From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
Subject: Iraqi children pay for war
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: PACH
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 00:59:06 GMT

/** mideast.action: 33.0 **/
** Topic: Iraqi children pay for war **
** Written  8:24 pm  Nov 16, 1992 by pnmideast in cdp:mideast.action **
From: <pnmideast>
Subject: Iraqi children pay for war

/* Written 12:50 pm  Nov 15, 1992 by synapses@igc.apc.org in igc:synapses.news */
/* ---------- "Iraqi children pay for war" ---------- */

                   CHRISTIAN PEACEMAKER TEAMS   
_________________________________________________________________

November 10, 1992
PRESS RELEASE
            DEATH TO 46,900 CHILDREN DUE TO GULF WAR
Chicago -  An estimated 46,900 Iraqi children under the age of
five died in the eight months following the beginning of the
Persian Gulf War from causes directly related to the war
according to a September 1992 article in the  NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL
OF MEDICINE.   The study is based on statistical projections
resulting from interviews of families of 16,076 children born
between Jan. 1, 1985 and Aug. 31, 1991  from all parts of Iraq.  

The article  demonstrates that the burden of death in the Persian
Gulf war was unfairly borne by a helpless segment of the Iraqi
civilian population.  During the Gulf war, Pentagon spokespersons
asserted that high-precision weapons with strategic targets
produced only limited damage to the civilian population.  The
findings of this study "contradict this claim and confirm that
the causalities of war extend far beyond those caused directly by
warfare", write the eight international public health officials
who authored the article. A partial embargo by the allied nations
who defeated Iraq in the war continues until the present.  

"The results show that there is a three fold increase in deaths
of children between the ages of one year and five years during
the eight months after the war began." says Wallace
Shellenberger, M. D. of Paoli, Indiana, a Mennonite and former
international medical worker.  "There was a 4 fold increase in
deaths due to injuries and a 5.6 fold increase in deaths due to
diarrhea.  The deaths of these children is directly related to
the loss of electricity which led to a deterioration in the
quality of water and the loss of capability to manage sewage."
The last eight months of the study period occurred after the
beginning of the Persian Gulf war.  Interviewers were trained
university students.

In November 1990 a Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) delegation to
Iraq carried with it $20,000 worth of medical supplies designed
particularly for children.  CPT is a program of the General
Conference Mennonite Church, Mennonite Church and Church of the
Brethren.  At the time of the Team's visit there was an urgent
concern over insufficient supplies of infant formula.  Although
the article in the NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE, covers the
period of the war and the six months following, the effects of
bad sewage, poor diet and lack of medical supplies all related to
the embargo, demonstrate that war related casualties among
children continue until the present.  Southern Iraq, where much
of the suffering occurs,  was the native land of Abraham, the
founder of monotheism. Concerned persons  should contact their
Members of Congress or Parliament and urge an immediate end to
the embargo of food, medicines and other emergency supplies for Iraq.  

Christian peacemaker Teams 1821 W. Cullerton Chicago, Il 60608        tel.(312)421-5513
                              -30-

** End of text from cdp:mideast.action **

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