Iraq Under Siege: The Deadly Impact of Sanctions and War

This text provides an overview of how sanctions are devastating Iraq. For nearly a decade now, the Iraqi people have borne the hardship of life under harsh sanctions. More than one million people, many of them children under five, have died due to the sustained bombing attacks and the deprivation caused by the sanctions. Because th sanctions have prevented Iraq from importing basic necessities needed for medical treatment, easily preventable diseases have taken a devastating toll on the Iraqi population. Meanwhile, Saddam Hussein and his ruling elite - the supposed target of the West's campaign - remain unaffected. In this collection, leading voices against the sanctions document the human, environmental and social toll of the United States-led war against Iraq. The contributors are John Pilger, Robert Fisk, Noam Chomsky, Denis Halliday, Howard Zinn, Edward Said, Phyllis Bennis, Barbara Nimri Aziz, Kathy Kelly, Voices in the Wilderness, Rania Masri Naseer Aruri, Dr Huda S. Ammash, Sharon Smith, Dr Peter Pellett, George Capaccio, and Ali Abunimah. Carefully documented, thoroughly researched and written in clear language, the book should be useful for anyone wanting to understand the roots of Western policy in Iraq and the Middle East. The volume also includes photographs and first person accounts from Iraq that show the human story of the sanctions, ending with concrete ideas on how people can help end them.