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Iraq Accuses U.S. of Murdering Children
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Iraqi
children are the victims of U.S. imposed sanctions
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By
Aws Al-Sharqy, IOL Iraq correspondent
BAGHDAD,
July 11 (IslamOnline) - An official Iraqi statement confirmed that the
second Gulf War in 1991 against Iraq and the siege imposed on the
Iraqi people throughout the past 10 years have caused the death of
more than 1 million Iraqi children and infected more than another
million with dangerous diseases.
The
siege has also caused the spread of illiteracy among Iraqi children.
In
a report issued by the Education Ministry in July 2002 officials in
the Health Ministry reported that the death rates of babies and
mothers have risen from 5.2% in 1990 to 13.1% in the period between
1994 and 1999.
The
report confirmed that cancer cases as well as diseases targeting the
nervous system especially among children resulted from the depleted
uranium missiles and internationally banned arms by the U.S. in its
war on Iraq.
It
also confirmed that the American siege imposed on Iraq increased the
mortality rates of children under 5 years old as a result of
malnutrition.
The
report showed that the Iraqi environment was also influenced since the
beginning of the second Gulf War.
The
attacks on civil facilities such as power and water purification
stations resulted in the leak of the huge amounts of poisonous
materials to the air, water and soil, completely damaging the
environment.
The
report mentioned that the phrase “oil for food and medicine” which
purportedly aimed at saving the Iraqi people proved to be failure as
it turned to be a source of financing U.N. investigation committees.
It
showed that the siege imposed on Iraq resulted in the deterioration of
the Iraqi economic situation which resulted in an increase of child
labor.
This
caused many children to leave school as families were not able to
afford school expenses.
The
report showed that 22.6% children did go to school in the period
between 1990 and 1998. This phenomenon was more prominent in rural
areas, with 61% attending primary school in comparison to urban areas,
in which 83.8% attended primary school in the year 2000.
The
statement issued by the Iraqi Education Ministry confirmed that the
siege had destroyed exerted efforts in the education sector by Iraq
which in its 1970 constitution said that the state has to guarantee
the right of the free education in all its stages.
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