The UN task force that visited Baghdad in 1991 suggests that most of the damage to civilian support structures was the result of bombing intended to destroy Iraq s urban and industrial base - random and indiscriminate saturation bombing to bring the populace to its knees. The burden of all this damage has not been borne evenly. Within weeks of the outbreak of war most of the trees in Iraq s cities had been felled for fuelwood. Under conditions of food scarcity adult women and girl children typically eat last and least. The patterns of malnutrition in Iraq will doubtless reflect this cultural pecking order.
Indigenous people are hard-hit too.
The lands of Bedouins have been devastated, the desert systems on which they rely mined, bombed, poisoned and debased. British newspapers reported that their tents had been mistaken for missile launcher sites. Large numbers of camels were killed, victims of bored soldiers taking target practice or of confused electronic guidance systems. Military activity, pollution and oil spills have dislocated the Marsh Arabs, a little-known population that lives in the wetlands and marshes of the Gulf. An optimist might wish to believe that green consciousness has permeated the Western world - even its military rhetoric.