[p]RESIDENT ASSHOLE

Starving all their people

According to the Fellowship of Reconciliation, an interfaith pacifist organization that is opposed to the UN sanctions against Iraq, the Arabic news network Aljazeera reported that in the three months from September to November 2001, more than 31,000 Iraqis, including 21,000 children under the age of 5, died due to the UN-imposed economic sanctions against Iraq, a figure even higher than the 1999 UNICEF estimate of an average 5200 Iraqi child deaths per month.

Aljazeera quoted a statement by the Iraqi Health Ministry, explaining that the majority of children's mortality is caused by malnutrition, diarrhea, and lung-related diseases while common causes of death for elderly citizens are heart problems, high blood pressure, diabetes and malignant tumors. The UN sanctions are maintained due to pressure from the USA.

According to the Iraqi officials, so far some 1,565,192 Iraqi citizens have died as the result of economic sanctions introduced in August 1990.