Iraq

Description

The people of Iraq have suffered for more than a decade from the most severe sanctions ever imposed on any nation in history. United Nations' sanctions against Iraq began in August 1990, as an attempt to force Iraq out of Kuwait. This book reveals why the sanctions regime has failed in its most basic aims, and ask serious questions about the real motivations of the powers involved.



It explains how, if sanctions had been carefully applied, they could have worked. The massive bombing campaign of 1991destroyed Iraq's social infrastructure. Sanctions should have been modified to meet the post-Gulf War environment. Also, the US and the UK refused to agree that sanctions would be lifted if Iraq complied - left with little incentive to disarm, it is not surprising that Saddam Hussein did not co-operate.



Why did the sanctions continue if they did not fulfil their avowed purpose? The contributors argue that the real motives of the US and the UK were much more complex: instead of revolving around violations of human rights, terrorism and nuclear weapons proliferation, sanctions may have had more to do with political powerbroking and the danger that Iraq and Iran presented to US hegemony in the oil-rich Middle East. Assessing these and other related questions, the contributors put forward the idea that the current sanctions against Iraq are illegal under international law.
Introduction: The Iraqi Question In World Politics by Tareq Ismael

1. Iraq, The United States, And International Law: Beyond The Sanctions by Richard Falk

2. Power, Propaganda And Indifference: An Explanation Of The Maintenance Of Economic Sanctions On Iraq Despite Their Human Cost by Eric Herring

3. British Policy Towards Economic Sanctions On Iraq, 1990-2002 by Milan Rai

4. Oil, Sanctions, Debt And The Future by Abbas Alnasrawi

5. Safeguarding 'Our' American Children By Saving 'Their' Iraqi Children: Gandhian Transformation Of The CIA’s Genocide Planning, Assessment, And Cover-Up Documents by Thomas J. Nagy

6. The U.S. Obsession With Iraq And The Triumph Of Militarism by Stephen Zunes

7. Not Quite An Arab Prussia: Revisiting Some Myths On Iraqi Exceptionalism by Isam Al Khafaji

Index

Sujets

• HISTORY
• Histoire
• Iraq
• Iraq War
• Modern warfare
• Military
• International relations
• Irak

Informations

• Publié par: Pluto Press
• Date de parution: 20 novembre 2003
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781849644815
• Langue: English

Extrait

Iraq

Iraq The Human Cost of History

Edited by Tareq Y. Ismael and William W. Haddad

P Pluto Press LONDON • STERLING, VIRGINIA

First published 2004 by Pluto Press 345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA and 22883 Quicksilver Drive, Sterling, VA 20166–2012, USA

www.plutobooks.com

Copyright © Tareq Y. Ismael and William W. Haddad 2004

The right of the individual contributors to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 0 7453 2148 8 hardback

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Iraq : the human cost of history / edited by Tareq Y. Ismael and William W. Haddad. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0–7453–2148–8 1. Iraq War, 2003––Causes. 2. United States––Politics and government––1989– I. Title: Human cost of history. II. Ismael, Tareq Y. III. Haddad, William W. DS79.76 .I727 2003 956.7044'3––dc21 2003013383

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Designed and produced for Pluto Press by Chase Publishing Services, Fortescue, Sidmouth, EX10 9QG, England Typeset from disk by Stanford DTP Services, Northampton, England Printed and bound in the European Union by Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham and Eastbourne, England

Contents

List of Tables

Introduction: The Iraqi question in world politics Tareq Y. Ismael and William W. Haddad

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Iraq, the United States, and international law: beyond the sanctions Richard Falk

Power, propaganda and indifference: an explanation of the maintenance of economic sanctions on Iraq despite their human cost Eric Herring

British policy towards economic sanctions on Iraq, 1990–2002 Milan Rai

Oil, sanctions, debt and the future Abbas Alnasrawi

Safeguarding “our” American children by saving “their” Iraqi children: Gandhian transformation of the DIA’s genocide planning, assessment, and cover-up documents Thomas J. Nagy

The US obsession with Iraq and the triumph of militarism Stephen Zunes

Not quite an Arab Prussia: revisiting some myths on Iraqi exceptionalism Isam al Khafaji

Select Bibliography Notes on contributors Index

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258 262 264

List of Tables

3.1 5.1 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 7.8 7.9 7.10 7.11

Under-5 and infant mortality rates in Iraq, 1960–98 Resources to help take action Iraq’s economic record in a regional context Iraq’s human development record in a regional context Iraq’s nutrition indicators in a regional context Iraq’s health indicators in a regional context Iraq’s educational record in a regional context Iraq and Iran in a world context Iraq in a world context A decade of sanctions – Iraq and the region: population A decade of sanctions: health and living standards A decade of sanctions: educational record The shrinking dinar

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Introduction: The Iraqi Question in World Politics

Tareq Ismael and William W. Haddad

Investigating the Iraqi question in world politics has traditionally consisted of an examination of Iraq’s relationship with international forces and actors as part of an assessment of their impact on the socio-economic evolution of the country. Scholars and other observers of Iraq have recognized how this process eroded traditional society and rapidly and irrevocably remade Iraq into a valuable and robust member of the international system as well as maintaining its position as a regional stalwart. Traditional studies have focused on the con- sequences of Iraq’s increasing incorporation into the global capitalist economy during the course of the nineteenth and twentieth 1 centuries. Iraq’s emergence and its capacity to maintain an independent course of action within the system of nation states, modeled on Europe, during the strife-ridden twentieth century were governed by its experiences under the sway of, first, the Ottoman empire and then the British empire in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The advance of British colonial power into the Gulf region, and subsequently British dominance and rule of Iraq itself, led to economic and colonial servitude. This included capitulations to European power that largely dismantled the localized economy that had existed in 2 Iraq. The introduction of steam-powered locomotion, first at sea and then by rail, rapidly made traditional forms of transport obsolete. Urbanization and the early imitation of foreign technologies and ideas, including market-orientated land reforms, previously alien to the Iraqi historical experience, saw the abandonment of self-sufficient pastoralism and the loss of cohesion within the mortar of traditional society. With the British and French division of the Middle East following World War I interrupting historical Iraqi trade relations 3 with Syria, and the establishment of a monarchy which depended on outside support for political control, especially in the form of the innovative establishment of a standing Iraqi army, Iraqi society 4 underwent a profound metamorphosis. The political, social and economic change experienced within the country would lead to the

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development of alternative and distinct political actors that would go on to shape the Iraqi political landscape to the present day. Political affiliations and orientations increasingly came to be based on one’s position within the new order, whether that of a winner or a loser, an order that was highly penetrated by outside economic and political influence. The sensation is one of a society in flux, with widespread social mobility and the potential both for great leaps forward and the loss of social and economic status individually and collectively. The political debate arising from this period of immense change would inform the political discourse of the ensuing national experience from the 1918 Najef Revolt, the 1920 uprising, the military coups of 1936 and 1941, theWathbahuprising of 1948, the July 1958 Revolution, the Ba’athist coups of 17 and 30 July 1968, and finally the 1991intifadaof both north and south following the Gulf War of that year. Around no issue were the effects of international influence felt 5 more than the exploitation of Iraqi petroleum resources. Their increasing importance, from the independence of the state in 1920, through the foreign domination of the industry, saw Iraq manipulated and exploited until the 1961 passage of “Law 80”. This act limited the concession rights of the Iraqi Petroleum Company (IPC), thereby confining the petroleum reserves in the rest of the country to the Iraqi state. The efforts by the IPC and foreign oil interests to curtail “Law 80” failed thanks to the overwhelming support it received from the Iraqi people. Negotiations with foreign oil interests continued as the Iraqi state whittled away at their influence. The country would play a pivotal role in the founding of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in 1960, introducing a new element in the radicalization of the relations between the oil-producing states and the global oil industry and thus challenging foreign domination of the natural resources of the region. The 1969 agreement to develop the north Rumeila field with a Soviet corporation led to outrage and reaction from Western oil interests sufficient to warrant the nation- alization of the IPC on 1 June 1972 which, together with the OPEC crisis of 1973, finally allowed Iraq to have the freedom to exploit its own resources. The ability now to control Iraq’s petroleum resources, as well as its mineral wealth, “the vast tracks of land to be reclaimed, the big rivers to be harnessed, and above all [Iraq’s] human resources” 6 were to be harnessed in a national effort of development. However, Iraq’s development effort, both in its stunning successes and disappointing failures, could not be separated from the outside

Introduction

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7 environment. The aggressive planning by the state, resulting in the meteoric development of Iraqi infrastructure and social programs, adopted the classic contours of what was identified as arentier economy, an economic relationship “in which income from rent dominates the distribution of national income, and thus where 8 rentiers wield considerable political influence.” Nonetheless, the emboldened political orientation of the period allowed for a positive outlook, and the Iraqi position within global politics was that of a confident state increasing in influence. The concentration of power at the center of the state apparatus, accentuated by the increased bureaucratic requirements of the national petroleum industry and the management of state expenditures as well as by the political vicis- situdes of the clash between competing Arab leaderships in dealing with Israel contributed to increasingly dictatorial rule and the eventual rise of Saddam Hussein. The dramatic rise in the oppression of political opposition, spurred on by the Cold War, and the increased prerogative and privileges of the executive through petroleum wealth altered the perception of the Iraqi question from one of Iraq’s increasing inter- relation with the global economy and global society to one of the role of dictatorship. With the ruinous devastation of the Gulf War with Iran (1980–88) this concentration of power and the attendant abuses and oppression within Iraqi society intensified. Consequently, the development of Iraq, both in terms of planning and implementation, was severely damaged. The focus of the Iraq question in world politics became fixed on the actions of a lone individual – Saddam Hussein. International involvement and contributions to the war were largely ignored within contemporary analysis, or dismissed by practitioners as the result of dealing with the “greater evil” of Islamic revivalism embodied in the Iranian revolution and the Islamic republic erected in its wake. Increasingly world attention was drawn to the proliferation of advanced weaponry in Iraq and the region. The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait cemented both notions, and the Iraqi question was reformu- lated yet again to be one of the containment of Arab radicalism and the equating of Iraq, its 20 million people and vast resources, with one individual. In an odd twist of propagandistic logic this reductive exercise succeeded beyond the totalitarian efforts of a dictatorial regime in equating an entire society with a lone individual. Iraq was not the enemy of the international coalition assembled to liberate Kuwait, it was Saddam Hussein. The people of Iraq were not the target