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Records of the First Lady's Office (Clinton Administration)
Melanne Verveer's Subject Files
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NOV-06-97 13:15 From:CDC DDT
7704885966
T-627 P.01/05 Job-403
fill 15mg
facsimile
TRANSMITTAL
to:
Ms. Hillary Clinton
fax #:
202-456-6244
re:
Kurdish Refugee Children
date:
November 6, 1997
pages:
5, including this cover sheet.
I am sending you an update on a situation regarding the Kurdish political refugee family of Falah
Kokoiy and his six young children who remain behind in IRAQ. Dr. James Dunn of the Baptist
Joint Committee has worked with the White House on this issue just prior to the evacuation last
fall. You and the President were extremely helpful at that time, and because of your past interest,
I hope that you might be interested in this specific family situation and possibly be able to help us
in any way possible. Please feel free to share these documents with the National Security Council
staff and anyone else that you feel may be appropriate.
Sincerely,
Mary & Lowery
Mary E. Lowrey
CC: Melanne Verveer
NOV-06-97 13:15 From: CDC DDT
7704885966
T-627 P.02/05 Job-403
November 5, 1997
I am writing to update you on behalf of the family of Falah M. Kokoiy. Mr. Kokoiy, his wife, Fakhryia and eldest son, Sarko are
part of the recent group of political refugees from Kurdistan (Iraq) admitted to the US in the spring of this year (1997). Mr.
Kokoiy and his family are now living in the Gainesville, GA area and are one of four families that our church is assisting with
resettlement issues. Since the family's arrival here and our now almost daily contacts, and improving English abilities, we have
learned much more about the details involved in this family's separation caused by the evacuation to the US. I am also enclosing
copies of two recent newspaper articles relating additional facts about this case.
This family has SIX CHILDREN (aged 6yrs 19yrs) REMAINING IN IRAQ in the custody of various family members.
Obviously, this is a terribly distressing and debilitating situation for the parents. The unique and tragic reality is that these
children were literally turned back at the Turkey/Iraq border in the December evacuation amid a horribly traumatic and
heart-renching separation. The family was operating under the understanding that the entire family would be evacuated because of
their employment/connection to an NGO (H.A.D. - a German based relief construction organization) operating in northern Iraq.
Tragically, and I have come to learn, frequently typical in this kind of a situation, there was tremendous uncertainty and
misunderstandings as to when, how, and what would actually be done for these people. Mr and Mrs Kokoiy and their eldest son
were allowed across the border. The younger children's names had somehow been deleted from the previously submitted and
approved list of "eligibles" and were therefore denied travel across the border. Even direct personal appeal to a "Col. Gray"
(apparently the US Officer in Command of the operation) was to no avail, instead the Kokoiy's were given (I'm sure well-
meaning but apparently untrue) information that once they were established in the US, they would be able to bring their children
to the US. Thus, the family began it's long and painful separation. As difficult and unfortunate as that situation was, it seemed
the best course of action at the time due to the extraordinarily difficult conditions.
The appropriate papers have been translated, forms filed and the official request for Visa 92's has been made to the INS (Receipt
# SRC 97 169 52360). At this point in time (11/97), no response has been received by the family from INS. Responses to earlier
Congressional and Executive correspondence has been either non-existent or almost identical; basically that the Dept of State has
completed its involvement in this issue and any additional people entering the US will have to do so through the "regular" process
via the INS. Due to the extraordinary circumstances involved in this particular situation, and since our government was in fact,
instrumental in establishing the evacuation policy and seeing to its correct and appropriate implementation, we feel that there is
justifiable responsibility on the part of our officials to see to it that this family get reunited as quickly as possible. That there
were definitely violations regarding the evacuation of many "ineligible" persons is a documented and documentable fact; this, in
our minds, gives additional credence to the necessity and appropriateness of continued involvement by the Dept of State and/or
other US officials in rectifying this situation as quickly as possible.
Please, this time, let's be able to proudly say that the US will have completed the right thing that we began. We are looking
for any and all help from any source and we intend to do EVERYTHING possible in order to obtain the safe and swift release of
these children from Iraq and reunite this family. If there is anything at all that you can do, or if you know of anyone who can help,
please make contact via any of the following methods: mail (Lowrey, 5439 Concord Circle, Gainesville, GA 30507), phone (770-
967-4347 or 770-488-5000 ask for Mary), email ([email protected]), or fax (770-488-5966).
The whole experience of working with these families (our church has sponsored four, and five other families are sponsored by a
sister church in our area), has truly been a new education. I am tremendously impressed with the strength and desire of these
people to make a new life for themselves and their families here in the US; and at the same time, I cannot conceive of the pain and
horror of having to leave your whole life at a moment's notice due to the whims of an insane ruler!! The US gov't has acted
honorably in granting refugee status to these people (whose only "crime" was to earn a living from a humanitarian organization
trying to assist their own people in a desperate time); PLEASE let us continue the humane (and RIGHT) thing we have begun by
getting these particular children reunited with their parents as well as other similar situations.
Sincerely,
Idea Mary Lowany
David and Mary E. Lowrey
5439 Concord Circle
Gainesville, GA 30507
NOV-06-97
13:16
From CDC DDT
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The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Losing
mussels
Bivalves' decline
SundayReader
is a warning to
humans, G6
UP TO SPEED, G2
DAVE BARRY, G8
A choice at the border
Kurdish refugees struggle to reunite their family in Georgia
By Elizabech Kurylo
STAFF WRITER
he last time Fahkriya Kokoiy saw six of her
children, they were at the border of Turkey and
T
Iraq, waving goodbye. That was a year ago. The
thought of it makes her cry.
Bad advice at the time, combined with strict
immigration rules since, have kept the children,
ages 6 to 19, trapped in northern Iraq. They are
on their own, struggling to find food and shelter. And there is
little hope that they will see their mother again soon.
Kokoiy is Kurdish. Last December,
Today, in her modest home near
the U.S. government was helping her
Gainesville, the 46-year-old mother
family flee Saddam Hussein and Iraqi
clings to her children's photos and tear-
forces that had threatened to kill them.
ful memories. And she wonders if she
Her eldest son, Sarko, had worked for a
made a horrible mistake.
ROBERT
German humanitarian group that got
"I cannot live without them," she said
some money from the U.S. government.
through an Interpreter. "If 1 cannot get
1989
1997
For that, be was branded a traitor and a
them over here, I will go back."
spy and put on a hit list. He signed up to
In many ways, her life has never been
Growing family: The Kokoly family
Waiting for reunion: Fahkriya and
be evacuated and asked to take his par-
better. She, her husband and her eldest
son have full-time, minimum-wage jobs,
pases for a snapshot together, In back
Falah Kokoly and son Sarko arrived
ents and siblings with him.
But at the Turkish border, his siblings
two used cars and the support of local
are Falah Kokoiy (father), Fahkriya
safety in the United States, but six
were turned away. Someone apparently
church members who have helped them
Kokoiy (mother). Zimnako and Sarko.
children remain in Iraq. The State
forgot to put their names on the evacua-
ger furniture, food and clothes. They
Another child was born to the family
Department helped evacuate 6,500
tion list. And in the chaos, the Ameri-
rent a two-bedroom house with pale yel-
after the photo was taken.
low siding and a small front porch.
Kurds from Iraq last year.
cans in charge of the exodus weren't
interested in sob stories.
In Iraq, her children are raising
themaelves, because their impoverished
meanwrite, moved to America with the
effort," State Department official Parp-
KURDISH REFUGEES
grandfather. who took them in for
help of members of Chestnut Mountain
ela H. Lewis said in an Aug. 18 letter to
Capi
awhile, has до money even to feed them.
Baptist Church near Gainesville, the
Gainesville church members.
TURKEY
The two girls and four boys don't go to
Kokolys filed immigration BIR
U.S. officials wouldn't Last anyone
school. Fearing the Iraqi secret police,
would allow their children to join them
pass if their name wasn't on the evacua-
Dahuk
they hide during the day. The 19-year-
here. But even if the U.S. Immigration
tion list, said Bashar Barwark, 32,a Kur
As Sulaymaniyah
old, Zimnako, occasionally carns money
and Naturalization Service says they can
dish neighbor of the Kokolys. They told
as a soldier. When be is off fighting, his
come, it won't be easy, because the chil-
Barwari and his wife, Awaz, that they
SYRIA
16-year-old brother, Halah, is in charge.
dren are stuck in a country that has no
couldn't bring their 36-day-old daughter,
IRAN
Leaving them at the border was hard,
diplomatic relations with the United
Lava, to America, because her name
said their 41-year-old father, Falah. But
States.
-Baghdad
wasn't on the List. She was born after the
IRAQ
it was a family decision based on infor-
The children would have to go to a
list was made. He said he begged, and
JORDAN
mation they received at the time. "We
U.S. Embassy to get their visas. The
officials relented.
were told it would take a couple of
nearest one is in Turkey, whose border
While Barwari cuddles his daughter,
months for us to claim them and do the
n
they could not cross last year. "That's a
now 1. Falah Kokoiy considers his next
paperwork once we arrived in the U.S.,"
big problem," said Andrew Liuberes, an
step.
100 miles
KUWAIT
he said through an interpreter.
INS spokesman in Washington,
"When we decided to come here, we
"I was thinking of not passing the bor-
Family separations are common dur-
wanted to be Americans," he said. "T'm
Persion
der and staying with them," be said,
ing refugee crises, and more than half
waiting for the day my children come
"but we sat down together and our chil-
the victims are children. Ordinarily, ref-
More than 6,500 Kurds with U.S. des
here. They are supposed to be here."
dren said that our best chance was for
were evacuated from northern traq last
ugees can be reunited with family mem-
He is willing to wait for responses to
year. During the Gulf War, they had
us to go ahead and get them to the U.S.
bers in the United States in a matter of
dozens of letters written by church
worked for the U.S. military, the CIA
later.
months. "But this is a very unique situa-
members to the White House, members
and U.S.-funded relief organizations,
After an emotional farewell, the chil-
tion here," Lluberes said.
of Congress, the INS and the State
They all moved to the United Scares,
dren trekked 250 treacherous miles
The State Department, which evacu-
Department. But his wife says she is las-
with above 500 setding in metro Adanta
through the mountains to the Kurdish
ated 6,500 Kurds from northern Iraq last
ing patience. "I cannot wait any more. If
town of Sulaymania.
year, is not willing to help the Kokoiys
things don't work out, I have no choice.
VERNON CARNE
Their parents and older brother.
now. It was an "extraordinary, one-time
I'll have to go back."
NOV-06-97
13:16
From:CDC DDT
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T-627 P.04/05 Job-403
1947-1997
Cur
Cimes
underapp
Sports
Simn
GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA
WEDNESDAY. OCTOBER 29, 1997
Forecast
East Hall ROTC: Looking their best
Thursday:
Partly cloudy.
Wall S
High in the upper 60s.
Low in the 40s.
Friday:
Scattered showers.
High in the 60s.
Details: 2A
brace!
Lake meeting
more
1
clears some
sewer rumors
World markets
A Gwinnett County
sustain rebound
official told some 70
Lake Lanier-area resi-
The Associated Press
dents Tuesday that
work along Buford
NEW YORK - The
Dam Road isn't linked
record-sciting selloff. The
to Gwinnett's immedi-
unprecedented rebound.
ate sewage treatment
And there's до guarantee
plans.
the Wall Street roller
But the growing
coaster is over,
county has targeted the
"You don't know if it's
38,000-acre lake as a
Kim CRAPT/TTD tames
a dead-cat hounce or a
site for future waste-
water discharges. And
Alex Charo, right scans a line of other East Hall Junior Navy RDTC cadets Tuesday during the group's
resumption of the bull
so have other govern-
annual inspection. The East Hall ROTC unit is one of only two in Northest Georgia's public schools. Story, 10
market,' said Byron
ments around Lanier.
Wien, U.S. investment
strategist at Morgan
Story, 15
Stanley Dean Witter.
St. Augustine home
Kurds fight to reunite family
Selective bargain
to a Devy of ghosts
hunting fueled a buying
frenzy Tuesday that re-
Forget Salem. Forget
Amityville. If you want
sulted in the busiest day
T
a city where things go
S. Hall residents
in U.S. stock market bis-
Mary
bump in the night all
tory. wiping out more
the time, head to the
Lowrey
than half of Monday's
v
Florida coast and the
work to rescue
Has
554-point plunge.
a
nation's oldest city.
helped
Asian markets, includ.
I
St. Augustine, Fla., a
children in Iraq
Kokolys
ing Tokyo's benchmark
0
settlement established
adjust to
Nikkei Stock Average, re-
in 1562 some 40 miles
south of Jacksonville,
By Clay Lambert
deily life
bounded strongly this
E
The Times
in U.S.
morning in obvious relief.
n
has so many reputed
The Hong Kong Stock Ex-
spooks and ghouls that
Tears spread across the
change was up more than
h
there are nightly walk-
landscape of her weath-
way to a pair of South
19 percent.
t.
ing tours named "A
Ghostly Experience."
ered face as suddenly as
Hall churches earlier this
The Dow Jones indus-
n
a springtime cloudburst
Story, 3A
year. Lowrey has helped
trial average opened
Fakhryia Kokoly had
the Kokolys with every-
Tuesday with a 178-point
P
thing from natural gas
h
Hundreds fear HIV,
heard enough of a lan-
drop, then surged an un-
hepatitis from shots
hookups to transportation
tl
guage that seemed to be-
precedented 337.14 to
come more foreign by the
around Chestnut Moun-
JIM COOK IR/MM Times
7,498.32 More than 1 bil-
Hundreds of resi-
dents who received nu.
day. The 41-year-old
tain.
Slowly adjusting to life in South Hall, Kurdish refu-
lion shares were traded
П
shots at town-
Kurdish refugee under-
It would be difficult to
gees Falan, from left, Fakryla and their son Sanko
on the Now York Stock
b
sponsored clinics in
stood enough English to
say who is learning more,
Kokoly face a more sobering challenge: getting the fam-
Exchange and the Nas-
c
Monroe, Conn., fear
know they were talking
faster: the Kokolys or the
ily's remaining six children out of traq.
daq, both records. Nearly
a
that they may have
about her six children.
Lowreys.
3 billion shares changed
been exposed to the
The children she may
For each, these are
glish.
"There
is
no
fight-
job is familiar: he wears
hands on all U.S. mar-
hepatitis and AIDS vi-
never see again.
desperate days of strug-
Ing here.
a blue Brake-O cap and
kets.
G
ruses because a doctor
"She wants to go home
gling to understand for-
"In my country every
matching uniform after
b
IBM's early announce-
failed to change sy-
eign languages and the
work.
it
to the children." a friend
time fighting."
ment that it would buy
ringes between pa-
said. "Evon if it means
nearly unfathomable
back up to $3.5 billion
=
tients,
she will die."
If not for his eyes, the
But his eyes - big,
maze of International reg-
brown orbs almost nidden
worth of its stock, boost-
P
More than 450 resi-
younger Kokojy bears a
=
Mary Lowrey is nothing
ulations separating a
by drooping lids - are
ing value and attracting
dents, most of them
olderly. packed a high
mother and her children.
resemblance to most
if not a friend to Fakhr-
other 21-year-olds in Hall
the kind of tired eyes
buyers, was a turning
school auditorium
yia, her husband Falah.
"I think America is bet-
County. Natives here
made weary from watch-
point.
ing the weight of the
k
Tuesday and grilled
their eldest son Sarko
ter than my country," Sa-
have become accustomed
As the stock of Interna-
state health officials
and 33 other Kurdish ref-
rko Kokoly said in
to brown skin and foreign
world fall on your family.
st
tional Business Machines
for several hours about
ugees
who
found
their
thoughtful,
halting
En-
languages. Even Kokoiy's
Please see Kurds, 6A
went higher, so did share
the possible risk.
prices of other big com-
D
Story, LA
Judge dismisses most of publisher's claims
panies hammered by wor.
di
ries that economic tur-
s:
moil in Southeast Asia
Inside
By Melanie Beard
the
council
would hurt their profits.
h
conspired
out, and they didn't. As
50
The Times
against her to deprive her
"Investors have learned
far as I'm concerned the
ju
ANN LANDERS
BUSINESS
6A, 6C
of her constitutional
to buy on the dips, As
B
FLOWERY BRANCH
court recognized this as a
5000 as they saw a stabie
NOV-06-97
13:17
From: DDT
7704885966
T-627 P.05/05 Job-403
up and down -- obviously no- keepers.
Kurds
with a slow smile. "We don't
tervene in the struggle. Low-
like the bread. We will bake
ther and brother.
rey said only Sens. Paul
our own bread."
"I'm hoping that someone
(Continued from Page 1A)
Coverdell and Max Cleland
influential will read this and
Last year, Sarko Kokoiy was
Wishing for a reunion
have responded among Geor-
help." she said.
a storekceper in the extrome
gia's congressional delegation.
Before meeting the Kokoiys
Hartfor
northern mountains of Traq
The Kokoiys say they won't
"Sen. Coverdell has re-
known as Kurdistan. As an el-
be a truly American family un-
in March. Lowrey's images of
ceived information on this
til rounited with their chil-
Iraq came from the American
House
dest son in a land of perpetual
case and plans to pursue reso-
dren. 11 remains 8 long road,
media during the Gulf War.
war among Turkey, Iraq and
lution however possible,"
the landless Kurds, life was
The State Department says
That was a painful time for
Sarah ce
Jonathon Baron, Coverdell's
the Lowreys. One son, Brett
difficult.
it was happy to grant asylum
spokesman said Tuesday.
Lowrey, was a Marine. An-
in response to relentless vi-
to the Kokoiys but has no
Mary Lowrey is one of about
other. Chris Busbee, worked
olence, the Kokoiys joined a
plans to be of any further
20 members of Chestnut
help. A letter from Pamela Le-
Join Sample
us for our Cide
aboard a Naval nuclear sub-
German humanitarian organi-
Mountain Baptist Church who
marine. Both were stationed
zation dedicated to building
wis of the Bureau of Popula-
have toiled at making Hall
in the Persian Gulf.
homes for those made home-
tion, Refugees, and Migration
County a more hospitable
less by the war.
reads in part:
"I was emotionally very an-
place for the Traqi expatriates.
In response to that, Hussein
"Asylum processing of these
gry." Lowrey said. "I had al-
Others at Blacksheer Place
Iraqis was an extraordinary,
ready made HP my mind that
issued a death sentence.
Baptist Church have worked
one-time effort requiring coor.
if my son died for an oil well,
53% 6RS
equally hard for the four fami-
Long. difficult journey
dination among a number of
1 was going to be a long time
(You'll be an
lies it sponsors.
U.S. government agencies, the
coming to gripe with that"
"For most of us it has been
31% off:
The Kokoiys came to Hall
County from northern Iraq
government of Turkey and
Six years later. surrounded
a tremendous eye-opener,"
Teddy Tomp
along a twisting line that
others. The U.S. government
by a dozen sorrowful Traqi cit-
she said. "I have learned that
Floral Items
crossed half the globe, from
has no plans to move addi-
izens whom fate had made
we are all of one family."
Selected Chr
tional family members from
friends, Lowrey considered
Turkey to Guam to Erie, Pa.,
Lowrey yearns for a day
Hallowee
life's latest turn.
and finally Chestnut Mountain.
northern Iraq."
when that family is not splin-
Undeterred, several South
"It is Ironic," she said.
Birthday Sale
Their journey began with re-
tered - a day when Zimnako,
"This is true."
Hall families have written let-
newed fighting in northern Iraq
Halah, Sherko, Arezuh.
South of Cornella
in August 1996. Iraqi troops
ters to U.S. congressmen. hop-
Awardd and Serkoat are re-
on I-985/GA 366
flooded the mountains, and
ing elected officials would in-
united with their mother, fa-
suddenly the terrain was too
hot for the United States
Agency for International Devel-
opment and its U.S. military
guard. The United States
CARPET
Dependa
ceased humanitarian efforts
and withdrew. taking 6,500
Kurdish nationals with them.
AT
According to United States
Department of State docu-
DISCOUNT
ments, the Kokolys were
PRICES
among the final group of 3,780
BUDGET
Make
Kurds who worked for 23 U.S.-
TO THE
Your Floors
GA
funded organizations to be
granted asylum.
CARPET
PUBLIC
Beautiful
The Kokoiy family made its
way from Halabja north to
For the
Dahuk, near the Turkish Dor
OUTLET
Holidays!
SPACEM
der. Fakhryia Kokoiy's tears
began to flow here.
670 Main Street
287-8463
"When they got to the bor-
Convenien
der (relief workers) read the
FAMILY OWNED & OPERATED
names of those granted asy-
lum and the children's names
APPLIANCES
were not on the list," Lowrey
explained.
Clean
IRAQ
Page 6
LEVEL 1 - 3 OF 4 STORIES
Copyright 1996 The New York Times Company
The New York Times
May 21, 1996, Tuesday, Late Edition - Final
SECTION: Section A; Page 1; Column 4; Foreign Desk
LENGTH: 1290 words
HEADLINE: ACCORD REACHED BY IRAQ AND U.N. FOR OIL EXPORTS
BYLINE: By BARBARA CROSSETTE
DATELINE: UNITED NATIONS, May 20
BODY:
Iraq and the United Nations signed an agreement today allowing the Iraqis to
sell oil for the first time since their 1990 invasion of Kuwait in order to pay
for the urgent needs of a civilian population suffering from six years of tight
international sanctions.
The agreement permits Iraq to sell up to $1 billion worth of oil every 90
days, under tight United Nations supervision, with most of the money to buy food
and medicine.
The deal sets aside one-third of money for a compensation fund for victims
of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990. In addition, $130 million to
$150 million of the relief goods will be reserved for Kurds in northern Iraq, a
minority abused in the past by Baghdad.
Oil industry experts say the sudden infusion of Iraqi oil into the world
market could mean a drop in oil prices of $2 to $3 a barrel. [Page A8.]
That could translate into something of a political windfall for the Clinton
Administration, which is under pressure to stem the rise in gasoline prices.
The deal today became possible when negotiators for President Saddam Hussein
of Iraq dropped demands that Baghdad choose the bank to manage the oil money,
that it and not the United Nations deliver relief to the Kurds, and that
United Nations inspectors have limited authority to check compliance.
Oil is not expected to begin flowing for a number of weeks, perhaps months,
because some operational details remain to be worked out. But diplomats and
United Nations officials say they believe that the Iraqis mean business now,
unlike the situation four years ago, when a similar plan collapsed. Since the
earlier deal broke down, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have become
malnourished or ill, with many dying from lack of medication, United Nations
agencies estimate.
"This resolution is based on one of the most important objectives of the
United Nations, which is to alleviate the problem of poverty -- and the poorest
of the poor were suffering in Iraq," Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali
TM
TM
TM
LEXIS-NEXIS®
LEXIS:NEXIS®
LEXIS·NEXIS®
R
A member of the Reed Elsevier plc group
A member of the Reed Elsevier plc group
A member of the Reed Elsevier plc group
Page 7
The New York Times, May 21, 1996
said after announcing the agreement to the Security Council, which adopted the
plan in April 1995 and has been waiting a year for an Iraqi response.
Reuters reported that news of the agreement, broadcast on state radio and
television, set off street celebrations in Baghdad. Iraqis embraced each other
and fired volleys of shots into the air.
Food vendors cut prices for eggs, sugar, rice, tea and cooking oils in
anticipation that supplies would soon increase, the agency reported.
The new agreement does not change the broad sanctions still in place against
Iraq. In order to have those lifted, and be free to sell oil in unrestricted
quantities for purposes of its own choosing, Iraq will have to prove that its
weapons of mass destruction have been eliminated, and it will also have to
return looted Kuwaiti property and account for 600 Kuwaitis still missing after
the 1990 invasion and the 1991 war in the Persian Gulf.
The United States has accused the Iraqi leader of building palaces and
indulging in other luxuries while letting his population suffer as a way of
generating international sympathy for an end to sanctions.
"The whole point here is that Saddam Hussein has been using his people as
pawns in order to try to get a change in the sanctions regime," said Madeleine
K. Albright, the chief United States delegate. This resolution would "remove
that blackmail," she said. "The sanctions will stay in place until he abides by
all the resolutions."
Under the plan, accepted by President Hussein after several months of
off-and-on negotiations here, Iraq may sell up to $2 billion in oil during a
six-month period, renewable if Baghdad meets all the conditions of the
agreement, which will be monitored by the United Nations. Compliance with the
accord will be checked by the Security Council every 90 days. Its Iraqi
sanctions committee will be involved in all phases of the operation.
The agreement would add about 700,0 000 barrels a day of Iraqi oil to world
supplies at current prices. Before the 1990 embargo, Iraq supplied about 3
million barrels daily, or about 4 percent of world supplies.
Iraq has the world's second-largest oil reserves after Saudi Arabia.
Officially, reserves stand at more than 100 billion barrels, more than a tenth
of the world's untapped oil. But analysts say the supply may be twice that
amount.
The plan outlined today requires that Iraqi oil must pass through pipelines
the West regards as relatively easy to monitor the Kirkuk-Yumurtalik pipeline
across Turkey to the Mediterranean, or through Iraq's oil terminal at Mina
al-Bakr on the Persian Gulf. The new accord, in the form of a memorandum of
understanding signed by Iraq's negotiator, Abdul Amir al-Anbari, and the
United Nations legal counsel, Under Secretary General Hans Corell of Sweden,
leaves a few procedures still to be worked out, including how foods, medicines
and other goods will be distributed.
During the last two weeks, prodded by objections from the United States and
Britain, negotiators turned down an Iraqi request for greater authority over how
supplies get to Kurds in the north of Iraq. Today's deal provides for United
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The New York Times, May 21, 1996
Nations agencies to deliver the aid.
Iraq also lost a bid to choose the bank to be used for an escrow account to
be handled by the United Nations. The bank will now be chosen by officials here,
who will control the account so that Iraq cannot divert money or obtain credit
for other purposes beyond humanitarian relief.
The agreement also promises that United Nations inspectors will have freedom
to visit any site in Iraq to see if the goods imported are reaching the most
needy.
"The United States intends to hold Iraq's feet to the fire to assure that
this agreement is not violated," an American diplomat said today. Although some
countries, notably Russia and France, had argued for some relaxation of
sanctions more than a year ago, Iraq lost most of its support after disclosures
last summer about the extent to which the Iraqis had been lying about their
nuclear, biological and chemical weapons programs.
But there was always a sense that something had to be done to relieve the
sufferings of Iraqis, said Emilio J. Cardenas, the Argentine envoy who helped
draft the United Nations resolution on selling oil for humanitarian needs. "The
general feeling by last year was that this was pretty much overdue," he said.
"The reports we were operating with indicated that there was a lot of suffering
in Baghdad and a number of other Iraqi cities. There was a prevailing mood all
last year and this year that something had to be done."
Under the sanctions resolutions enacted following the Persian Gulf war,
Iraq has been permitted to import medicines, food and other necessities. But
increasing shortages of hard currency have made that very difficult. American
officials say that what money is available has not gone to repairing or
restocking hospitals or other urgently needed civilian projects.
Some Iraqi oil has been smuggled out of the country in recent years.
President Clinton recently reported to Congressional committees watching
sanctions that some small shipments of oil had been intercepted. A senior United
States official said today that the plan accepted by Iraq this morning would
make it easier to keep sanctions in place indefinitely, a goal shared by
Britain. Britain and the United States have at times been isolated on the
Security Council, where other members say that the aim of Washington and London
is not to punish the Iraqi leader but to topple him.
"This agreement is the best way to lock in a coalition in favor of
maintaining sanctions against those who are squishy on Iraq," the senior
American official said.
GRAPHIC: Graph: "Back in Business" shows crude oil production in Iraq and
Iraq's share of the world oil market. (Source: Energy Information
Administration, Oil & Gas Journal) (pg. A8)
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
LOAD-DATE: May 21, 1996
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LEVEL 1 - 2 OF 4 STORIES
Copyright 1996 The New York Times Company
The New York Times
May 21, 1996, Tuesday, Late Edition - Final
SECTION: Section A; Page 22; Column 1; Editorial Desk
LENGTH: 422 words
HEADLINE: A Good Oil Deal With Iraq
BODY:
Tough-minded American bargaining, unaccustomed realism by Saddam Hussein and
six years of steadfastness by the United Nations have produced the first
positive diplomatic agreement with Iraq since the end of the Persian Gulf war.
Under the terms of a deal reached yesterday between the U.N. and Baghdad,
Iraq will be allowed to resume limited oil sales for the first time since its
August 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Iraq may now sell $2 billion worth of oil every
six months and use the proceeds, under U.N. supervision, to provide its people
with food and medicine and compensate victims of the invasion. Some of the oil
revenue will also help pay for the U.N. monitoring of the Iraqi military and
weapons programs. The wider embargo against Iraqi exports remains in place
pending Baghdad's full compliance with the arms control measures it accepted at
the end of the war.
When international economic sanctions were first imposed after the 1990
invasion, it did not seem likely they would remain in effect this long. But
Baghdad's insistence on staying in Kuwait until forcibly dislodged and its
resistance to carrying out the terms of the April 1991 cease-fire resolution
forced a lengthy diplomatic stalemate that brought hardship to millions of
innocent Iraqi citizens.
The Security Council first offered supervised humanitarian oil sales years
ago. But Mr. Hussein repeatedly turned the offer down. With the comforts of the
regime's inner circle undiminished and its grip on power secure, the Iraqi
dictator hoped he could parlay international sympathy for his people's suffering
into a complete lifting of sanctions without satisfying the arms control terms.
That hope collapsed last summer, when Iraqi deceptions on missiles and
biological and chemical weapons were exposed.
Soon after that, Baghdad began serious negotiations on supervised sales. But
the United States and Britain rightly challenged an early draft agreement
because it left too much scope for Iraq to manipulate oil funds, withhold food
from the Kurdish minority and restrict U.N. monitors. Iraqi and U.N. negotiators
then reworked the language, fully satisfying Washington and London. The revised
document was sent on to Baghdad, and over the weekend Mr. Hussein gave his
personal approval.
The final agreement, announced yesterday, brings diplomatic credit to the
Clinton Administration, reinforcement to the principle of international economic
cooperation for common goals and the prospect of timely relief to Iraq's hungry
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The New York Times, May 21, 1996
millions.
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
LOAD-DATE: May 21, 1996
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LEVEL 1 - 1 OF 4 STORIES
Copyright 1996 The Washington Post
The Washington Post
May 22, 1996, Wednesday, Final Edition
SECTION: OP-ED; Pg. A21
LENGTH: 565 words
HEADLINE: A Lifeline For Starving Iraqis
BYLINE: Madeleine K. Albright
BODY:
At long last Baghdad has accepted a United Nations plan to sell $ 2 billion
of oil over six months and use the proceeds to pay for food and medicine. The
agreement will not only help end the suffering of the Iraqi people; it will also
prevent Saddam Hussein from using innocent civilians as bargaining chips in a
desperate attempt to prompt the United Nations to lift what have become the
tightest and most comprehensive sanctions ever imposed.
Why did Iraq finally agree to this proposal U.N. Security Council
Resolution 986 -- first drafted by the United States and adopted by the United
Nations more than a year ago?
Baghdad finally accepted that economic sanctions would not be lifted
prematurely and that its only chance to ease the growing economic distress in
Iraq was this humanitarian plan.
Until Monday, Saddam tried to use the Iraqi people as hostages to bargain for
concessions. In fact, none of the sanctions has ever prevented Iraq from
importing food and medicine. His goal was to play on the compassion of the world
to gain the lifting of sanctions -- a goal that has been and will continue to be
denied because of his repeated reneging on a series of obligations to the
international community.
After the gulf war, some hoped that Iraq might do what was necessary for
sanctions to be removed. Instead, Saddam proceeded on a campaign of destruction
and terror against the Shiites in the south, the Kurds in the north and anyone
else he perceived as a threat to his power. Meanwhile, U.N. inspectors found
proof that the regime continued to divert Iraq's scarce resourc es to rebuilding
the country's military infrastructure. The remainder has gone to enriching his
cronies, so that the elite lead the good life in lavish palaces while the people
fight for scraps of food.
Iraq will now be allowed to sell oil, but only to buy humanitarian supplies.
The plan Iraq has accepted will make sure that these supplies are provided
equitably to the entire Iraqi population and Saddam will not have access to the
money. It will ensure adequate long-term funding for U.N. agencies in Iraq,
including the U.N. commission responsible for preventing Iraq from rebuilding
weapons of mass destruction; generate hundreds of millions of dollars to
compensate victims of the gulf war; provide for the repair of the Iraq-Turkey
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oil pipeline, thus easing the impact of sanctions on Turkey; and substantially
improve the lives of Kurds in northern Iraq.
Except for this limited export of oil, the tough sanctions against Iraq will
remain in full effect. And key safeguards prevent the Iraqi authorities from
diverting the proceeds of the oil sales for illegitimate purpos es. U.N.
personnel will inspect the flow of goods into Iraq and oil out of Iraq;
disbursement of all proceeds from the oil sales will be controlled by the
United Nations through an escrow account; U.N. inspectors will monitor whether
food and medicine are getting to the people in need; and as a member of the
committee that oversees this arrangement, the United States can at any time stop
the oil from flowing if Baghdad attempts to circumvent these safeguards. As a
final protection, if the United States and the Security Council are not
satisfied with Iraq's performance, the plan will not be renewed after its
six-month trial period.
The writer is U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
COUNTRY: IRAQ;
LOAD-DATE: May 22, 1996May 22, 1996
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file hag
THE WHITE HOUSE
January 21, 1999
Annar Cassam
Bureau De Liaison
Palais Des Nations
1211 Geneve 10
SWITZERLAND
Dear Mr. Cassam:
Thank you for the beautiful card and your kind
message. Also, I appreciate your sending the informative
and alarming Guardian article concerning Iraqi and British
babies. I have forwarded it to my staff for review.
With gratitude for your thoughtfulness and best
wishes for the year ahead, I remain
Sincerely yours,
Hillary Hillang Rodham Rodham Clinton Clinton
year Mrs. Clinton,
I had the pleasure of meeting you
in ferera air May this year - we talked
of you visit to Tanzania
9 send you my best withes - fa
UNESCO
continued and fortitude- avdeal
and a speedy courage end to your article
MEILLEURS VŒUX
9 Iraqui
also send you this to
SEASON'S GREETINGS
on (and Britsin) babies - shave a net be feding
what is lappening
ANNAR CASSAM
this type of information may
DIRECTOR
getting through to you.
Sincere regards,
fund assam
BUREAU DE LIAISON, PALAIS DES NATIONS. 1211 GENEVE 10, SUISSE
Interview
Arts
Women
Plus
2
'I suppose you're
Zaha Hadid:
No room at the
probably
saviour of the
mother and baby
Media
EUROPE
married
,
South Bank?
unit. Sam Hart on
The women
James Hewitt
Jonathan
the crisis in
taking over the
talks to Sabine
Glancey
psychiatric care
BBC. Plus jobs
Durrant
*
makes a case
for mothers
10-13
5
7
8
The Guardian Monday December 21 1998 Pass Notes 3
Quick Crossword 15
Television, Radio & European Weather 16
Did we
do this?
Maggie O'Kane on
the hidden legacy
of the Gulf war
2 Monday December 21 1998 The Guardian
One million rounds of bullets tipped
with uranium were fired during the
Gulf war. They slice through tanks.
And this is what they do to humans
Maggie O'Kane reports on Iraq's deformed
power plants, DU is the heaviest
"We are getting a huge increase in
metal in the world. Britain
late miscarriages for unknown rea-
children, victims of a war they never knew
imported 500 tonnes from the US
sons. We're getting mothers as young
in 1981. Its attraction is that bullets
as 20 giving birth to mongol babies,
tipped with DU are so tough that
which shouldn't happen. My
he movement inside
100-hour ground war of February
In a Guardian investigation which
they can slice through tanks like a
research shows that the number of
her body is strange:
1991, coalition planes fired at least
has involved talking to doctors all
knife through butter.
children born with Down's syn-
different from her
one million rounds of ammunition
over central and southern Iraq
The problem is that when DU-
drome-type defects has tripled since
three other children.
coated in a radioactive material
inspecting maternity logs, birth
tipped bullets hit the target they
the war." She admits her statistics are
As Suad Jope waits for
known as depleted uranium, or DU.
defect registers and personal records
explode, sending millions of tiny
sketchy and that from her Baghdad
her birth-time, she
There is another explanation for
taken by midwives and paediatricians
radioactive particles into the atmos-
headquarters she can't monitor the
passes the hours and the spasms
this genetic plague: the environmen-
a terrifying pattern emerges. There
phere. "This is when it becomes most
whole country.
announcing it by sliding her back
tal pollution caused when chemical
has been a clear increase in birth
dangerous," says Arjun Makihani, the
Twenty-five-year old Dr Zenad
along the maternity corridor's grubby
and biological centres were blown up
defects, ranging from thalidomide-
President of the US Institute for
Mohammed is making her own
cream walls.
in an effort to "degrade" the Iraqi
type deformities to entire villages
Energy and Environmental
attempt to monitor the problem. She
It's night now, the early hours. In
arsenal. But radiation from depleted
where the children of different fami-
Research. Once released, the parti-
is five months pregnant and doing
the afternoon, her consultant, Dr
uranium rounds remains the most
lies are being born blind or with inter-
cles can be directly inhaled, can pol-
her maternity training in the Sad-
Haifa Ashahine, had stood over her
plausible explanation.
nal congenital defects in the heart
lute the water table and enter the
dam Hussein Teaching Hospital in
bed, taken a Biro from the left breast
"We know that depleted uranium
and lungs. The highest concentration
food chain, spreading radioactive
Basra a jumble of one-storey
pocket of her white doctor's coat and
is toxic and can cause diseases," says
is in the south of Iraq.
pollution over thousands of square
buildings with peeling white paint,
traced the spine of Suad's child, hold-
Dr Howard Urnovitz, a microbiolo-
Two hours south of the southern
miles. Exposure to this kind of radia-
filled with a pale odour of disinfec-
ing the X-ray above her head towards
gist who has testified before the Pres-
Iraqi city of Basra, the road comes to
tion, as well as to chemical pollution,
tant. Outside, two decorators are del-
a strip light on the ceiling.
idential Advisory Committee on Gulf
an abrupt stop at a fence of barbed
can cause genetic damage because of
icately crafting the green, white and
At 34, and already the mother of
War Veterans' Illnesses.
wire some eight metres high. This is
the ease with which the uranium can
orange stripes of the Iraqi flag on to
three children, Suad has been
"This is the beginning," says Dr
the controlled zone, a graveyard of
cross the placenta to the foetus(
the concrete. Dr Zenad is carrying
through this all before. Her heavy
Jawad-al Ali, a paediatrician and fel-
rusting Iraqi tanks riddled with bul-
According to the Department of
her first baby and she watches these
cotton nightgown is sprinkled with
low of the Royal College of Surgeons.
lets and abandoned there since the
Defense in the United States, at least
things very, very carefully. "I'm scan-
pale apple blossoms and hangs down
He is based in southern Iraq's largest
war. The Guardian was the first inde-
40 tonnes of DU were left on the bat-
ning myself every day. I know I
almost covering the puffy ankles of a
hospital and has spent three years
pendent foreign newspaper to enter
tlefields of southern Iraq.
shouldn't but I'm terrified."
woman approaching labour. That
researching congenital defects and
the region since the war. Using sim-
Professor Selma al-Taha is 62 and
For the past three months Dr
afternoon, Dr Haifa Ashahine had
cancers in children. "Something hap-
ple radiation Geiger counters, we
wears a finely woven headscarf of
Zenad, terrified of giving birth to a
stopped and said: "See, the spine
pened to our environment in that
measured high levels of radiation in
white silk over an impeccable bun.
deformed child, has been monitor-
ends here. There is no head."
war. Maybe it was DU or maybe it
the destroyed tanks and in the desert
From a pint-sized office on the fourth
ing the birth defects in their delivery
Dr Ashahine, a senior gynaecolo-
was the chemicals that were released
that surrounded them. Thesource of
floor of the Baab al-Muadam medical
room, where 20 to 30 babies are
gist at the Saddam Hussein Chil-
when we were bombed - we can't
the radiation was a substance that
college - dedicated, as every estab-
born daily. She keeps her findings in
dren's Hospital in southern Iraq, is
say for sure yet, but something has
had never been used in the battlefield
lishment in Iraq is, to Saddam Hussein
a hard-backed grey notebook. In a
not shocked. Ifit is not a child with-
happened to our environment.
before the Gulf war. Iraq became the
she runs the country's only func-
scrawny blue Biro she has divided
out a brain, then maybe it's one with
"We even see it in the plant and
laboratory for an untested and
tioning genetics laboratory. She stud-
the page into columns, in which she
a giant head, stumpy arms like those
agricultural life. Giant marrows,
unknown material DU.
ied for a masters degree in Human
writes the sexes, dates of birth and
of a thalidomide victim, two fingers
huge tomatoes it's clear that there
A byproduct of the manufacture
Genetics at Edinburgh University and
weights of the babies. In a fourth
instead of five, a heart with missing
has been some sort of genetic modi-
of nuclear weapons and energy pro-
worked in the Western General Hos-
column, she logs their deformities.
valves, missing ears. The deformities
fication since the war."
duction techniques used in nuclear
pital in the city. "Such a lovely city, so
She begins:
have one thing in common: they are
easy to get around,' she says. "And the
"August we had three babies
congenital.
pienies, I remember the pienies."
born with no head. Four had abnor-
In Iraq, the health authorities say
In 1975 she established the first
mally large heads. In September we
that at least three times more chil-
genetics laboratory in Iraq and is the
had six with no heads, none with
dren are being born with congenital
country's leading geneticist. "I first
large heads and two with short limbs.
deformities than before the Gulf war.
began noticing the increase around
In October, one with no head, four
Now, in both Britain and the United
1993," she says. "By the end of the
with big heads and four with
States, veterans of that same war are
year I was sure there was something
deformed limbs or other types of
coming forward with reports of sick
wrong. We've no idea of the real scale
deformities."
and dying children. In Britain, the
of it, because most of it is happening
Ministry of Defence has agreed to an
in the south and people nowadays
tuck up on the hot
£800,000 independent survey of
have no money to travel to the capi-
reproduction that will cover every
tal. Still, from the data it's clear that
veteran that served in the Gulf.
Last summer, the London School
plicated congenital defects that we
S
water boiler of a
kitchen in Wiltshire is
we were being presented with com-
a typewritten letter
from the London
of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
have either never seen before, or only
School of Hygiene and
carried out a pilot study of 400 vet-
very rarely seen.
Tropical Medicine. It is inviting Dar-
erans. On the basis of that, they have
"Something has happened to the
ren and Julia Office to take part in a
given the go-ahead for a survey of
environment since the war. It is true
survey to investigate the "effects of
every serviceman and woman who
that it could be pollution due to
serving in the Gulf war, and in the
served in the Gulf war. The study is to
smoke or chemicals. but the reason
armed forces in general, on repro-
include specific questions about
we believe the most probable cause is
duction and child health". Their
"occupation and environmental
radiation is because radiation is most
daughter Kimberley has a congenital
exposures". According to the MoD,
effective on a fast-changing organ-
deformity that affects her chromo-
no results will be available before the
ism like a foetus or a growing child.
somes. She is almost six, but the size
year 2000.
Also, the organs most susceptible to
of a three-year-old. Her deformity
The brutal irony is that the most
Legacy Iraqi health authorities report a tripling of deformed babies
radiation, after the kidneys, are the
has led to heart and lung problems.
likely origin of this gene-twisting force
since the end of the Gulf war
reproductive organ - the gonads
When it was diagnosed, their doctors
is not Iraqi, but Western. During the
ALL PHOTOGRAPHS JULIA GUEST
and the ovaries.
told them to go away and page 41
Pass notes
No 1320
Impeachment
Age: 622.
Appearance: Infrequent.
Come on, we all know this is
about Clinton. Who's that a
picture of? That's Warren
Hastings (1732-1818), the first
Governor-General of Bengal.
And what's he got to do with it?
Hastings was the Slick Willie of his
day. Chronically bogged down in
messy Anglo-Indian politics, he
returned to England to find himself
impeached in the House of Lords.
Don't tell me, he had an affair
with an intern and lied about it to
a special investigator? Not quite,
but the allegations against Hastings
wouldn't look out of place in the
modern world: there was a cash-for-
troops scandal, an extortion charge,
a bit of treaty-breaking
Sounds like the man was
completely corrupt: No, he wasn't.
But it took seven years and 145
sittings of the House of Lords to find
that out.
Even more deadly than reading
the Starr report, then: Indeed. The
Hastings impeachment was so
tedious, in fact, that the English
more or less dumped the procedure.
Only one Brit has been impeached
since — Lord Melville, in 1806.
When did Hastings's impeachment
happen? Well, Edmund Burke, the
great Whig, began proceedings in
1786, convinced Pitt the Younger of
his case, and the trial began in 1788.
Wasn't that Yes, exactly the time
the hallowed American Constitution
was being framed. It would appear
that the Hastings case excited the
founding fathers so much that they
slapped it into Article II, Section 4.
Even though we'd decided the
procedure was too long-winded:
There's also the small matter that
the British executive is responsible
to the House of Commons, which,
with a simple vote of no confidence,
can dump a prime minister any
time it likes.
And what happened to Warren?
He was acquitted on all charges, but
the trial left him a ruined man, and
only the generosity of the East India
Company saved him from poverty in
old age.
Any other great British
impeachments? Well, there was
the Archbishop of Canterbury,
William Laud, who was impeached
in 1640 for treason and beheaded on
Tower Hill
Now there's an idea.
1000 years in 500 days will
Monday December 21 1998 The Guardian
'In August we had three babies born with
no heads. In September we had six
. page 2enjoy her life because she
mities. We were two healthy young
sent from the south - oranges,
and have a look about. Lads lark-
might not have long. It was, they
people. We had no history of congen-
tomatoes, there isn't any way to con-
ing around."
said, "just one of those things".
ital illness."
trol the spread." The birth of
So far, only one British soldier has
Warminster is bleak on a wet Sat-
Darren went to the Gulf in Octo-
deformed babies is not confined to
been tested for DU: Ray Bristow,
urday in December. It is a military
ber 1990 with the Queen's Royal
the south.
who served with his unit on the
town with two army bases and an
Irish Hussars. For most of the war he
Dr Basma Al Asam has been a
notorious Basra Road. Bristow's test
unmanned train station with a
and his regiment were far from the
gynaecologist for 22 years. She
was carried out by Dr Asaf
screen that advises travellers to Lon-
fighting, but for the last seven days
works in the Al Manoor hospital in
Darakovic, associate member of the
don to change at Salisbury. The
they were at the front, at the Basra
Baghdad, one of the city's poorest.
American College of Physicians and
Offices' terraced home is comfort-
Road, where some of a heavy air
"I've been watching this for seven
professor of radiology and nuclear
able and their daughter, Kimberley,
bombardment in the final days of the
years now," she says, "and it is
medicine at Georgetown University
with her stack of books and Barbie
war led to the death of thousands. It
increasing and increasing. We're not
in Washington DC. He told Bristow
doll, gets the lavish love and care of a
was here that the greatest number of
just seeing babies born with con-
last month that a test had revealed
six-year-old whose suffering has
depleted uranium rounds were fired.
genital abnormalities, but very late
the level of radioactivity in his urine
broken her parents' heart. There is a
Darren and his unit reached the
spontaneous abortion because of
was 100 times greater than was safe.
Spice Girls video and a video
road after the dead had been looted
congenital defects. In the past we
Dr Darakovic also told Bristow that
recorder poised to tape their last
but before their bodies had been
used to see maybe one a month.
of 24 servicemen he tested for
Christmas together on the wine- and
removed: "We were on the road for
Now it is two or three cases per day.
radioactivity from the 144 New Jer-
purple-checked sofa before the
about 10 hours. It was after the
I've had three cases this morning
sey Transport and Resupply Corps,
arrival of the new baby.
ceasefire, and with a couple of the
and it's only 11.20."
14 out of 24 tested positive for
"I started to think about it when I
guys we went wandering through
The price of cleaning up the
radioactivity.
learned that out of the 27 in my
the wreckage. We had never heard
radioactive mess in the Persian Gulf is
At a two-day conference held in
group, three of us had children who
of depleted uranium and hadn't
families are the subject of a special
enormous. It would cost "billions"
Baghdad earlier this month to dis-
are sick," says Darren. "There was a
been warned about taking any
study by the Baghdad Genetic Clinic.
even if it were feasible, says Leonard
cuss the use of DU in the Gulf, there
baby that died at birth, another one
precautions."
"All their fathers served in the war,"
Dietz, an atomic who wrote a
was little outside interest. The
and our Kimberley. We were talking
says Professor Selma al- -Taha. "There
report for the US Energy Department.
agency news reports barely war-
among ourselves, and people were
he village of Abbarra is
is no history of any kind of congeni-
In the days that followed the
ranted a line of reporting in Britain
saying that there were too many sick
two hours' drive north
tal blindness and they are all from
retreat and defeat of Iraqi troops,
and the US. "The problem is that no
babies. It's the kiddies I'm thinking
of Baghdad, close to the
different families. The only other
thousands of coalition soldiers were
one is taking this seriously," says Dr
about."
Iranian border where
possibility is vitamin deficiency, but
on the ground among the radioac-
Sami-al Arajick, organiser of the con-
Julie is due to give birth to her sec-
the brick factories bake
they are farmers and relatively well
tive tanks. Some picked fragments
ference. "They are saying it is all Iraqi
ond child in three weeks. As the birth
mud in the traditional
off in that respect." One of the chil-
of bullets as souvenirs and wore
propaganda. But it is a nightmare
approaches, she is becoming more
way and the land is fertile with
dren, Azhar, is four. She moves across
them around their necks. "The Gulf
and it is not just us Iraqis who will
and more worried: "I just thought
aubergine and cucumber. In a com-
the mats of the meeting room, arms
war was the first time saw Soviet
find that out."
that we had to come forward and talk
pound, the neighbours have gath-
outstretched, feeling the air in front
tanks," says Chris Kornkven, who
"Do your people in England know
about this. There are a lot who don't,
ered, and hot, sweet tea from delicate
of her, calling for her father.
served with the US's 304th Combat
about this yet?" asks Professor
because they're still in the services
glasses is offered while the children of
The concern in Iraq is that the
Support Group. "Many of us started
Selma al-Taha. "They don't believe
and afraid of making a fuss. I can't
the blind families are sent for.
radiation from DU, which has a
climbing around in them." It was
us, do they?"
put my hand on my heart and say it
Since the war, five children from
radioactive half-life of at least 4,000
also common practice among
was the Gulf war - I don't know.
three separate families have been
years is spreading around the coun-
British soldiers. "We all did it," says
1: Research carried at Oak Ridge National
Nobody knows yet. But there are too
born here in this tiny village with a
try. "It's in the food chain now," says
Darren Office. "A gang of us would
Laboratories which controversially used
many people talking about the defor-
strange congenital blindness. These
uranium compounds to trace the passage of
Professor al-Taha. "Dates are being
go out - not too far from our tanks
calcium from the placenta to the foetus
Deformed
(right) baby
beng treated for
a congenital
head growth;
and (above) a
mother tends
her child, who
has leukaemia
DANOU
ENTERPRISES, INC.
Dendoner
WORLDWIDE TRADING
SPECIAL PROJECTS PLANNING & DEVELOPMENT
Via Facsimile Transmission
November 15, 1996
Melanne Verveer
The White House
Dear Melanne:
Congratulations to the President and the First Lady for their
sweeping re-election victory. American voters certainly were
justified and the countless hours of hard work you and others put
in are to be commended.
As you know, several weeks ago I had the honor to be present
at Maryanne Alix's luncheon with Mrs. Clinton and spoke with her
about the suffering children of Iraq She responded by saying that
she wanted to look into this matter, but not until after the
elections. I hope I am not adding to your busy schedule, but the
situation in Iraq has not gotten any better and, if anything, is
worse. As you know, one of the greatest concerns is to make
certain that any humanitarian aid or assistance with food and
medical products is delivered and received as intended by the
needy. I will be more than willing to take a leadership role to
develop such a plan as well as to solicit private donations to
provide a short term solution until the U.N. Resolution 986 or some
other governmental solution is available. In order for such a plan
to be successful, it must be undertaken under a legitimate
structure that has the approval of the U.S. and the U.N. I am
available to meet with you or anyone else that Mrs. Clinton feels
should be involved to begin this work.
Reports of famine and starvation were recently documented in
the Detroit Free Press (I have included a copy of the article for
your information). America and its citizens have a long history of
providing aid to disadvantaged children around the world and I hope
that a program can be started to deal with the needs of the Iraqi
children.
I look forward to hearing from you on this matter at your
earliest opportunity.
Sincerely,
Sam A. Danou
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