United States should cooperate with the United Nations Security Council in formulating a new plan that provides a way to end the economic sanctions while resuming the U.N. weapons inspection and weapons destruction program. Compromise plans are before the Security Council at this time.

Thank those Members of Congress (listed on the reverse) who have called for ending comprehensive sanctions. Urge others to use their influence to end the current comprehensive sanctions in favor of targeted sanctions focused on weapons.

Write:

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
U.S. Department of State
Washington, DC 20520

The Honorable ________
The U.S. Senate
Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable _______
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington DC 20515

Background:

The Iraq sanctions, which began on Aug. 6, 1990 in response to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, are the most stringent ever imposed on a country. They ban 90 percent of Iraqi imports and 97 percent of exports. In 1996, the United Nations began an oil-for-food program to counter some of the devastating effects of the sanctions. Money from oil sales is tightly controlled by the U.N. and is used for war reparations, for U.N. oversight expenses, and to purchase limited supplies of food, medicine and equipment.

Iraqis receive a sparse monthly food basket which lasts an average of 20 to 23 days. Some Iraqis are able to supplement food basket items; many are not. The weekly per-person food allotments in the baskets are as follows: wheat flour, 5 pounds; rice, 1 pound; sugar, 1 pound; dry beans, « pound; tea, 1 ounce; salt, 1 ounce; cooking oil, 8 fluid ounces; cheese, 1 ounce. Adult baskets include small amounts of soap and detergent. Baskets for infants under 1 year include 2 pounds of milk powder and 6 ounces of weaning cereal. (Sources: U.N. Office of the Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq; Reuters; and Iraq Ministry of Foreign Affairs.)

Approximately 30 percent of children in Iraq suffer from either acute or chronic malnutrition. Gastrointestinal illness spread by contaminated drinking water is the primary killer of Iraqi children. According to UNICEF, one child dies every 7þ9 minutes (equal to 5,000 to 6,000 deaths per month) from preventable diseases or malnutrition directly linked to the sanctions.

Delivery of medicines provided by the oil sale program is hindered by the lack of refrigerated trucks, computers and even forklifts necessary for distribution. Power outages, often 12þ18 hours a day, further impair the functioning of hospitals.

U.S. Representatives calling for an end to economic sanctions:

Blumenauer (D-Ore.)
Campbell (R-Calif.)
Conyers (D-Mich.)
DeFazio (D-Ore.)
Eshoo (D-Calif.)
Hastings (D-Fla.)
Jefferson (D-La.)
Kilpatrick (D-Mich.)
Jackson Lee (D-Tex.)
Meek (D-Fla.)
Oberstar (D-Fla.)
Peterson (D-Minn.)
Rush (D-Ill.)
Thompson (D-Miss.)
Woolsey (D-Calif.)
Bonior (D-Mich.)
Clay (D-Mo.)
Cummings (D-Md.)
Degette (D-Colo.)
Farr (D-Calif.)
Hinchey (D-N.Y.)
Johnson (D-Tex.)
LaFalce (D-N.Y.)
McGovern (D-Mass.)
Meek (D-N.Y.)
Olver (D-Mass.)
Rivers (D-Mich.)
Sanders (I-Vt.)
Waters (D-Calif.)
Brown (D-Ohio)
Clayton (D-N.C.)
Davis (D-Ill.)
Delahunt (D-Mass.)
Furse (D-Ore.)
Jackson (D-Ill.)
Kaptur (D-Ohio)
Lee (D-Calif.)
McKinney (D-Ga.)
Owens (D-N.Y.)
Pelosi (D-Calif.)
Rodriquez (D-Tex.)
Stark (D-Calif.)
Watts (D-N.C.)

General Assembly Guidance:

1. The ending of all economic sanctions against Iraq that make it difficult or impossible for essential items to reach the people of Iraq, such as food, medicine, medical and hospital supplies, including ambulances and bed sheets; school books and other supplies, including building supplies that are necessary for the educational system; materials needed to provide drinkable water and sanitation; and to develop the allowable level of oil-production capacity needed to generate the income to purchase humanitarian and infrastructure supplies;
2. The maintaining of safeguards, such as military sanctions, that are designed to prevent the government of Iraq from acquiring or developing the means of mass destruction, in such a manner as not to prevent the delivery of items above ...