Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2001 07:24:49 -0400
From: WW <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: [WW]  U.S. deliberately poisoned Iraq's water,
 leading to massive deaths
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-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Sept. 27, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------

DECLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS CONFIRM:

U.S. DELIBERATELY POISONED IRAQ'S WATER, LEADING TO MASSIVE DEATHS

By Tony Moran

>From the mouths of Pentagon planners themselves--via an
article in this month's issue of The Progressive--comes
confirmation of what activists have said for years: that the
U.S. government's ongoing war against the Iraqi people
included the intentional destruction of the country's water
system.

The U.S. objective was to hit the population with widespread
outbreaks of debilitating illness and prolong those
illnesses through continuing sanctions.

To many, this is hardly news. The Iraqi government, former
U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark and groups like the
International Action Center have included this fact in their
indictment of the U.S.-backed sanctions against Iraq.

Conservative United Nations estimates put the death toll
resulting from these sanctions-and mostly affecting children-
at over 500,000. The number is widely assumed to be much
higher.

Now, however, recently declassified documents of the U.S.
Defense Intelligence Agency give the movement a rare,
chilling glimpse into the generals' detailed, cold-blooded
discussion about what chance they felt their strategy had of
successfully spreading disease.

The level of intent shown by the documents' authors, who
wrote them mostly over a three-month period beginning in
January 1991, puts to rest once and for all a falsehood
promoted by the Pentagon's public-relations arm, the
corporate U.S. media: that the blame for the Iraqi people's
suffering lies with Saddam Hussein.

'CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR DISEASE OUTBREAKS'

A U.S.-led coalition bombed Iraq for 42 days beginning on
Jan. 17, 1991. On Feb. 21, 1991, the DIA published a
classified document titled "Disease Outbreaks in Iraq." It
states, "Conditions are favorable for communicable disease
outbreaks, particularly in major urban areas affected by
coalition bombing."

This document lists the "most likely diseases during the
next 60-90 days (descending order): diarrheal diseases
(particularly children); acute respiratory illnesses (colds
and influenza); typhoid; hepatitis A (particularly
children); measles, diphtheria, and pertussis (particularly
children); meningitis, including meningococcal (particularly
children); cholera (possible, but less likely)."

Visitors to Iraq in the following months found all these
diseases, including cholera, and more--especially
kwashiorkor and marasmus, diseases stemming from
malnutrition.

Again and again over the last 10 years, the U.S. government
has pushed the UN to renew sanctions against Iraq, citing
this weapons capability or that violation. But the
following, released by the DIA on Jan. 22, 1991, and titled
"Iraq Water Treatment Vulnerabilities," makes Washington's
true aims clear:

"Iraq depends on importing specialized equipment and some
chemicals to purify its water supply, most of which is
heavily mineralized ... . With no domestic sources of both
water treatment replacement parts and some essential
chemicals, Iraq will continue attempts to circumvent United
Nations Sanctions to import these vital commodities. Failing
to secure supplies will result in a shortage of pure
drinking water for much of the population. This could lead
to increased incidences, if not epidemics, of disease."

This document goes into considerable detail. "Iraq
conceivably could truck water from the mountain reservoirs
to urban areas. But the capability to gain significant
quantities is extremely limited.

"The amount of pipe on hand and the lack of pumping stations
would limit laying pipelines to these reservoirs. Moreover,
without chlorine purification, the water still would contain
biological pollutants. Some affluent Iraqis could obtain
their own minimally adequate supply of good quality water
from Northern Iraqi sources. If boiled, the water could be
safely consumed. Poorer Iraqis and industries requiring
larger quantities of pure water would not be able to meet
their needs. ... Precipitation occurs in Iraq during the
winter and spring, but it falls primarily in the northern
mountains. Sporadic rains, sometimes heavy, fall over the
low plains. But Iraq could not rely on rain to provide
adequate pure water."

FOOD AND MEDICINE ALSO CONTAMINATED

U.S. planners knew this would hurt Iraq's food and medicine
production, too. "Food processing, electronic, and,
particularly, pharmaceutical plants require extremely pure
water that is free from biological contaminants."

"Iraq's overall water treatment capability will suffer a
slow decline, rather than a precipitous halt. Although Iraq
is already experiencing a loss of water treatment
capability, it probably will take at least six months (to
June 1991) before the system is fully degraded."

This internal Pentagon discussion took place as U.S.
warplanes were systematically taking out Iraq's water towers
and purification centers. This included eight multipurpose
dams, four of Iraq's seven major water-pumping stations, and
water-purification systems throughout the country.

Why did the United States do all this?

The media said that the United States launched a war against
Iraq because of Iraq's seemingly sudden August 1990 invasion
of Kuwait. President George Bush shook his fist and
proclaimed that naked aggression would not stand. He
encouraged people to fly American flags and wear yellow
ribbons in support of a massive troop buildup in the Persian
Gulf.

To achieve its stated goal of dislodging Iraq's army from
Kuwait--which was accomplished in three months--the U.S.
government starved, bombed and subjected to disease a whole
population. And it continues to do this.

In hindsight, it's obvious that Washington was lying about
opposing naked aggression.

At the time, those intimate with Middle East politics knew
that Iraq's invasion of Kuwait was not sudden at all. It was
the result of a long battle between Iraq and other oil-
producing states--which, unlike Iraq, were compliant to the
United States--about raising the price of oil. A little
investigation revealed that Kuwait and the United States
were cooperating at the highest levels to both drive down
oil prices and destabilize Iraq; this included a campaign
from Kuwaiti territory to steal Iraq's oil, with the use of
slant-drilling technology.

Neither all these facts, nor the long-range effects of U.S.
actions against Iraq, were known then. Nevertheless, in the
face of a massive propaganda campaign for the war, thousands
mobilized against it.

It was enough to know that an imperialist country was
launching a war against an oppressed country--and that there
was no way this could help the Iraqi people or workers here.

The subsequent rampant illnesses suffered by Gulf War
veterans, the destruction of Iraq's environment by depleted-
uranium weaponry, and the massive layoffs suffered in the
United States alone prove this true a thousand times over.

It may seem obvious that the motivation for U.S.
intervention in Iraq was to protect the profits of the oil
companies. But when the ruling class has complete control of
the media, the truth is buried. The movement needs to oppose
the current war frenzy long before the U.S. war machine
allows the truth to become declassified.

- END -

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