In the fall of this year, a delegation of visitors from Najaf, Iraq arrived in Minnesota. Their visit was initiated by the “people-to-people” Iraq and American Reconciliation Project in Minneapolis and Muslim Peacemaker Teams in Iraq, and was sponsored by the City of Minneapolis Sister City project and the University of Minnesota, among others. The delegation represented expertise in various medical, scientific and academic professions, local governments, business, nonprofits, women’s groups and the arts. Among the places the delegates visited was the decade-long peace vigil that has been taking place every Wednesday evening on the Lake Street/Marshall Avenue Bridge, spanning the Mississippi River between Minneapolis and St. Paul. A diverse group, the Iraqis brought picket signs expressing a common concern among them. The signs, which they hoped passerbys would respond to, read, “Lift Chapter 7,” referring to enforcement of a UN agreement that has had a devastating effect on the people and economy of their country. The following article by Jay Kvale explains a recent development and historical background in regard to Chapter 7--editor’s note.
“Kuwait is not a country, not a people, not a city, not even a town. It is an oil oasis”
— Ibrahim Bakr, distinguished Palestinian scholar and lawyer
Welcome news for the long-suffering people of Iraq was announced on Sunday, November 15, when Kuwaiti Parliament Speaker Jassem al-Kharafi stated that Kuwait will see that Iraq is exempted from the United Nations Chapter 7 reparations agreement.
Since the invasion of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein nearly two decades ago, Iraq has been forced to pay tens of billions in reparations to Kuwait for damage caused by its seven-month occupation of the small country. Iraq’s foreign assets were frozen after the U.S.-led coalition drove Iraq out of Kuwait in early 1991, with Chapter 7 reparations being administered by the UN Compensation Commission.
Earlier this year Kuwait, the only country that still demanded reparations, requested $25.5 billion and $16 billion in outstanding debt from Iraq. They also had outstanding issues about missing prisoners, return of stolen property, and border disputes.
Kuwait’s decision to forgo these additional reparations may have been prompted by the final environmental damage awards they received from the UN Compensation Commission earlier in the week.
Iraqi Parliament Speaker Iyad Al-Samarraie welcomed Kuwait’s offer and promised countries of the region that Iraq was no longer a threat to peace and security and needs its oil revenues to rebuild the country and that the other issues could be resolved amicably.
The cruel irony of the situation is underscored by the devastating damage done to the people and infrastructure of Iraq by U.S. sanctions and military assaults, especially the invasion of 2003 and subsequent occupation.
While nearly all Kuwaitis live comfortable lives due to their own substantial oil revenues, according to tireless humanitarian Iraqi-American Sami Rasouli and many Iraqi as well as international reports, Iraq today has several million widows and orphans, millions with no access to clean water, 60 percent unemployment in some areas, an economy and medical system in shambles due to the exodus of middle-class professionals, dust bowl conditions and frequent sandstorms, sporadic electricity and violence, and an ominous rise in cancers from exposure to toxic munitions.
Iraq should be one of the richest countries in the world because of its vast oil reserves (second largest in the world); instead, more than half the people live below the poverty line, as criminal oil companies rake in multimillions in revenues without metering their exports while only a few crumbs get back to the people.
It is hoped that the lifting of Chapter 7 and agreements by international officials, responsible oil companies, and the Iraqi government to administer Iraq’s oil wealth for the benefit of the people will finally bring justice and hope to the war-weary people and devastated nation of Iraq.
Jay Kvale is justice and peace advocate, activist and writer, based in the Twin Cities. He is a member of the WAMM Iraq Committee and Twin Cities Peace Campaign-Focus Iraq.
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