Everyone knows that after Saddam’s invasion to Kuwait in 1990 and his later withdrawal, the Security Council imposed severe economic sanctions on Iraq, including a full trade embargo barring all imports from and exports to the country.
On 6 August 1990, Iraqis started the 12 years of suffering, to starve and struggle for food and medicine. They had to suffer because the west’s former spoiled puppet, whose birthday is today, invaded Kuwait.
Most of yesterday’s top news on the Arab Satellite channel was about the embargo of the US and European countries imposed on Palestine. “The health situation is deteriorating day after day with the US and European countries’ recent decisions to cut their financial aids to the Palestinian people,” the news headlines said. This came as a collective punishment on the Palestinian population for democratically choosing their own government.
The situation in Palestine reminded me with how we had to suffer for twelve years from a brutal embargo imposed on people who did not have any fault but the fact that they were ruled by one of the worst dictators on earth.
In the period from 1991 to 2003, we didn’t feel but to hate the mute international community which agreed on punishing a nation’s people instead of its regime. Dozens of countries supported the victimizing resolution against the Iraqi people. They did not punish the dictator. Instead, they punished the people whom he ruled with an iron fist.
Saddam did not suffer, neither his gang whom he appointed in all fields of life. He took everything. In fact, the embargo was in his benefit as he used it as an excuse to rob the income of the local industries and say that there was no import and export to the goods, simply because there is an embargo. He and his ugly family, like his ugly daughter who showed up on Arabiya on her father’s fall anniversary, enjoyed the best kind of life any human being dreamt of. But what about the people? They were crippled. They had to work twice a day, they had to die unwillingly out of shortage in medicine and food, they had to face the financial problems by themselves while the whole world was watching silently.
A cousin of mine suffered a special and rare kind of Rheumatism. As far as I remember, it is called “Blood Rheumatism”. Due to the lack of medicine during the embargo period, she had to suffer a lot as the drug did not exist in Iraq. My aunt, who is a widow, had to sell all her jewels and gold and sometimes some of the house’s furniture to buy the medicine from outside Iraq. She couldn’t afford it every time she needed it. Eventually it became a chronic disease that will accompany her till the rest of her life.
This is one of the hundreds of thousands of similar and maybe worse cases that Iraqis faced during the embargo period because of a mistake they did not commit.
TV stations showed how pharmacies were empty and how hospitals were filled with patients without medicine to heal them with in Palestine. The images reminded me with the same pictures that we used to see and hear for 12 years. The Palestinian people are being punished because the west doesn’t like the government they chose. Is it logical? The US and Europe always call for democracy. The Palestinains chose the ones whom they felt will best represent them. Is it accepted? Why do these countries repeat the same thing? Does the west know that the leaders of Hamas and Fateh are enjoying the palaces and the fancy life while the people are the ones who are suffering? It is almost like what happened in Iraq for 12 years. How do you expect people love you and cooperate with you while you are the using the meanest way to kill them? How did you expect Iraqis to like you and welcome you while you were the ones who punished them instead of punishing the real perpetrator of invading a country you worship for its oil?
The punishment imposed on people does not fix the problem; it increases it. It turns the people against those who are punishing them for things they were not responsible for.
The new Iraq-like images of the Palestinians starving and dying in hospitals will be seen again for other peoples like the Iranians and Syrians due to the US pressure on the UN to impose sanctions. The real governors of these countries will continue enjoying the fancy life leaving the people die in hundreds of thousands. Do you think Bashar Asad or Najad will suffer if sanctions are imposed on their countries?
Let the world continue being silent. It seems they are bored with the Hollywood movies and now want something live to watch. Enjoy the show… it seems it will never end.
On 6 August 1990, Iraqis started the 12 years of suffering, to starve and struggle for food and medicine. They had to suffer because the west’s former spoiled puppet, whose birthday is today, invaded Kuwait.
Most of yesterday’s top news on the Arab Satellite channel was about the embargo of the US and European countries imposed on Palestine. “The health situation is deteriorating day after day with the US and European countries’ recent decisions to cut their financial aids to the Palestinian people,” the news headlines said. This came as a collective punishment on the Palestinian population for democratically choosing their own government.
The situation in Palestine reminded me with how we had to suffer for twelve years from a brutal embargo imposed on people who did not have any fault but the fact that they were ruled by one of the worst dictators on earth.
In the period from 1991 to 2003, we didn’t feel but to hate the mute international community which agreed on punishing a nation’s people instead of its regime. Dozens of countries supported the victimizing resolution against the Iraqi people. They did not punish the dictator. Instead, they punished the people whom he ruled with an iron fist.
Saddam did not suffer, neither his gang whom he appointed in all fields of life. He took everything. In fact, the embargo was in his benefit as he used it as an excuse to rob the income of the local industries and say that there was no import and export to the goods, simply because there is an embargo. He and his ugly family, like his ugly daughter who showed up on Arabiya on her father’s fall anniversary, enjoyed the best kind of life any human being dreamt of. But what about the people? They were crippled. They had to work twice a day, they had to die unwillingly out of shortage in medicine and food, they had to face the financial problems by themselves while the whole world was watching silently.
A cousin of mine suffered a special and rare kind of Rheumatism. As far as I remember, it is called “Blood Rheumatism”. Due to the lack of medicine during the embargo period, she had to suffer a lot as the drug did not exist in Iraq. My aunt, who is a widow, had to sell all her jewels and gold and sometimes some of the house’s furniture to buy the medicine from outside Iraq. She couldn’t afford it every time she needed it. Eventually it became a chronic disease that will accompany her till the rest of her life.
This is one of the hundreds of thousands of similar and maybe worse cases that Iraqis faced during the embargo period because of a mistake they did not commit.
TV stations showed how pharmacies were empty and how hospitals were filled with patients without medicine to heal them with in Palestine. The images reminded me with the same pictures that we used to see and hear for 12 years. The Palestinian people are being punished because the west doesn’t like the government they chose. Is it logical? The US and Europe always call for democracy. The Palestinains chose the ones whom they felt will best represent them. Is it accepted? Why do these countries repeat the same thing? Does the west know that the leaders of Hamas and Fateh are enjoying the palaces and the fancy life while the people are the ones who are suffering? It is almost like what happened in Iraq for 12 years. How do you expect people love you and cooperate with you while you are the using the meanest way to kill them? How did you expect Iraqis to like you and welcome you while you were the ones who punished them instead of punishing the real perpetrator of invading a country you worship for its oil?
The punishment imposed on people does not fix the problem; it increases it. It turns the people against those who are punishing them for things they were not responsible for.
The new Iraq-like images of the Palestinians starving and dying in hospitals will be seen again for other peoples like the Iranians and Syrians due to the US pressure on the UN to impose sanctions. The real governors of these countries will continue enjoying the fancy life leaving the people die in hundreds of thousands. Do you think Bashar Asad or Najad will suffer if sanctions are imposed on their countries?
Let the world continue being silent. It seems they are bored with the Hollywood movies and now want something live to watch. Enjoy the show… it seems it will never end.
