Allies Deliberately Poisoned Iraq Public Water Supply In Gulf War

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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One must never forget the suffering unleashed upon Iraqi civilians during and after the last Gulf war.. analysts state the destruction to the countries infrastructure including its water treatment works led to the deaths of thousands of civilians.

Allies Deliberately Poisoned Iraq Public Water Supply In Gulf War](http://www.commondreams.org/headlines/091700-01.htm) Published on Sep 17, 2000 in Sunday Herald (Scotland)

The US-led allied forces deliberately destroyed Iraq’s water supply during the Gulf War - flagrantly breaking the Geneva Convention and causing thousands of civilian deaths. Since the war ended in 1991 the allied nations have made sure than any attempts to make contaminated water safe have been thwarted.

**A respected American professor now intends to convene expert hearings in a bid to pursue criminal indictments under international law against those responsible. **Professor Thomas J Nagy, Professor of Expert Systems at George Washington University with a doctoral fellowship in public health, told the Sunday Herald: “Those who saw nothing wrong in producing [this plan], those who ordered its production and those who knew about it and have remained silent for 10 years would seem to be in violation of Federal Statute and perhaps have even conspired to commit genocide.”

Professor Nagy obtained a minutely detailed seven-page document prepared by the US Defence Intelligence Agency, issued the day after the war started, entitled Iraq Water Treatment Vulnerabilities and circulated to all major allied Commands. It states that Iraq had gone to considerable trouble to provide a supply of pure water to its population. It had to depend on importing specialised equipment and purification chemicals, since water is “heavily mineralised and frequently brackish”.

The report stated: “Failing to secure supplies will result in a shortage of pure drinking water for much of the population. This could lead to increased incidents, if not epidemics, of disease and certain pure-water dependent industries becoming incapacitated” The report concludes: “Full degradation of the water treatment system probably will take at least another six months.”

During allied bombing campaigns on Iraq the country’s eight multi-purpose dams had been repeatedly hit, simultaneously wrecking flood control, municipal and industrial water storage, irrigation and hydroelectric power. Four of seven major pumping stations were destroyed, as were 31 municipal water and sewerage facilities - 20 in Baghdad, resulting in sewage pouring into the Tigris. Water purification plants were incapacitated throughout Iraq.

Holds on contracts for water and sanitation are a prime reason for the increase in sickness and death." Of 18 contracts, wrote Hall, all but one on hold were placed by the government in the US. Contracts were for purification chemicals, chlorinators, chemical dosing pumps, water tankers and other water industry related items.

“If water remains undrinkable, diseases will continue and mortality rates will rise,” said the Iraqi trade minister Muhammed Mahdi Salah. The country’s health ministry said that more than 10,000 people died in July of embargo-related causes - 7457 were children, with diarrhoeal diseases one of the prime conditions.

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Sanctions are ruining Iraq’s water supplies

After the Gulf war, the US forced the UN to implement a draconian sanctions regime on Iraq which prevented the import of essential parts and services needed to repair the Iraqi infrastructure including the water treatment plants. It was left to Aid Organisations such as the ICRC to fund and implement repairs, but this has only provided temporary solutions, millions of Iraqis living outside the cities still have no access to clean drinking water. The danger now facing the Iraqis is that this essential work actioned by the ICRC could all be in vain; Another devastating attack against Iraq could be ordered by the Bush adminstration and the electricity and water supplies could again be targetted. :nook:

Sanctions are ruining Iraq’s water supplies](Clarifying the Complex | Homepage | Thomson Reuters) Reuters 06 Dec 02

‘Roland Huguenin-Benjamin has spent nearly 20 years representing the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in the Arab world and since October 2002 he has been ICRC information delegate in Baghdad. He describes how the ICRC has helped Iraq cope with deteriorating water services as a result of U.N. sanctions in force for the past 12 years’

BAGHDAD - In January 1991, life in the modern city of Baghdad became a struggle for survival for four million inhabitants suddenly deprived of electricity and fuel by the onset of the Gulf war. Access to water soon became crucial, as pumping stations and water treatment plants could hardly operate.

The ICRC (Red Cross) reacted quickly and organised the importation of water-bagging machines capable of producing drinking water at the rate of one bag per second. Compared with the daily needs of a whole city, this was a drop in the ocean. **Moreover, the consequences of international trade sanctions, imposed on Iraq in August 1990 and still in force, gave rise to a growing lack of cash, expertise and spare parts, provoking a slow but steady deterioration of one of the most modern infrastructures in the Middle East. **

Over the past 12 years, the ICRC’s water and sanitation programme in Iraq has become one of the organisation’s major involvements in that field worldwide. The backbone of the ICRC’s emergency response strategy in Iraq is to break the continuous spiral generated by the deteriorating water services.

Dozens of ICRC engineers have joined forces with their Iraqi counterparts to monitor the situation and help identify and design appropriate techniques for solving recurrent problems. Prior to implementation of the oil-for-food programme (in December 1996), the ICRC had to import all spare parts and equipment needed to ensure basic maintenance of water stations. Since 1996, the ICRC has been able to focus its efforts on supplying expertise to assess needs and designing plans for rehabilitation works. During the severe drought seasons, notably in 1999, the ICRC had to carry out emergency interventions to keep plants operating.

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DHP,

Naaaaaaa,,, ameerikans never do such things......

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How the U.S. Intentionally Destroyed Iraq’s Water Supply](How the U.S. Intentionally Destroyed Iraq's Water Supply) from “The Progressive,” September 2001 issue

by Thomas J. Nagy

Over the last two years, I’ve discovered documents of the Defense Intelligence Agency proving beyond a doubt that, **contrary to the Geneva Convention, the U.S. government intentionally used sanctions against Iraq to degrade the country’s water supply after the Gulf War. The United States knew the cost that civilian Iraqis, mostly children, would pay, and it went ahead anyway.

The primary document, “Iraq Water Treatment Vulnerabilities,” is dated January 22, 1991. It spells out how sanctions will prevent Iraq from supplying clean water to its citizens.**

“Iraq depends on importing specialized equipment and some chemicals to purify its water supply, most of which is heavily mineralized and frequently brackish to saline,” the document states. “With no domestic sources of both water treatment replacement parts and some essential chemicals, Iraq will continue attempts to circumvent United Nations Sanctions to import these vital commodities. Failing to secure supplies will result in a shortage of pure drinking water for much of the population. This could lead to increased incidences, if not epidemics, of disease.”**

The document goes into great technical detail about the sources and quality of Iraq’s water supply. The quality of untreated water “generally is poor,” and drinking such water “could result in diarrhea,” the document says. It notes that Iraq’s rivers “contain biological materials, pollutants, and are laden with bacteria. Unless the water is purified with chlorine, epidemics of such diseases as cholera, hepatitis, and typhoid could occur.”

**The document notes that the importation of chlorine “has been embargoed” by sanctions. “Recent reports indicate the chlorine supply is critically low.” Food and medicine will also be affected, the document states. **“Food processing, electronic, and, particularly, pharmaceutical plants require extremely pure water that is free from biological contaminants,” it says. …