These deaths are a result of in-adequate medical supplies, impure water and nutritional deficiencies. With water purification and sew- age systems heavily damaged by American bombing raids in 1991, and with the Iraqis unable to repair these facilities since the embargo prohibits the importation of spare parts, there has been a dramatic increase in typhoid, cholera and other illnesses which had largely been eliminated in Iraq prior to the 1991 Gulf War. Ambulances and other emergency vehicles, and even their spare parts, are among the items banned. Hospitals are unable to acquire spare parts for incubators, kidney dialysis machines and other equipment. Even materials such as food and medicines not covered by the ban have become difficult to purchase due to the lack of capital.
Electricity is irregular and conditions at hospitals are becoming increas-ingly unsanitary.
With tap water no longer safe, a gallon of bottled water now costs as much as 500 times more than a gallon of gasoline. Iraq's primary source for foreign exchange, oil exports, is of course subject to the embargo, with the exception of a limited amount of petroleum which may be sold for food under strict U.N. monitoring. About one-third of that was allocated to Kuwait for reparations and to the U.N. for administrative costs. For those who can attend school, books and other educational resources are in extremely short supply. The U.S. has blamed the suffering on the Iraqi regime for its failure to more fully cooperate with the United Nations.