From: anwar+@cs.cmu.edu (Anwar Mohammed)
Subject: Re: It gets bigger (was Re: The Big Lie)
Keywords: significant words from a document used as an index to content
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 02:28:30 GMT

In article <1992Oct1.125923.26441@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> mzhao@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Min Zhao) writes:
>In article <1992Oct1.091622.21527JPII@tygra.Michigan.COM> jp@tygra.Michigan.COM (John Palmer) writes:
>>In article <BvD7un.Hxw.2@cs.cmu.edu> anwar+@cs.cmu.edu (Anwar Mohammed) writes:
>>"Palmer doesn't seem to want to get caught in a lie.  He claims
>>"that he has an Amnesty International report sitting in front of 
>>"him which says "the U.S. killed 250,000 innocent people".
>>"We're still waiting.
>>"
>>
>>Ok, here we go. Page 21:
>>
>>    Estimate of Deaths in Iraq Caused Directly or Indirectly By
>>            Coalition Action During The Persian Gulf War
>>                          (table 2.1)
>>
>>    Iraqi Soldiers                    89,500
>>    Civilians                         72,000
>>    Indirect Deaths (through 1/15/92  95,000 - 120,000
>>    caused by destruction of infrastructure such as sewerage treatment, 
>>    and water purification plants.)
>> 
>>    TOTAL                             256,500 to 281,500 DEATHS
>> 
>>Satisfied???
>
> 
>  Well, now are still waiting for Anwar Al-Saba to provide the references of 
>his numbers which his excellency conviniently excused himself as being too lazy
>to include. 
>

It looks like I have to respond to both John Palmer and his pet Min; it 
seems that Palmer's posts mysteriously disappear after a day.  Where have
they gone, John?

I'll start off by thanking John for admitting his lie by posting these numbers.
You said "the U.S. killed 250,000 innocent civilians".   I won't even 
dispute the numbers in this table for the time being.  I hardly 
call 89,500 Iraqi soldiers "innocent civilians".  I doubt your presidential
candidate would do so either.  "Indirect deaths" is an interesting 
term.  Amnesty has extensively documented Iraqi atrocities against its
Shi'a and Kurdish populations (see the 1992 report and a report released
last July).  Might these atrocities include the (documented) willful 
neglect and obstruction of the health care needs of its civilians? 

The following article illustrates the sick pattern of behavior of the
Iraqi government.  Iraq is trying to sell oil;  it claims that these
oil sales are for the purposes of buying medicine and food for its civilians
Months ago, the UN presented Iraq with a similiar plan to sell oil and
place the funds in an escrow account to feed and treat its people.
Iraq flat-out refused.   Since then Iraq has refused to renew the visas
of UN aid workers and observers, who were subjected to attemped assassinations
and death threats while in Iraq.  So why does Iraq really want to sell
the oil?  It seems that the confiscation of its overseas assets may play 
a role:

	UNITED NATIONS (UPI) -- Iraq asked the United Nations Wednesday to
allow it to exports $4 billion worth in oil and said it will give 5
percent of the oil revenues to Red Cross organizations and humanitarian
relief efforts in Bosnia-Hercegovina and Somalia.
	Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammed Al-Shahaf said the ``net returns'' of
the oil exports will deposited into an escrow account to be set up by
the United Nations to buy foodstuffs, medicines and essential needs for
Iraqi civilians.
	The proposal was considered by U.N. diplomats as an effort by the
Baghdad government to thwart a move led by the United States, Britain
and France to seize Iraqi assets abroad that were frozen to pay for the
war damage in Kuwait and humanitarian needs of people in Iraq.
	Those three Western countries have circulated a draft resolution to
the 15 members of the Security Council, but the legal complexity of
seizing Iraqi assets -- particularly the proceeds deriving from oil sales
-- has prevented the immediate passage of the resolution.
	Al-Shahaf said the export of crude oil and oil products in the amount
of $4 billion, would be for six months or until the council lifts
economic sanctions imposed on Iraq in the past two years.
	He said 5 percent of the oil proceeds would be given to the
International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
toward relief efforts in Somalia, Bosnia-Hercegovina and ``other areas.''
	Iraq would have been able to resume oil exports worth $1.6 billion
for humanitarian purposes last year under a Security Council proposal if
Baghdad had agreed to eliminate it weapons of mass destruction. If Iraq
had accepted the terms, the oil sales' proceeds would have been
deposited into a U.N. account, a condition rejected by Iraq as an
infringement on its sovereinty.
	In his address to the U.N. General Assembly, Al-Shahaf blasted the
United States and a ``group of states'' for imposing their will on the
Security Council during the past two years.
	``The resolutions and measures taken by the Security Council have
become conspicuous for their double-standard and selective criteria in
the implementation of the text of the U.N. Charter,'' he said.
	The council has decreed a series of resolutions to punish Iraq for
invading Kuwait on Aug. 6, 1990, including a comprehensive economic and
military embargo which halted Iraq's oil exports and trade. But it
allowed Iraq to import food and medicine.
	Because of Iraq's refusal to resume its oil exports under U.N.
supervision, the council has been considering seizing its assets
overseas to pay for the costs incurred by humanitarian organizations.
	Al-Shahaf said the draft resolution on seizing the assets has ``no
justification or legitimacy.''
	``Iraq has cooperated, in good faith and in earnest...to reach an
agreement on the export of quantities of Iraqi oil and the use of its
revenues thereof to provide for basic civilian needs and to cover U.N.
costs,'' he said.
	He blamed the standoff on ``certain countries'' in the Security
Council for halting the oil export agreement with ``humiliating
political preconditions.''




-- 
Anwar Mohammed                FREE       Graduate Student
anwar+@cs.cmu.edu              THE       School of Computer Science
Voice: +1 412 268 3043     KUWAITI       Carnegie-Mellon University
Fax:   +1 412 681 5739        POWS       Pittsburgh, PA  15213-3890
Xref: sparky alt.politics.bush:6985 alt.politics.marrou:1335 talk.politics.misc:48320 alt.politics.elections:14492 talk.politics.theory:4365 alt.politics.clinton:7567