Over five years later, little and much has changed. Hospitals beg for blood bags and basic sanitation supplies. Schools starve for paper and pencils, let alone computers.
Water pipes rust and rupture.
Drought exacerbates the crisis, reducing vegetable production in the central and southern provinces to 50 percent of 1998 levels. Even if economic sanctions were lifted tomorrow, their long-term effects will continue to punish Iraqi civilians for years to come. Moreover, the Ba'thist regime looks as strong as ever. Sanctions have not propelled dissident factions to unseat Saddam Hussein, or weakened the leadership's social base. To the contrary, as Faleh A. Jabar writes in this issue, the government exploits the social disintegration brought on by war and sanctions to shore up its power.