The war against Iraq continues its deadly course. This small nation of 20 million people has been singled out for inhuman punishment yet the world's press has been largely silent.
An entire nation has suffered a decade of starvation and deprivation, death and destruction. It is being subjected to the harshest sanctions in history; a relentless bombing campaign; increasing malnutrition and disease; a sixfold increase in childhood leukemia and cancer related deaths linked to depleted uranium incorporated into weapons used during the Gulf War; and a huge and growing reparations debt.
Occasional media reports give limited coverage of the effects of sanctions, but no mention is made of the spiralling debt accruing as "compensation". Iraq is deemed liable for hundreds of claims stemming from the Gulf War and its aftermath.
International claims now total a staggering $300 billion, and there is more to come. Add to this claims yet to be processed, interest, and payments to lawyers and commissioners and the people of Iraq face debt payments into the 22nd century.
Iraq can't pay such a debt — ever. Yet teams of judges, lawyers and press officers spend their days pouring over the 2.6 million claims, lodged by 100 countries, with the Geneva-based United Nations Compensation Commission.
The commission, set up under the terms of UN Security Council resolution 692 in 1991, was supposed to adjudicate and pay out war claims against Iraq. Claims are for financial loss allegedly suffered as a result of the Gulf War. Compensation funds, plus funding of the commission, were to come from Iraq's oil sales. The documentation involved so far fills 3500 square metres of warehouse space.
Resolution 692 provides for 30% of Iraq's oil revenues to be allocated for reparations (the US pressed for 40-50%). However, 48% is now allotted to reparations (the bulk to Kuwait), to Turkey for the use of its oil export facilities and to the UN. A further amount is deducted for all UN costs in Iraq: administration, monitoring and inspections. UN personnel in Iraq receive a higher remuneration than those in other posts.
This is the first time since the UN was set up that humanitarian aid is paid for by the country receiving it.
Iraq began pumping oil in December 1996. Since the launching of the "oil for food" program (Security Council resolution 986), Iraq has pumped $29 billion worth of oil. Of this, Iraq has received less than $8 billion. All proceeds of oil sales go into an account at the Bank National de Paris in New York, from which the various payments and allotments are made.
The US, while at first unwilling to allow "oil for food" to proceed, eventually saw it as a way to mitigate against mounting pressure to lift the sanctions.
The belief that allowing Iraq to sell oil at six-monthly intervals to buy food and medicines relieves the dire situation in that country is far from true. The situation regarding food and medicines has deteriorated. Countless items are embargoed or "on hold", the euphemism for refused entry because the 661 Committee (controlled by the US and Britain) has decided they could be used by the military or to make chemical or biological weapons. Such items include all parts for repair of water and sewage treatment plants, chlorine, enriched baby milk, herbicides, pesticides and fertilisers.
Every level of UN administration in Iraq is now paid for from Iraq's oil revenues. Before 1996, UN expenses, including the building of large spacious headquarters and a telecommunications tower, were paid for by money taken from Iraq's frozen assets. In June, Middle East International quoted a senior Baghdad-based diplomat as saying, "The program in Iraq is worth more to the United Nations than every other program on the planet". The UN is riding a nice little gravy train.
Many of the claims made to the Compensation Commission are ridiculous. Israel, for example, has lodged substantial claims. One is for damage to its flower industry. Israel exports cut flowers and Palestinians do the work. During the Gulf War, Palestinians were refused entry into Israel and the flowers died.
Jordan is claiming $8.6 billion, twice its gross national product for 1991, yet the war lasted only 42 days of that year. Egypt is claiming billions in compensation for lost revenue from Egyptians working in Iraq who lost their jobs due to the war. This claim is twofold, being for loss of earnings to workers and loss to the state of monies sent back to workers' families in Egypt.
Present claims amount to $15,000 for every man, woman and child in Iraq. This burden is on people whose currency has collapsed, who battle daily to feed their families and where sanctions have reduced the salaries of professionals to $3-5 a month. Many future generations will be paying the price.
Even if sanctions were lifted now, Iraq could not pump enough oil to pay off the claims. The country's earnings from oil would be $15-20 billion a year at most. The money is just not there, and it never will be.
None of this takes into account Iraq's huge external debt, which will have to be repaid and serviced. When the embargo was imposed a decade ago, the debt was estimated to be $120 billion.
Nor does it take account of the cost of rebuilding Iraq's infrastructure, which was deliberately destroyed during the war. These costs are estimated to be billions of dollars.
This state of affairs is impossible for Iraq and will affect, economically and politically, the whole region and the world. The sanctions must be lifted immediately and the "compensation" debt cancelled.
BY JANE HOWARTH
[The author is convenor of Save the Children of Iraq, PO Box 146, Petersham 2049, phone (02) 9519 2602.]