The Sheffield Delegation to Iraq 

Nine Sheffield people and half-a-dozen friends from elsewhere - has returned after a two-week visit to find out how the Iraq?s civilian population is coping with the consequences of ten years of sanctions and bombs.

Even though many Iraqi people hold Britain responsible for the sanctions which have wrecked their lives, and despite the affront they feel at continuing bombing by US and UK warplanes, we never met a single person who showed us any hostility. On the contrary, Iraqi people gave us the warmest and friendliest of welcomes.

Everywhere we saw signs of economic collapse, a principal aim and consequence of the sanctions. To illustrate their extent- Iraq used to be the world?s biggest exporter of dates, yet for ten years it has not been permitted to sell a single date!

The result of the economic collapse is a catastrophic decline in living standards, affecting all working people and a big part of the middle class. UN estimates indicate that 70% Iraq?s people are unemployed, and that the buying power of those lucky enough to receive a wage has fallen by a stunning 95%. Most of the people we met could not afford the food and medicine they need to stay alive and healthy. They survive thanks to meagre rations and Iraq?s culture of social and family solidarity.

A main cause of misery and mortality is the foul water most Iraqis have no choice but to drink. Water-borne diseases are the single biggest cause of child deaths. It was not always so. The 1991 bombing campaign badly damaged Iraq?s water supply and sewerage system. But the real killer has been sanctions. Until very recently Iraq has been banned from purchasing chlorine to decontaminate its water, imports of new pumps have been blocked, and sanctions starve Iraq of the resources needed to tackle this enormous environmental and human health crisis.

There is growing evidence that DU - the depleted uranium used in a million US and UK shells fired on Iraq in 1991 - is behind the terrifying increase in cancer, especially amongst children. This is particularly marked in the south of the country, where most of the DU is to be found. We met many people who are scared for themselves and their children, and who despair at the almost total inability of Iraq?s health service to treat cancer victims.

Many we met said they considered sanctions to be worse than being bombed - at least you knew the bombing would stop and you could then rebuild. But the sanctions just go on and on, affecting everything, everywhere, day and night, week after week, year after year. And they inflict misery upon everyone except the people whom the US and UK governments claim to be targeting.

There continues to be great suffering in Iraq. Yet the resilience and humanity of the Iraqi people was truly uplifting. Iraq has been devastated, but it has not been crushed. The Iraqi people have not lost their self-respect and their dignity and their warmth, most have not forgotten how to smile.

Everywhere we went we asked people what message they would like us to take back to the people of Sheffield. ?End the sanctions!? was the unanimous response, from the schoolchildren, from the street traders, the widow in the slums, the archbishop, the telephone engineer, the taxi-driver, the hotel porter.

We have brought back this message, along with many images of Iraqi children and people, and also many insights into multifaceted Iraqi society and into the complex politics of the region. Please contact us to arrange a speaker or slide show or for a copy of report (under preparation).
 

Sheffield Delegation to Iraq
c/o 6 Bedford Road
Oughtibridge
Sheffield
S35 0FB
0802193227 / 0114-2862336 / 0114-2663597