Birth defects: U.S.’ legacy in Iraq

By Saul Landau

It’s almost amusing (like watching vampire films) when U.S. officials brag about how wonderful our country is, and how the rest of the world should take lessons from us on democracy (don’t count the vote in Florida – Gore v. Bush), the rule of law (and human rights at Guantanamo Base). If law had meaning in the USA, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney would stand trial after a law enforcement officer had cuffed them and read charges against them for having committed war crimes and other major felonies (like murder and torture) against Iraqis and citizens of other countries.

Photos appear in the media of the corpses of eleven Afghan children killed in a U.S. bombing raid. “Is this terrorism?” a reporter asked Jay Carney, the State Department spokesperson, who could not give a straight answer. As we approach the tenth anniversary of George Bush’s decision to invade Iraq and destroy Saddam Hussein’s non-existent Weapons of Mass Destruction, we could also learn about other consequences of this illegal war by turning to a new report issued by a Japanese human rights NGO. 

Bush and his fellow war planners, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld (Secretary of Defense), not only justified the invasion, but talked about the wonderful things we did for Iraq, like helping them find democracy. But none of these war starters mentioned killing Iraqi kids or causing them to suffer serious child health problems – thanks to the enduring impact of U.S. weapons (depleted uranium) on the environment there.

Bush’s deadliest Iraqi legacy was not the death of thousands of American soldiers and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, nor the election of Prime Minister Alwaki, who has close ties to Iran. Bush’s legacy lies in the ubiquitous presence in Iraq of war substance that now cause Iraqi children who have suffered what Human Rights Now calls “a deeply troubling rise in the numbers of birth defects.” The investigators in Fallujah developed “suspicions that environmental contamination from the war may be having a significant negative effect on the health of local people, and in particular infants and children.”

The report concludes that in Fallujah, “the city heavily attacked by the U.S. twice in 2004, the data of Fallujah General Hospital shows that around 15% of babies of all births in Fallujah since 2003 have some congenital birth defect.” (Human Rights Now (HRN), a Tokyo based international human rights NGO in consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council, conducted a fact-finding mission in Fallujah, Iraq in early 2013 to investigate the situation of the reported increasing number of birth defects in Iraq.)

Try to imagine yourself as a pregnant woman in Fallujah, knowing that your child has a 15% chance of getting born with serious birth defects!

The report writers called for an investigation of “the sources and spread of birth defects, [to] identify causes, establish effective public health policies and medical care, and provide appropriate compensation for victims.” After a month of probing the massive rise in birth defects, the NGO’s results “suggest that environmental contamination resulting from combat during the Iraq War may be playing a significant role in the observed rate of birth defects.”

This refers to U.S. depleted uranium, used by the U.S. military and coalition forces as armor-piercing munitions. But without sufficient disclosure of information related to toxic weapons used during the conflict, the cause of problem has not yet been identified. In other words, George “Mission Accomplished” Bush and Cheney sent U.S. troops to Iraq with weapons that would induce a humongous rise in birth defects in the next generation of Iraqis. Last week, Iraqis voted for the first time for officials at all levels. But over 100 people died in tribal and sectarian bombings during the pre-voting period, a hot sign indicating the country suffered from a destroyed integrity. Thanks, W. Bush.

In order to prevent further victimization of the lives of innocent children, the NGO report continues, “it is urgent that a comprehensive investigation into the prevalence of birth defects and toxicity related illnesses in Iraq be conducted, including any correlation between such illnesses to scrap or munitions debris left by the Iraq conflict. It is essential to investigate the sources and spread of birth defects, identify causes, establish effective public health policies and medical care, and provide appropriate compensation for victims.” Let’s see how much this stingy U.S. Congress offers to help solve the public health emergency caused by the U.S.-instigated war.

In addition to the alarming Fallujah report, Iraq has suffered enormous public health disasters beginning with the sanctions leveled on it in the early 1990s. The punishment of Iraq meant a “loss of electrical generating capacity [which] has affected hospitals, water purification and sewage treatment. Iraq had made great strides in the health of their people with an infant mortality rate of 42/1000 in 1990 and 52/1000 for children under 5. The international study team’s survey of over 9000 households revealed evidence of widespread chronic malnutrition.”

Those screaming for war with Iran should study the results of the last war before sending more death and destruction to that oily region we depend upon, but cannot control. As we mourn for the dead in Boston, let us remember those we continue to kill in Iraq, babies who don’t deserve defects to accompany their birth, defects that derive from U.S. residual weapons contaminating their environment. Who takes responsibility?

Saul Landau’s IRAQ: VOICES FROM THE STREET is available on DVD from roundworldproductions@gmail.com.