“There is a man sleeping in the grass. And over him is gathering the
greatest storm of all his days. Such lightening and thunder will come there has
never been seen before, bringing death and destruction. People hurry home past
him, to places safe from danger. And whether they do not see him there in the
grass, or whether they fear to halt even a moment, but they do not wake him,
they let him be.” ― Alan Paton, Cry, the Beloved Country, p.97
I've come from the US to Amman Jordan because there is a
long standing health crisis for children in Iraq and I am an advocate for those
children. Long-standing crisis is, I
realize, an oxymoron. The term crisis implies a certain point, on an edge
beyond which lies disaster if no action is taken. An ongoing crisis runs the risk of becoming
the norm--normal-- and that is what has happened with the children's health
crisis in Iraq. Nonetheless, I'm in
Jordan looking for Iraqi partners, for solidarity and support for projects and
programs, for action to help remedy the situation. It's not my first trip to
the Middle East. I went to Baghdad twice, and when that was too dangerous, I
began coming to Amman. The travel and
ongoing work --like the wars, occupation and toxic aftermath that create a need
for this journey-- seem endless, the
mission impossible.
The overall well-being of children in Iraq, as measured by
the under five mortality rate (U5MR) --considered the most significant
indicator of overall well being for a country's children -- declined 160% in
the decade 1990-2000. In those ten years
following the first Gulf War children declined overall in only seventeen
countries in the world and of those Iraq was the worst by far, twice that of
the next worst country. While pediatric cancer rates remain relatively stable in
the US, the cancer/ leukemia rate for
children in Iraq has doubled in the last fifteen years, increasing from 3 per 100,000 to 8.5 per
100,000. In some places, like
Basra, it has quadrupled. In Falluja things are even worse. Researchers
found a 38-fold increase in leukemia, ten-fold in female breast cancer and
significant increases in lymphoma and brain tumors in adults. Infant mortality, babies dying before their
first birthday, was measured at 80 per 1,000 births in Fallujah, compared
to 19 in Egypt 17 in Jordan
and 9.7 per 1,000 births in neighboring Kuwait. ("Cancer, Infant Mortality and Birth
Sex-Ratio in Falllujah, Iraq 2005-2009") This is a health crisis.
Who cares about Iraq and Iraqis my Iraqi friends ask me
with frustration. Who indeed. The general public doesn't follow research unless
it's headline-worthy news, which is never the case for Iraqi children. So, they don't know enough to care. Policy
makers and organizations like UNICEF are aware of the situation, but there is
little or no action. High profile,
accomplished writers and journalists have tried to sound the alarm over the
years. The award winning John Pilger has
written extensively about it and in
1999 he produced the documentary film, Paying the Price, Killing the Children of
Iraq. And Robert Fisk, recognized
with more British and international journalism awards than any other foreign
correspondent, continues to write about
the health crisis in Iraq. But, basically it's "Know nothing. See nothing.
Say nothing." he says in his latest story on Fallujah (The Independent, April 2012). "It's
the same old story."
But, The Green Zone:
The Environmental Crisis of Militarism by Barry Sanders. -- professor, and author of eleven books, twice
nominated for a Pulitzer Prize -- offers
the possibility of a new story. He looks at Iraq --the destruction, pollution,
health crisis and human loss -- as an archeologist might look at a significant
vessel in an archeological dig -- something that can only be understood in the
larger context in which it is found. Thus his focus on militarism and the
environmental crisis. Not new, but new to me, the book (2009 AK Press) lights
up an issue that main stream media and
the US public considers-- at best-- old and to some extent irrelevant news. Green Zone is a compelling,
headline-grabbing story, even if you haven't found it the headlines of your
media-of-choice.
In this broader context,
the question who cares about Iraq and Iraqis is replaced with a new
question, one (alas) of greater interest that
concerns a much broader and much larger international public: how much
does the US military contribute to worldwide pollution and thus to global
warming. And the advocates job --trying to get people, medical and research
institutions, policy makers and
governments to care and take action on
behalf of Iraqi children-- is transformed.
Now, the job is not to "get people to care about Iraq
and Iraqis" but rather to understand the dangers of militarism and the
looming environmental crisis through a lens focused on Iraq and Iraqis --and to
some extent Afghanistan and Afghanis-- and to take action. For a long time,
doctors, scientists and researchers have linked Iraq's public health crisis, especially the increase in
cancer, leukemia and congenital birth defects,
to the environment, severely denigrated over many years by depleted
uranium (DU) and other heavy metals and toxins introduced by the weapons used
in the wars. It has been difficult, nearly impossible to "prove" this
link. 20+ years of war, sanctions, occupation
and ongoing instability have made it difficult to do substantive
research in Iraq. Personal and public records --whole systems--have been lost
and destroyed. And more significantly,
there is enormous resistance in high places. Research in the US and Europe about the
possible connection between Iraq's toxic
environment and the disease/ symptoms known as
Gulf War Syndrome in soldiers, is also met with skepticism and
resistance. Sanders' book doesn't set out to "prove" or disprove
these connections. In his drama about
the fate of the planet, facts, figures
and research that speaks to environmental and human catastrophe sits
prominently on the stage next to sick Iraqis, Afghanis and US soldiers. Hundreds of thousands who
have died on both sides of the conflicts lie in the shadows as his main
character, the US military, struts his stuff.
His approach is brilliant.
The book is an essay, an attempt to ask the right
questions: how much does the military contribute to worldwide pollution and
thus to global warming. And a search
for the correct answers which, he says are
"…rough but informed …" The US military, he states in the
introduction, is the world's worst
polluter. In terms of greenhouse gasses
"… the numbers stagger the imagination…" threatening the very life of
the planet. Because of this, he
concludes, the military holds, "…
our fate in its vice-like grip."
Sanders lays out an enormous amount of data about the
unbelievable volumes of resources needed to maintain and operate a vast number
of military bases, troops, and land, sea and air vehicles. He details
the kinds of fuel. Some are more
polluting and toxic than others but they all contribute heavily to global
warming and are consumed at staggering levels. The irony, the absurdity of the
situation is frightening. The US quest for control over fuel drives us to war;
and in the course of waging war, the military uses --Sanders might say wastes--
extraordinary amounts of the worlds dwindling fuel resources.
He details the horrifying array of weapons, heavy metals,
chemicals and toxins dropped, sprayed
and scattered onto the earth. Their main
target is to kill people and destroy buildings, but they continue to
threaten and destroy life, polluting the sand and soil, the water and
air, slipping in all sorts of ways and
indiscriminately into human bodies.
Fact by fact, chapter by chapter he builds the case and we begin to see
the enormity of the problem and the horror of the situation. We begin to understand more and more about
Iraq and Iraqis. We may even begin to
weep, crying for the beloved country, for
the senseless destruction that has been wrought on the people, plants and animals that lived and
continue trying to live on that parcel of earth. We fear for the future of
their children and grandchildren for generations to come. And, simultaneously,
because we are seeing the broader view, we begin to fear for our own futures
and for the future of the entire planet, because the case is so clear. And, our
work is set out for us.
We should be ready for
the next step, collective action. There is no excuse for standing idly by any
longer. If you haven't done anything, or if you haven't done enough to stop the
never-ending wars, now is the time. The price of continuing is too great for
Iraq and Iraqis, for Afghanistan and Afghanis, for Yemenis and Syrians. The price is too high, much to high for all
the creatures and plants, the air, water and soil that make up planet
earth. The price is much too high for
all of us. If you don't believe me, get
a copy of Sanders' book, and read it.
"This is no time to talk of hedges
and fields, or the beauties of any country. Sadness and fear and hate, how they
well up in the heart and mind…. Cry for the broken tribe, for the law and the
custom that is gone. Aye, and cry aloud for the man who is dead, for the woman
and children bereaved. Cry, the beloved country, these things are not yet at an
end. The sun pours down on the earth, on the lovely land that man cannot enjoy.
He knows only the fear of his heart.”