Life is good. The two "major" presidential candidates promise to make it better. The vital question, of course, is: make it better for whom?

I'd like to share with you something that neither Gore nor Bush will be discussing tonight during what Orwellian observers refer to as "the presidential candidate debates." What they won't be "debating" is the genocide going on in Iraq. But from the Gore-Bush perspective: what's the point in debating over something they both wholeheartedly support?

I asked former UNSCOM weapons inspector Scott Ritter, a McCain supporter and proud independent Republican, about U.S. "policy" toward Iraq. He stopped me in mid-question.

"It's not a policy," he said. "It's genocide. It's murder." And there is no indication, Ritter said, that this genocide will change under either a Bush or Gore administration.

The media-suppressed UNICEF number of civilian deaths directly attributable to the sanctions stands at about 6,000 per month. That's right, 6,000 per month. We're talking 72,000 innocent people a year, for the past 10 years.

Or to break that number down another way, UNICEF reported in April 1998 that "approximately 250 people die every day as a direct result of U.N. sanctions" - sanctions imposed by the United States under the auspices of the U.N. Security Council. (World government conspiracy theorists take note: the U.S. acts unilaterally whenever American foreign policy planners see fit.)

Of course, moral equivocation in foreign policy discussions, in which all of this is laid at the feet of Hussein alone, is commonplace. Not only does such a view reflect a real ignorance of Iraqi society before and after the Gulf War, it's also blatantly illogical.

I don't mean to ridicule or be ridiculous but it's the same illogic that says: Hey, since my spouse continues to be unfaithful to me, I will continue to be unfaithful to my spouse. That's a rationalization, not justification.

Before the war, Iraq had a world-renowned health care system and Saddam's government provided free food and medicine for any Iraqi civilian who couldn't afford it. What plausible reason would Saddam have to go from that to killing 5,000 Iraqi children under the age of 5 every month? He's a dictator, not stupid.

Furthermore, the way the Iraqi government is set up, even if Saddam were to die tomorrow, the regime he directs would still be intact. That's not Iraqi propaganda. Go check it out for yourself.

Besides, the devastating impact that the sanctions are having is exactly what our policy planners intended - by their own admission. Col. John Warden, on national television, said we destroyed Iraq's water treatment facilities to give us "long-term leverage." Not only is that an admission of U.S. responsibility in civilian deaths, it's also an admission of a war crime.

Now, expert medical opinion agrees: an enormous amount of Iraqi deaths could be prevented if uncontaminated water could be made available throughout the country. But, under the sanctions, chlorine and coagulates - indispensable materials for water purification - are banned because they've been deemed "for-military use" by the Sanctions Committee.

Out in Minneapolis, members of Veterans for Peace, Chapter 27, are leaving for Iraq today to begin rebuilding water systems destroyed during the war.

"Returning to the former war zone, working directly on community projects and returning to places where they served helps veterans heal the legacy of war," says VFP national board member Fred Champagne.

A group of veteran volunteers are going to Abul Khaseeb, a suburb of Basrah, Iraq's second largest city. The former farming and fishing region with a population of about 150,000 is one of the most war-ravaged areas in all of Iraq. As has the entire southern part of Iraq, the Basrah region continues to be hit with a high concentration of uranium depleted bombs, dropped from U.S. and British aircraft. As a result, cancer rates have jumped astronomically.

According to VFP, "Not only does Veterans for Peace plan on raising the money to repair those (water treatment) facilities, teams of U.S. service veterans will work on the repairs." Not only are these veterans not being paid for the work, they're even paying for their own travel expenses. But they need money for equipment and to hire Iraqi workers - all of this being coordinated in conjunction with the highly esteemed humanitarian organization, Life for Relief and Development.

This effort has received the permission of the Iraqi and U.S. governments. Support our troops. Write Veterans for Peace Iraq Water Project, P.O. Box 532, Bayside, CA 95524 or call (202) 347-6780.

Sean Gonsalves is a Cape Cod Times staff writer and syndicated columinist.

Copyright © 2000 Cape Cod Times

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