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PERSONAL OPINION
Iraq sanctions

John Redekop

A great humanitarian crisis has developed in Iraq. It is a moral crisis that involves Canada, many other countries and peace-loving people everywhere. Christians need to be more aware of this tragedy. We are, after all, instructed to be concerned not only about justice and well-being for ourselves and our fellow believers but also for our neighbours. We must not give in to the temptation to walk by on the other side.

A weapon of mass destruction has been unleashed upon the common people of Iraq, a weapon so potent that it has already killed at least six times as many people as were killed by the two atomic bombs falling on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

On August 6, 1990, 45 years to the day after the first atomic weapon was unleashed, the United Nations imposed comprehensive economic and trade sanctions against Iraq. The purpose of the almost total blockade was at least fourfold: to force Iraqi troops out of Kuwait; to eliminate Iraq’s long-range chemical, biological and nuclear weapons capacity; to humiliate Saddam Hussein and hopefully get him overthrown; and to establish a more pro-Western government in Iraq so that Western control over the vital Mideast oil reserves could be ensured. Iraq contains the world’s second largest pool of reserves.

While some of the goals have been achieved, the cost has been mind-boggling. In the past 10 years, approximately 1.5 million Iraqi civilians, including about 500,000 children under the age of 5, have died as a result of these sanctions which the US, the United Kingdom, France, Canada and some other countries have imposed. At present, 5,000-6,000 children die each month because of these measures. The fabric of Iraqi society is tattered, and the economic infrastructure is in shambles.

For years, many hospitals have stood largely useless because of desperate shortages of medicine, painkillers and anesthetics. In them, endless numbers of children have wasted away as parents wailed. In this land, according to the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, 25% of all children suffer from stunted physical and intellectual development caused by chronic malnutrition. Deaths from diarrhea have increased tenfold. Many water purification plants have stood idle for years because the Western powers have not permitted parts for repairs to be imported. Because of a lack of vaccines and chronic malnutrition, diseases have spread readily.

Until the troubles began, Iraq was prosperous. It once employed 7 million foreigners to keep its economy humming. Today the foreigners have left, and the unemployment rate is approaching 65%. Because of shortages of all kinds, factories stand largely silent. The almost universal shortages have also produced sky-rocketing inflation. In 1990, the 250 Iraqi dinar was worth $750 US; today it is worth about 10 cents.

Casualties also continue to mount because of attempts to enforce the no-fly zones established, more or less arbitrarily, by the US, the United Kingdom and France. Since the end of the Gulf War, US and British forces have dropped more than 1,800 missiles and bombs on Iraq. Canada has been supportive. Iraq has become a besieged ghetto of devastation, death and despair.

That’s only one side of the story. A major part of the blame for the terrible situation in Iraq must be put at the feet of Saddam Hussein, the brutal and repressive dictator of that land. To score propaganda points, he has allowed his people to suffer even more than they otherwise would have. He has, for example, at times prevented the importing of humanitarian aid, even from Saudi Arabia. His record of atrocities is staggering.

Since 1996, the situation in Iraq has improved marginally. The UN’s Oil For Food program has allowed Iraq to sell a limited amount of oil in exchange for humanitarian supplies. But the arrangement has not worked well. Bureaucratic red tape has caused endless delays. The US and British representatives at the UN have also vetoed the inclusion of “dual use” goods in the program, those which could allegedly also be used by Iraq’s military. The long list of prohibited imports has included water purification tablets, medical journals, light bulbs, school supplies, combs and toothbrushes. In 2000, the situation has improved somewhat.

What is the situation today? None of the fundamental problems have been resolved. In that sense, sanctions have been a colossal failure. Despair, death and disease continue. Saddam is still in total control; the sanctions have not weakened him; if anything, his support has increased. Iraq’s military threat is, apparently, now not great; according to Scott Ritter, who served from 1991 to 1998 as a Western arms inspector, “Iraq today possesses no meaningful weapons of mass destruction.” Then why do the sanctions continue? They remain because Hussein, for not entirely illogical reasons, does not give free access to arms inspectors and because, as President Clinton put it, the sanctions will stay as long as Saddam stays.

For Christians and Christian missions, the widespread Muslim perception of “Christian” Western countries inflicting massive destruction on mainly Muslim Iraq is nothing less than disastrous. For all Christians possessing compassion, love and a commitment to justice, the whole situation is tragic and depressing.

So what can Christians do? We in the West cannot do much about the evils caused by Saddam Hussein, but we can influence our own governments. In Canada, we can urge the Liberal government to press its UN allies to lift sanctions, as was unanimously recommended by an all-party resolution in a House of Commons committee last April. At the very least, the sanctions should be modified – and some progress has been made – to permit unhindered importation of humanitarian goods.

Mennonite Central Committee has produced some excellent suggestions for governments and for the UN. This organization has credibility. We must support it in its efforts to end this great tragedy and to provide humanitarian relief.

Western Christians must both pray and work for peace. As one MCC report puts it, “Even if the Iraqi leadership carries major responsibility for the current humanitarian plight, it is immoral for the international community to engage in an eight-year siege against the Iraqi people.” No matter how much our governments punish these innocent people for policies they did not create, Iraqi civilians cannot change the situation in Iraq.

Martin Luther King once observed that “A time has come when silence is betrayal.” Concerning the situation in Iraq, the time for Christians is now.

John H. Redekop is on the faculty of Trinity Western University and is a member of Bakerview MB Church in Abbotsford, B.C.

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Last modified January 11, 2001.

© 2001 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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