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American Muslim Delegation Returns From Iraq
WASHINGTON, April 8, (IslamOnline) - An American Muslim fact-finding team recently returned from a weeklong visit to Iraq called for the end of sanctions on the country, saying the sanctions have caused untold suffering to ordinary Iraqi people, the team said.
Addressing a news conference Friday, the nine-member delegation said that U.S.-led sanctions imposed against Iraq are the harshest ever in history and have little or no regard for the human casualties left in its wake.
The delegation, sponsored by LIFE for Relief and Development, visited several schools, orphanages and hospitals, and experienced firsthand the brutal effects of the sanctions regime that has affected all aspects of Iraqi society. They also met with religious scholars, primary school teachers, university professors, students and relief workers.
The delegation in a statement said, "According to U.N. figures, a decade of sanctions have resulted in the deaths of more than 1.5 million people, including 500,000 children under the age of five.
"It is clear that sanctions hit the weakest members of society the hardest. According to UNICEF reports, 5,000 children under the age of five are dying every month from hunger and disease. There is a 20% chronic malnutrition rate among children under five."
"Though the Oil-for-Food program was meant to alleviate the humanitarian costs of the sanctions regime, it has become increasingly clear that the program is too little, too late.
"Currently, the U.N. 661 Sanctions Committee, which decides what goods are allowed or not allowed into Iraq, is holding up over 1,600 contracts, including $2.9 billion of humanitarian supplies.
"Even if all profits from sales of oil allowed through Oil-for-Food were made immediately available to Iraq, it would not be enough to meet the needs of the population," the statement said.
In March 2000, U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator Hans Von Sponeck stated that the so-called Oil-for-Food program currently provides for only $252 per person per year - or in other words, a meager less than $0.70 per person per day.
Commenting on the massive poverty in Iraq, delegation members said that inflation has been soaring in the last ten years. They noted that University professors earn the equivalent of a paltry $25 per month and a primary school teacher's monthly salary is $2 - equivalent to the price of three eggs.
They also reported that Iraq is facing endemic shortages of medical supplies, which has led to a total breakdown of Iraq's health care system.
The delegation called on the world community to immediately lift all sanctions and as a first step, demanded the elimination of the 661 Sanctions Committee, and removal of other hurdles in the path of the economic rehabilitation of Iraq.
"The people of Iraq suffer for a situation they cannot control as leaders wrangle over inspections and disarmament. We need a world free of weapons of mass destruction. Sanctions themselves have become a weapon of mass destruction. They must be lifted immediately."
The delegation included representatives of the Muslim American Society, Muslim Students Association of the US and Canada, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Free Iraq Foundation, American Muslim Council, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, American Muslims for Global Peace and Justice (AMGPJ), and the Muslim Public Affairs Council.
Meanwhile, the effects of the 1991 Gulf War continue to take a severe toll on the Iraqi population, especially children. On March 31st, China's People's Daily newspaper reported that eight children were killed when a shell left over from the Gulf War exploded as they were playing soccer in a backyard.
Iraqi officials have often complained that many civilians were injured or killed by shells or mines left over from the Gulf War.
Iraqi authorities estimate the Gulf War and constant bombardments in the no-fly zones have left some 370,000 unexploded bombs, mines and artillery shells on Iraqi soil, especially in the southern and northern parts of the country.
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