UNICEF just released a report about the ongoing
genocide against the children of Iraq. The irony of this report is that
UNICEF is a unit of the United Nations (UN), the enforcer of sanctions
against the Iraqi government implemented to comply with UN orders to
stop producing weapons of mass destruction.
The world
is witnessing the farce of the century. While the UN is enforcing the sanctions against Iraq, mainly through the United States
and Britain, UNICEF is reporting that the Iraqi children mortality have
doubled as a direct result of these sanctions.
It is a disgraceful situation to see the UN and its Security Council
still failing to lift the UN sanctions imposed against Iraq; its effects
have proven to be the peril of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children.
The travesty of the situation is that the Iraqi government and regime,
for whom the sanctions were created, are not effected by the sanctions.
It is only the poor and the weak who are suffering and perishing. How
long will the world have to witness this genocide and do nothing to stop
it?
How long
will the UN, which is supposed to help defuse human tragedies around the
world, be used by big powers as a tool serving their political and
economic interests?
It is time to
evaluate our American foreign policy and its oil interests in the
Arabian Gulf area, known as regional order, and called by many regional hegemony. This evaluation must touch on the containment
of Israel, which is really the core issue of any threat in the Middle
East. We must not restrain criticism of Israel’s belligerent behavior
in the Middle East, such as its recent bombing at will of the Lebanese
infrastructure and its occupation of South Lebanon. What is perceived by
the Israelis as advantageous, (even with the blessings of the United
Nations) is not necessarily in our national interest, or in the interest
of the Middle East Peace Process.
The Gulf
War was supposed to bring to the area closer ties and cooperation with the United States. This did not take place. The
Iraqi government is still intact and Iran has increased its aggressive political and military
muscle-flexing, occupying three United Arab Emirates islands in the Gulf, with no international reaction or outcry
whatsoever. Furthermore, the support of our Gulf War allies is eroding. The eagerness of our political leaders who seek to eliminate Iraq’s chemical weapons of mass destruction and its nuclear facilities is equaled only by their timidity in calling attention to Israel’s
nuclear arsenal, and its 30 years of accumulating nuclear weapons, and
which has infiltrated subterranean water sources in the region. It
defies logic how America is able to contain the nuclear policies of Arab
and Islamic governments while ignoring the Israeli nuclear threat to the
area.
Of course, this prejudiced policy has been enacted with the complicity of the UN. With this, we are all aware from press reports that atomic bomb ingredients are available to the highest bidder in the
world black market.
After
World War II, the United States launched an unprecedented program of humanitarian aid called the Marshall Plan, to rescue
Germany and war-torn Europe. This humanitarian act earned world respect for America and glorified its people. But one has to wonder in good conscience, where is the humanity in holding hostage the health and welfare of the Iraqi people, especially the helpless children and the elderly?
We have to
remember that former President Bush, said: We have no problem with
the people of Iraq. It is only with Saddam Hussein. But we have left
Saddam Hussein in power and the Iraqi people have paid the price ever
since, many with their very own lives. President Saddam Hussein is not
Iraq. He is only a citizen among 20 million Iraqi people. In a 60
Minutes interview with the Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright,
when asked about the deaths of Iraqi children due to the UN sanctions,
she answered that it is worth the price. If this is the United
States’ policy of a comprehensive regional peace effort, then we must
return to the drawing board. Securing Middle Eastern oil flow is one
thing, killing the children of Iraq and destroying the fabric of Arab and
Muslim dignity and human rights, is another.
This
sanction is wrong. It is a genocide that must stop immediately. Our hope
that the visit of the Pope and a few brave US Congressional staffers to
Iraq will help convince the UN/US in lifting the deadliest sanction of
this century.
To read more
interesting articles in the Arab-American Affairs Magazine click
on subscribe.