For 7 years, an average 150 Iraq children a day under 5 years old, or total 350,000, have died because of no food for growth and disease immunity, or medicines for infected or sick people. The number has now increased to 160 children per day. Total deaths for all ages is 400 per day, or 920,000.

One in 3 children under 5 year old are so malnourished they have ‘stunted’ growth only previously seen in pre-famine conditions in Africa that have occurred for less than one year duration, whereas the Iraq 7 year embargo is the longest total trade blockade in world history.

Due to decreased mother’s food intake, 1 in 4 babies at birth are under 2.5 kilograms (5.5 pounds), up from 1 in 20 in 1990, and will continue to have very low weight through childhood. This has previously only occurred in famine conditions.

Diseases like typhoid, hepatitis, and tuberculosis are at epidemic levels from lack of food nutrients that produce low disease immunity. This child died from liver failure and Jaundice, after receiving no medicine for Hepatitis.

Dysentery and Cholera affect ½ million people from polluted drinking water, as water purifying plants bombed in 1991 have not been rebuilt because of no spare parts.

A 3 month old who died moments after this photo was taken. Bronchial Pneumonia, Tuberculosis, and other chest infections kills more children under 5 than any other illness because of low immunity and no antibiotics.

Diabetes, cancers like Leukemia, blood disorders, and thousands of other illnesses, are untreatable because of no insulin, cancer drugs, or operating room medicines.

From 1989 to 1997 infectious diseases have increased dramatically. Typhoid Fever has increased from 1800 to 15,000 cases, Amoebic Dysentery 20,000 to 550,000, Cholera 0 to 850, Scabies 0 to 40,000, Viral Hepatitis 1800 to 30,000, and Giardiasis 70,000 to 600,000 cases.

A pregnant woman who died awaiting a cesarean section. Medicines are stopped for irrational reasons, for example ANGECET pills that angina sufferers put under their tongues to stop chest pain and prevent death, are not allowed because the U.N. says nitroglycerin could be used as an explosive. In fact it would take hundreds of thousands of pills to produce one very small explosive device, and explosive devices such as rifle shells are allowed by the U.N.

Many mothers work to feed other children, and cannot breast-feed babies. Non breast-feeding mothers are rationed only 7 small cans of baby formula a month, which stops when the child is one year old. Baby formula in a market costs 3,000 dinars for 5 days supply, but an average women’s salary is 6,000 dinars a month.

Only selected life-threatening surgery is attempted as operating rooms have almost no equipment or drugs. Everyone, including children, are operated on with only muscle relaxants and a small amount of sleep-inducing gas, but very little or no morphine, so patients experience terrible pain which shows on their faces as eye-movements and tears.
 

Operating equipment is all pre-1990, including light bulbs. Iraq has asked that food, medicine, and hospital equipment, be excluded from the blockade, as they could not be used to make weapons, but the U.N. has refused, and justifies this by alleging Iraq continues to hide chemical weapons.

In 6 years the U.N. has found no biological or chemical weapons, however they now say "unsubstantiated intelligence reports" indicate Iraq is hiding "4 tons of deadly VX nerve agent, 10,000 liters of botulism toxin, and 6,000 liters of anthrax spores". The Iraq government says no chemical weapons exist, however the U.N. says it has evidence there "may be some", and thereby continue justifying the trade blockade and the WAR ON  IRAQ’S CHILDREN.