Passive Genocide In Iraq
By Gideon Polya
11 March, 2005
Countercurrents.org
A fundamental obligation of an Occupier country is to provide resources necessary for the basic physical survival of the citizens of the invaded and Occupied country.
Mass mortality in an Occupied country in the absence of provision of requisite medical services by the Occupiers is a war crime that can be categorized as "passive genocide".
What is the Occupier medical expenditure versus the avoidable death situation for the subject people of Occupied Iraq?
In short, the 2004 per capita medical expenditure in Occupied Iraq has been about 100 times LESS than that in the Occupier country Australia and this is reflected in an avoidable under-5 infant mortality that is about 100 times GREATER in Iraq.
The Anglo-American Coalition is clearly guilty of horrendous, continuing passive genocide in Occupied Iraq. The basis for this finding is briefly set out below together with requisite references to reputable sources of the underlying information.
Data published recently in the British Medical Journal indicate that in 2004 the per capita medical expenditure in Occupied Iraq was only US$37 [1].
In stark contrast, the 2004 per capita medical expenditure in the Occupier country Australia can be estimated to have been US$3,100 from data published by AIHW, Australia's national agency for health and welfare statistics [2].
The latest UNICEF report (March, 2005) estimates that for the year 2003 the under-5 infant mortality was 110,000 in Occupied Iraq, 292,000 in Occupied Afghanistan and 1,000 in the invading and occupying country Australia (noting that these countries have populations of about 25, 24 and 20 million, respectively) [3].
It can be estimated that the post-invasion under-5 infant mortality in Occupied Iraq has been about 0.2 million. However the total post-invasion avoidable mortality in Occupied Iraq can be estimated from UN [4] and medical literature [5] data to be 0.4 million as outlined below.
According to the top medical journal The Lancet: "the crude mortality rate during the period of war and occupation was 12.3 per 1000 people per year" [5]. In comparison, a conservative estimate of what it SHOULD BE is 4.0 per thousand per year based on current death rates in Iraq's impoverished but peaceful neighbours Jordan and Syria [4]. The "excess" or "avoidable" post-invasion mortality rate is accordingly 12.3 - 4.0 = 8.3 per 1000 people per year. Assuming an Iraqi population of 25 million, the excess mortality (avoidable mortality) after 2 years of UK-US occupation has been 8.3 x 25,000 x 2 = 415,000 = 0.4 million.
It has been estimated, from data published by the UN [4], UNICEF [3] and in the top UK medical journal The Lancet [5], that the under-5 infant mortality and excess mortality (avoidable mortality) have been 1.2 million and 1.5 million, respectively, for Iraq since 1991; 0.2 million and 0.4 million, respectively, for Iraq since the 2003 invasion; and 0.9 million and 1.2 million, respectively, for Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion [6].
Iraq Body Count [7] and Iraq Body Count Visual Aid [8] record VIOLENT post-invasion civilian deaths in Iraq (currently totalling about 16,000-19,000 as of March 2005). However whether an AVOIDABLE adult or child death in Occupied Iraq is VIOLENT or NON-VIOLENT (such as through deprivation or untreated and avoidable disease), the end result is the same and the CULPABILITY the same [9]. Of course, mainstream Anglo-American media will effectively report neither the violent nor the non-violent civilian death totals for Occupied Iraq.
Finally, in assessing Occupier Coalition RESPONSIBILITY for this carnage in Occupied Iraq it is useful to turn to an internationally pre-eminent bio-ethicist. Princeton's Professor of Bio-ethics, Peter Singer, has been acclaimed as the most influential living philosopher and has caused considerable controversy by his arguments concerning "passive" versus "active" euthanasia of severely disabled infants.
Professor Peter Singer's views on the deliberate witholding of medical care from infants are crucially relevant to deliberate, racist Coalition neglect and consequent horrendous, avoidable mass infant mortality in Occupied Iraq: "Doctors who deliberately leave a baby to die when they have the awareness, the ability, and the opportunity to save the baby's life, are just as morally responsible for the death as they would be if they had brought it about by a deliberate positive action" [10].
Peter Singer further states:"We are responsible not only for what we do but also for what we could have prevented...We should consider the consequences of what we do and what we decide not to do" [11].
We are obliged to inform everyone about the mass infanticide, mass murder and passive genocide by US-UK "democratic imperialism" that is continuing unabated in Occupied Iraq.
[1]. Fiona Fleck, British Medical Journal vol. 328, p1280, 2004.
[2]. Australian Institute of Health & Welfare (AIHW), 2004
(http://www.health.gov.au/internet/wcms/publishing.nsf/Content/haf-ozhealth-index/$FILE/tablesup.pdf).
[3] UNICEF report (March, 2005) (http://www.unicef.org/).
[4] UN Population Division Projections(http://esa.un.org/unpp/index.asp?panel=2).
[5]. Les Roberts et al., The Lancet (Online, 29 October 2004; print version vol. 364(9448) pp1857-1864, 2004).
[6] For detailed articles on global, Iraqi and Afghan avoidable mortality and under-5 infant mortality see Gideon Polya website at: http://members.optusnet.com.au/~gpolya/links.html.
[7]. Iraq Body Count (http://www.iraqbodycount.net/).
[8]. Iraq Body Count Visual Aid (http://www.mykeru.com/bodycount.html).
[9]. Gideon Polya, Australasian Science, June 2004, p43. ( http://www.control.com.au/bi2004/255conScience.pdf ).
[10]. Helga Kuhse & Peter Singer (1985) "Should the Baby Live?"
[11]. Peter Singer (2000) "Writings on an Ethical Life".
Dr Gideon Polya published some 130 works in a 4 decade scientific career, most recently a huge pharmacological reference text "Biochemical Targets of Plant Bioactive Compounds" (Taylor & Francis, New York & London, 2003), and is currently writing a book on global mortality (numerous articles on this matter can be found by a simple Google search for "Gideon Polya" and on his website: http://members.optusnet.com.au/~gpolya/links.html)Dr Gideon Polya
29 Dwyer Street, Macleod, Melbourne, Victoria, 3085, Australia
e-mail: gpolya@optusnet.com.au
website: http://members.optusnet.com.au/~gpolya/links.html
Day & night telephone: +61 3 9459 3649
