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Women, Children and War in Iraq
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Stacey Larsen, W A M M
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The war on the women and children of Iraq continues. Iraq, once a safe and stable nation, is now one of the world’s most dangerous. Over the past thirteen years, Iraqi citizens have endured two wars, a dictatorship, and sanctions that have devastated the country.
In most wars, the women and children are the most affected and this war was no different. The women of Iraq have experienced great loss as children die in air raids, from malnutrition, and war-related pollution. Yet somehow it seems that many Iraqi women have managed to stay positive. Recently, I sat down with Kathy Kelly from Voices in the Wilderness and explored the amazing world in which these women live.
Kelly has traveled to Iraq 20 times since she helped found Voices in 1996. She spent the recent summer in Basra, staying in numerous families’ homes. Despite dangerous conditions for Americans and suspicion toward them, her missions and those of Voices in the Wilderness continue. Kelly feels it is vitally important to learn about the conditions Iraqis face and to try to make their lives better.
Warfare and sanctions imposed by the United Nations and United States in 1991 have shattered life in parts of Iraq. Sanctions, as a tool of international relations, are imposed to cripple a country and force the leadership out. What usually happens—and what did happen in Iraq—is that the leadership has the money and resources it needs to survive, while the people suffer. The UN lifted their sanctions against Iraq, but President Bush extended the U.S. sanctions for an additional year. The extension makes it difficult for food and especially medicine to reach those in need.
After the bombings of two wars and the resulting infrastructure destruction, life as the Iraqis once knew it no longer exists. Baghdad has gone from being one of the safest cities in the world to one of the most dangerous. This is due to several factors, including looting and other crimes that evolve from unemployment and desperation. Iraq no longer has adequate food and medical supplies. Women are afraid to send their children off to school and are scared to be alone on the streets for fear of kidnapping or gun violence. Kelly met a taxi driver who needed to work because he had little money left, but was too scared to leave his house, fearing he might be car-jacked or killed.
During the time between the Gulf War and “Operation Iraqi Freedom,” electricity was incremental, sanitation was almost nonexistent, and the threat of bombing was on everyone’s mind. It was hard to go on with daily life with no electricity, 120-degree temperatures, and land and air so dirty that black rain fell from the sky. In January 2001, Voices was back in Iraq and the women whom they interviewed said they knew another war was pending, but did not know when. Every day they walked out of their houses thinking this could be the day bombs might drop. They were living in constant fear. This time was tough on a lot of Iraqis.
After years of war and sanctions, the women of Iraq carry an extra burden. Many of them lost sons or husbands in the fighting, lost children in explosions, and still had to keep the surviving family together. They had to take care of the remaining children and earn money in a very tough time. Retaining a positive attitude when your county is in ruins and your basic social services have been weakened is near impossible. But, according to Kelly, the Iraqis she meets are unexpectedly gracious toward her in her travels.
In June of 1999, Kelly was in Iraq and a man said to her, “I’ll take you home and show you water you wouldn’t give to your animals to drink! This is what kills us, kills our children and now you want to bomb us, too!” Suddenly he stopped. Looking at Kelly closely, he said, “Madam, you’re tired, come, you take something to eat with me.”
While visiting a Baghdad hospital in 1999, Kelly asked a doctor about medical supplies and he showed her a prescription written on the back of a candy wrapper. When asked about birth defects among children, the doctor said that four babies with deformities were delivered the previous day. There is no concrete link to explain the increase in birth defects in Iraq, but some doctors suspect depleted uranium (DU).
In the Journal of Medical Science, Baghdad eye surgeon Mohammed A. Salam reported Iraqi babies born without one or both of their eyes. Normally, he said, this happens in one out of 50 million births, but he had nine cases in two years, and eight of the babies were missing both eyes. Salam said seven of the eight babies missing both eyes had fathers who were exposed to U.S. anti-tank weapons during the U.S. attack on Iraq in 1991.
Australian journalist John Pilger interviewed Iraqi doctors in Basra, and they also had their suspicions. Doctor Jawad Al-Ali said, “We had only three or four deaths in a month from cancer. Now it’s 30 to 35 patients dying every month.” Dr. Al-Ali suspects depleted uranium. So in addition to holding their families together while grieving lost loved ones, the women of Iraq are also afraid to have children.
I spoke with Frida Berrigan, senior research associate with the Arms Trade Resource Center, a project of the World Policy Institute, about depleted uranium. Berrigan said, “Depleted uranium is a very dense metal by-product of the process by which uranium is enriched to produce reactor fuel and nuclear weapon components.” The military uses DU because it is highly effective in slicing through armored vehicles and other metal objects. Depleted uranium is also pyrophoric—meaning highly combustible—a quality desirable to weapons manufacturers.
DU shells are fired from A-10 Warthog planes. When the bombs make contact, they emit fine dust particles, which can be inhaled by soldiers and citizens alike. DU (or U-238) has a half-life of 4.5 billion years. Although just touching DU will not make you sick, nobody is certain yet of the risks of long-term exposure. According to Berrigan, a 1998 Army training manual acknowledged the hazard of DU. The manual advised those who come within 25 meters of contaminated equipment to wear protective gear. The manual also warned soldiers of contaminated drinking water and unsafe food.
There is an international effort to ban the use of DU and to study its effects. On January 24, 2001, the European Union called for a ban on the use, testing, and manufacturing of weapons containing DU. Yet, even as the concern about depleted uranium has increased, the U.S. Army has made no effort to clean up DU in Iraq or in Bosnia and Kosovo.
In support of our sisters in Iraq and around the globe, please call your representatives and senators. Ask them to ban the military use of depleted uranium. |
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The Cost of War
George W. Bush requested $87 billion from the U.S. Congress to support the continued occupation of Iraq. How much is $87 billion?
$87 billion is more than the combined total of all state budget deficits in the U.S. (Center on Budget & Policy Priorities).
$87 billion is more than double the total amount the government spends on homeland security (Council on Foreign Relations).
$87 billion is 87 times the amount the federal government spends on after-school programs (the Republican-dominated House Appropriations Committee).
$87 billion is more than ten times what the government spends on all enviro nmental protection (Natural Resources Defense Council).
Word UP
“Until the United States acknowledges that its ally Israel is guilty of terrorism, and recognizes the right of Palestinians to resist the occupation, the United States can never hope to be considered an honest broker and help to bring about a just peace in the Middle East.”
—Florence Steichen, CSJ
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© 2003 Women Against Military Madness. All rights reserved.
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Complete November 2003 Index - click here
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