Additionally, Mr. Von Sponeck alleges that the sanctions committee takes longer to approve some orders than others, thus forcing Iraq to keep medicine in storage until the complements are approved. Temperatures in Iraq during summer time often reach 130 degrees. Air-conditioned trucks are therefore essential for shipping perishable goods, including cancer medication, surgical gloves, and foodstuffs. But air-conditioned trucks are practically nonexistent in Iraq, since the sanctions committee has banned them. The monthly food basket lasts only about 21 days.
Many families have no other income, and so are living in a situation of complete deprivation.
No one is arguing, however, that Saddam Hussein is a good guy. Like other UN officials in Baghdad, Ms. Burghardt speaks critically of the Iraqi government. She has said that the government of Iraq deals with the food problem only on an emergency basis, and has been slow to move toward a complete solution, apparently wanting to show the world the full effects of the sanctions. However, in describing the urgent need for effective humanitarian programs in Iraq, she explained the other side of the problem. Iraq's middle class is disappearing and the stunted children will never recover.