The Iraq War from a Doctor’s Point of View

by Dahlia Wasfi, M.D.

(Dr. Dahlia Wasfi was the guest speaker at the Pacem in Terris Annual Dinner on October 16, 2008 in Wilmington, DE. This article is based on some of the text portions of her PowerPoint presentation which Dr. Wasfi kindly made available to the Editor and on notes taken by the Editor. Because her talk was so wide-ranging in scope and covered a variety of topics, this article only deals with health issues.)

Dr. Wasfi reminded us that a few decades ago, the republic of Iraq had a first-world healthcare system known as ‘the jewel of the Arab world.’ The World Health Organization before the first Gulf War stated that Iraq had a “,,,first class range of medical facilities,” and people from other countries in the Middle East often sought medical treatment in Iraq. However, the quality of medical care changed drastically during the first Gulf War in 1991, because of the systematic bombing and destruction of electricity power grids and water sewage treatment plants. The damage to the infrastructure incapacitated Iraq’s public health services, disrupted primary health care, and ended preventative services. Economic sanctions during the next 13 years stifled reconstruction and blocked medications, medical journals, and equipment from entering the country. Since the ‘Shock and Awe’ invasion of 2003, occupation has further devastated Iraq’s hospitals. U.S. and U.K. military use of depleted uranium since 1991 has brought cancer and death to the Iraqi people and to members of the Coalition Military.

One of the reasons that depleted uranium weapons were developed is because when uranium is mined, only .7% of it can be used commercially by the nuclear power industry or in nuclear weapons manufacturing. The other 99.3% is radioactive waste, so there was an interest in trying to find a use for it. Uranium is the most dense material on earth with a half-life of 4.5 billion years. The military discovered that when depleted uranium was added to the tips of anti-tank shells, it could penetrate the tanks “like a hot knife through butter.” The depleted uranium burns and aerosolizes upon impact, releasing tiny, tiny particles of radiation into the air, water, and sand. These particles have caused tons of radioactive microscopic contamination and have penetrated the skin and vital organs of persons exposed to them. Major Doug Rokke, the Pentagon’s top geoscientist was sent to Iraq to evaluate the effects of the use of Depleted Uranium in Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War and his findings were so devastating, that the Pentagon fired him. During the first Gulf War, we used 300 tons of depleted uranium weapons, mostly in Southern Iraq, but it was also used during the NATO bombing in Yugoslavia, in Afghanistan, and in during the Iraq War. Now over 2,000 tons of it have been used. Dr. Wasfi believes that we should test every soldier returning from Iraq and Afghanistan for exposure to depleted uranium. However, the blood test for DU costs $1,000, so it is much cheaper for the Pentagon and the Veterans Administration to refuse to recognize the health consequences of exposure to DU and to insist that Gulf War Syndrome is unrelated to DU. There have been lots of tiny victims of Desert Storm not only in Iraq, but also in the U.S. There has been an increase in abnormalities among the children of U.S. soldiers who were exposed to DU during the first Gulf War. Besides babies born with missing limbs, there has also been a cluster of Goldenhar Syndrome -- a hitherto rare congenital disorder that involves facial asymmetry and sometimes breathing difficulties, sleep apnea, mental retardation, other physical abnormalities, and allergies. 

In Iraq there has been a 600% increase in infant mortality and a 300% increase in pediatric leukemia and lymphomas. Before the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, most of the cancer cases in children were seen in the southern part of Iraq. However, now there are increased rates in Baghdad and the Arabic Children’s Hospital is seeing four new cases a week. The public health infrastructure which was incapacitated by the first Gulf War, spiking an increase in Acute Lower Respiratory Infections, Diarrhea, and Measles and other vaccine-preventable communicable diseases. Acute Lower Respiratory Infections and Diarrhea account for 70% of the deaths of Iraqi children under the age of 5. There were major Cholera outbreaks in 1998, 2002, and 2003. Dysentery was endemic in Iraq following the 1991 Gulf War because of the destruction of electricity and sewage treatment plants, overcrowded conditions, and the lack of sanitation facilities.

A survey of 13 hospitals in Baghdad from April 2004 through January 2005 revealed a lack of equipment and resources due to sanctions and looting, no funds from the U.S. or the Iraqi Ministry of Health, and an increased number of patients. Doctors now say that they were getting fewer medical supplies than they did during the period of the U.N. sanctions. Before the invasion they had a much better supply situation that was 80% better than what they are experiencing now. Many hospitals have received no funds from the monies appropriated by the U.S. Congress for reconstruction.

For the U.S. military to interfere with patient care is a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. In Article 55, it states, “ To the fullest extent of the means available to it, the Occupying Power has the duty of ensuring the food and medical supplies of the population; it should in particular, bring in the necessary foodstuffs, medical stores and other articles if the resources of the occupied territory are in adequate…” Article 56 goes on to state, “To the fullest extent of the means available to it, the Occupying Power has the duty of ensuring and maintaining, with the cooperation of national and local authorities, the medical and hospital establishments and services, public health and hygiene in the occupied territory, with particular reference to the adoption and application of the prophylactic and preventive measures necessary to combat the spread of contagious diseases and epidemics. Medical personnel of all categories shall be allowed to carry out their duties…”

Before the Shock/Awe invasion of Iraq, there were 34,000 Iraqi physicians to serve 28 million Iraqis. Now that number has dwindled to an estimated 9,000 Iraqi physicians and 15,000 nurses. The distribution of doctors and nurses has been adversely affected and they are now almost completely absent from remote and rural parts of the country. Many junior staff and student are often providing whatever care they can, but it is inadequate. The Iraqis call the health care system “beheaded.” Since the start of the Iraq War, 2,000 Iraqi physicians have been murdered, 250 have been kidnapped, 164 nurses have been murdered, and 77 nurses have been wounded.

The U.S. Administration set aside $243,000,000 to build 142 private health clinics in post-invasion Iraq. By April of 2006 only 20 clinics had been built and none of the rest of the money was left or accounted for. Today 70% of the deaths of Iraqi children are caused by easily treatable conditions such as Diarrhea and respiratory infections. There has been a breakdown in infant immunizations and since 2003, 270,000 Iraqi children have received no immunizations.

Currently 68% of the Iraqis have no access to safe drinking water and 19% of Iraqis have no sewerage access. According to the International Red Cross reports that there are mass casualties, malnutrition, and power and water shortages in Iraq. The report states, “The plight of Iraqi civilians is a daily reminder of the fact that there has long been a failure to respect their lives and dignity.”

The first step in ending the genocide in Iraq is the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of foreign military forces from Iraq. Only then can the healing begin.

War has takes a terrible toll on the warriors. Although the Pentagon estimates that 1 in 3 U.S. military personnel returning from Iraq and Afghanistan suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Dr. Wasfi says that it is really three out of three. When servicepersons are about to return home, they are given a questionnaire to fill out to screen for PTSD. If you say “yes” to any of the questions, the military will keep you longer, so there is little incentive to be honest about one’s suffering. These soldiers and marines return and self-medicate with alcohol, drugs, and their untreated condition often leads to domestic violence, homelessness, and suicide. Each day in the United States there are nineteen soldiers and marines who commit suicide because they cannot live with what they saw and did in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thirty-eight percent of the homeless men in the U.S. are veterans.

Each of us has a part to play in stopping the bloodshed that has caused the deaths of between 1.2 and 1.5 million Iraqis and forced more than 5 million Iraqis to become refugees. We are all accountable, from privates to chickenhawks to you and me, because all of the carnage is being done in our name.

What do we do? We end the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. How do we do it? It is up to all of us. We need to support education, support the environment, support the arts, support the sciences, support our passion, and follow our hearts …. To SPEAK OUT!

We must never ever give up. Iraqis persist for justice. Afghanis persist for justice. Americans persist for justice. The world persists for justice. TOGETHER WE PERSIST FOR JUSTICE.

Dr. Dahlia Wasfi’s powerful and passionate speech at the Pacem in Terris Annual Dinner

was illustrated by slides of her Iraqi relatives and Iraqi civilians, mainly women and children, who have suffered terribly as a result of “shock and awe,” depleted uranium, cluster bombs, death squads, rape and torture. [Editor’s note: Dahlia’s images were so moving, haunting, and soul-searing, that it was very difficult to take coherent notes, so I am very grateful to her for making her notes available to me]. Other aspects of her speech are contained in the articles reprinted in this issue of Delmarva PEACEWORK from her website www.liberatethis.com

Dahlia Wasfi has spoken to over 200 audiences in the United States, including the U.S. Congress, and at international conferences. Videos of some of her talks are available on her website and on YouTube. She recently moved from Colorado to Wilmington, DE where she is continuing to be a voice for Iraqi people and other victims of occupation who live daily with the reality that “War is not healthy for children and other living things.”