Iraqi conflict is not over
Letter to the Editor
January 16 marked the 10th anniversary of the beginning of the war against Iraq, a solemn day indeed. It is made even more solemn by the fact that that war has never ended. The U.S. has never stopped its military campaign against Iraq, and continues to bomb Iraq to this day. Even Iran, Iraq's sworn enemy, opposes the U.S. bombing campaign. This campaign of violence and death is being carried out without United Nations authorization or a declaration of war against Iraq by the U.S. It is also in violation of the Catholic Just War theory and therefore immoral.
The U.S. military also enforces economic sanctions against Iraq. According to a 1998 UNICEF report, approximately 250 Iraqi people die every day, 4,500 Iraqi children die each month, a total of 1.5 million Iraqis, all due to the effects of these sanctions. The number of deaths reported in Iraqi public hospitals for children under five years of age has increased by some 40,000 deaths yearly compared with 1989. These infant deaths are due to diarrhea, pneumonia and malnutrition. In those Iraqis over five years of age, the increase is 50,000 deaths yearly compared with 1989.
The reason for this slaughter is not that Iraq under Saddam Hussein is a threat because it is "suspected" of having the "capacity or ability" to possess chemical or biological weapons, as the U.S. administration and military leaders would have us believe. Nine other nations, including India, Israel and Saudia Arabia, have such chemical and biological weapons and yet the U.S. is not bombing them. In fact the U.S. military has 31,000 tons of chemical weapons, more then the rest of the world combined! Likewise, the U.S. supports numerous dictatorships that torture their citizens or illegally occupy other countries, such as Colombia, Indonesia, China.
Oil is the reason that the slaughter in Iraq continues. Iraq's territory contains one-tenth of the Earth's known oil reserves and Big Oil companies in the U.S. want control of it. They want this precious oil so that they can sell to us, to put in our big cars and SUV's. Until we in the U.S. begin to realize the violence and death being carried in our name, all so that we can continue to live in a certain "American" lifestyle, Jan. 16 will continue to be a solemn day each year.
Benjamin Peters
Masters of Divinity Student
January 17, 2001
All Viewpoint Stories for Thursday, January 18, 2001
