[thechat] When is it time for war?

Morgan Kelsey morgan at morgankelsey.com
Wed Mar 26 16:08:58 CST 2003



> > do you know how many needless infant deaths have occurred in iraq due
> > to UN ECONOMIC SANCTIONS?
> > unicef reports that number to be 500,000 since 1996. thats just kids
> > under 5, and thats only since 1996.
>
> Liar, liar, pants on fire.
>
> I haven't bothered to notice whether you are anti-
> war, or pro-war;

oh, pardon me, is there a list someplace where you can check that about
people?


> I just noticed the offensive misuse
> of statistics.
>
> http://www.unicef.org/reseval/pdfs/irqu5est.pdf
>
> The half-million is based on the eight-year period,
> from 1991-1998, not the six-year period from 1996
> to 2003. There aren't any statistics for 2003,
> obviously, since most of 2003 hasn't happened yet.
>

sorry, my bad. so its 91-98, and 98-03 isn't included. thanks for setting me
straight.


> How do they calculate that half million?  They
> compare actual under-five mortality with a rate of 30
> per 1000. But has Iraq *ever* had an under-five
> mortality of 30 per 1000? No. Never. Their best rate
> ever was about 45.
>
> Nor do they say it's due to UN economic sanctions.
> It could be due to drought, or AIDS, or home-
> schooling, sitting too close to the TV, or washing
> down poprocks with Coke.
>
> The current rate is about 130. Not anything to be
> happy about, but it's still better than a lot of other
> countries, During 1980 and 1995, Laos had rates of
> 142-182, Madagascar had 163-194, and Malawi had
> 234-258.
>
> What's *their* excuse?  I wasn't aware that there
> were UN sanctions against any of *those* countries.
>

well, from unicef's press release regarding the 1998 report:
http://www.unicef.org/newsline/99pr29.htm

"Ms. Bellamy noted that if the substantial reduction in child mortality
throughout Iraq during the 1980s had continued through the 1990s, there
would have been half a million fewer deaths of children under-five in the
country as a whole during the eight year period 1991 to 1998. As a partial
explanation, she pointed to a March statement of the Security Council Panel
on Humanitarian Issues which states: 'Even if not all suffering in Iraq can
be imputed to external factors, especially sanctions, the Iraqi people would
not be undergoing such deprivations in the absence of the prolonged measures
imposed by the Security Council and the effects of war.'"
(Ms. Bellamy is the executive director of UNICEF fwiw.)

so the security council's *own* panel stated it believed the security
council's actions are contributing to the humantiarian crisis in Iraq.


nagrom
http://morgankelsey.com



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