Emergency Appeal for Iraqi people - Union Aid Abroad Media Statement

One of the most telling statistics of war and conflict is that: In World War I, 80% of the casualties were soldiers, 20% were civilians. In World War II, 50% of the casualties were soldiers, 50% were civilians. In most conflicts in the past 40 years, 20% of the casualties were soldiers, 80% were civilians.

This war in Iraq is no different. In any war, it is the most vulnerable who suffer the most - women, children, the aged.

They are not just shot or blown up, they also suffer from the other three "horsemen of the apocalypse" that follow behind war - starvation, pestilence and disease.

We heard on the radio this morning that George Bush and Tony Blair sent a TV message to the people of Baghdad, broadcast from a plane high above the city. However, no Iraqi people could see or hear the broadcast, as there was no electricity, so they could not turn on their TV sets. Behind this Monthy Pythonesque event lies a worrying issue. How are their hospitals going to cope without electricity ? We know they have no medicines left to treat the sick, wounded and dying. Without electricity, they will be in an even worse state. We know that Baghdad's water and sewerage rely on electricity to operate. What impact will this have on the incidence of diarrhoea, typhoid, cholera and hepatitis ? If an adult male catches a bad dose of diarrhoea, they get over it in a couple of days, if a child, weaken by malnutrition gets a dose of diarrhoea, they die.

The media tells us that to date, $170 billion has been spent on this war to remove Saddam Hussein from office. Think about it - $170 billion on one man. What a waste. Think of what that money, those resources, could have done in another war - the fight against global poverty. An education for every child - no problem. Medicines for everyone suffering from HIV/AIDS - still plenty left over. Cancellation of all Third World Debt - easy. A just trading structure so that poorer countries could grow and develop - still plenty left.

This war has been a massive waste of resources. Saddam Hussein was brutal and corrupt, but he was no worse than the military regime of Burma or Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe. Are we now going to spend $170 billion on removing Mugabe from office too? Not likely, Zimbabwe has no oil.

In our name and with our taxation dollars, our government has been part of a coalition which has spent an incomprehensible amount of money in destroying Iraq. We must now force the government to spend a similar amount of money in rebuilding Iraq. They have destroyed it, they now have an obligation to rebuild its social structures such as water and electricity, and its civil society. We cannot leave Iraq like we have left Afghanistan. If we want peace in the Middle East, we have to be prepared to work for justice there, and justice means replacing military spending with real aid.

On behalf of the ACTU and Australian unions, Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA has an Appeal for the victims in Iraq. Working with two other trade union-based aid agencies, Norwegian peoples Aid and Swiss Workers Aid, who have a long history of working in Iraq, we are assisting them care for internally displaced people north of Baghdad, who are fleeing the fighting in the cities. UN estimates indicate that there are up to 200,000 displaced people in the Suleimaniya area where the camp being assisted in this appeal is located.

Although Saddam Hussein's regime is finished, the sufferings of the Iraqi people still continue. For tax-deductible donations, please contact Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA on:

Phone: 1800 888 674 (free-call - business hours)

Phone: (02) 9264 9343

Email: apheda@labor.net.au

web: www.apheda.org.au

Or mail to Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA Level 3, 377 Sussex St Sydney 2000

Enquiries: Peter Jennings, Executive Officer - 0409 047 353

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Last Modified: Wednesday, 22-Feb-2006 14:20:46 EST
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