Twenty years backwards THE French commission of inquiry "Truth about the Gulf War" (see International Viewpoint no. 204, April 15, 1991) spent several days in Iraq, during which time they attempted to get precise facts about the destruction wrought by the coalition forces, and distinguish this from the consequences of the civil war.
The independent commission is sponsored by many well-known figures on the left in France, Involved in the Communist Party, the left of the Socialist Party, the ground air force and other bunkers, and roads and railways, to make transport and communication difficult. It seems that there were few mistakes in these operations.
The third and final category were those that took place in the south, around Basra. Here almost everything was destroyed. Military targets were destroyed, largely without error, but at the same time civilian targets were hit unintentionally. For example, in Basra we saw two villa-lined roads that had been totally destroyed, although there was no military installation in the vicinity. These roads are now being cleared by bulldozers. Six hundred civilians died here - thus it is clear that there were sizeable civilian losses in the war.
Some 7 to 8% of the material used was high tech. Such weapons are very expensive
We publish below the first reactions of the commission of appeared in the French in its May 30 issue.
DOCUMENT BOO MENS
HAT weapons were used by the coalition forces? General Gallois: The coalition forces had three categories of aims and methods.
There were what I might call acts of spectacular destruction, to show Baghdad what American high technology was capable of. Thus, buildings of no military interest were destroyed near to a hotel full of journalists, to show the latter that the Americans could destroy buildings without suffering any loss. Thus the Palace of Congresses, the Ministry of Light Industry, the Interior Ministry and a telephone exchange were destroyed. This was not strictly anything to do with the liberation of Kuwait, but these were very selective operations which were highly successful from a technical point of view.
Then there were another series of attacks of strictly military importance away from the capital and journalists -26 the destruction of bridges, means of communications, relay stations, of underInternational Viewpoint #209 • June 24, 1991 timetres and were, in my judgement, used sparingly. Otherwise traditional arms were used, often old weapons coming from Vietnam war stocks. They were efficiently used and caused considerable damage. Thus, again in Basra, we saw the crater made by a 500 kilo bomb, some 15 metres from the front of a big hospital; all the hospital's windows had been smashed and the walls knocked down. In the intensive care unit, there were fragments of shells 30 centimetres in diameter some eight or ten cenfrom the head of the patient. It
500 metres away. This is hardly surgical precision, except in an ironic sense.
We also saw destruction that seemed to have been inflicted gratuitously: com silos, electric pylons, petrol stations, dairies — we verified the destruction of one of the latter. All this can of course be explained as the inevitable accompaniments of war — always a horrible thing - but in that case they should not have announced to the world that this was to be a "clean war". Perhaps they wanted a clean war but it was a dirty one. The disinformation on this point has been striking. The information that was given out was copious but partial. All kinds of military - above all technological — virtues were presented as fact when they had not all been realized.
Antoine Comte: We all agreed that much of the destruction that we saw did not seem to have anything to do with the UN mandate, which insisted that the occupation of Kuwait end. We saw destroyed factories, hospitals damaged, sometimes indirectly, the whole road system has been destroyed, as have bridges in all directions - temporary bridges have been borrowed. This is the first problem which concerns us and also the French government which took part in this.
The second problem is that we saw things that ran totally contrary to what is called the law of war. We saw ambulances and buses that had been machinegunned.
Malek Boutih: There seems to have been two wars. There was the war of Baghdad, which was very meticulous, very high tech, and the up country war, which was rather less meticulous, where, when dealing with a bridge, a residential district near by would also be hit; while knocking out a factory, another adjacent district would be hit and so on. It is outside Baghdad that the big losses were suffered, in my view. And it is there that people are facing the biggest economic and food difficulties.
What people there are now expecting from the Western and other coalition countries is not that the whole thing is put behind them, not that everything is regretted, not that all the debates are gone over once more, but that the Iraqi people are not left to die in these conditions, while the coalition washes its hands of all responsibility.
It was not the ordinary people who were responsible for what happened, but it is they who are now paying the price. • What about the suction bombs?
General Gallois: We went to the Kuwaiti frontier to find the famous road along which the Iraqi troops retreated. That road is strewn with a huge number of burnt out vehicles. The paint has been burnt away to reveal the scorched steel. This was done after Kuwait had been freed. This was the destruction of a retreating army — not very glorious. These shells, the so-called Fuel air explosives, produce heat comparable to a single kilotonne atomic bomb. While it is not certain, I have the impression that such weapons had been used against these vehicles. • What is your estimate of the number of the war's victims?
General Gallois: The Iraqis do not want to give these figures out of pride. They do not want to admit to their misery, which they feel ashamed of. According to current figures, there were perhaps 15,000 military fatalities - this is certainly an under-estimate — and 25,000 civilians killed, which is possible. Then there has been the civil war, that is to say the Kurdish rebellion in the north and the Shi'ite rebellion in the south, and the repression against these. A figure of 30,000 victims of these conflicts has been
Greens, the LCR (French section of the Fourth International, and others. Inquiry as they got off the plane in Jordan on May 25. This material first revolutionary Marxist weekly Rouge seems that the target was a bridge some
IRAQ given.
To this should be added the 1,800,000 Iraqis who have fled their homes, 1,200,000 in the direction of Iran (Kurds and Shi'ites) and 600,000 Kurds towards Turkey. These latter have been able to return thanks to the efforts of the UN. I have been struck by the role of television in this; the media had access to the north and the international community was moved to action. There was no TV coverage of what was happening in the south, and nobody has taken any interest in the Shi'ites. Thus, law and morality are dictated by the TV. • What currently faces the Iraqis?
General Gallois: First of all Iraq, a country that was emerging from underdevelopment, is probably going to lose 15 or 20 years. Then, it is absolutely essential that the present sanctions are lifted. They are illegal; there is no UN resolution stating that the Iraqi government does not have the right to feed its people. Iraq imports 70% of its food, but there have been no imports for eight of nine months owing to the embargo. Thus, this country is being starved by an international community that seems indifferent to suffering.
The first measure is to lift the sanctions to permit the import of food and medicines, both of which are urgently needed. After that there could perhaps be negotiations over some kind of political measures of economic reparation. But for the moment the main thing is that the Iraqi kinds of disease due to a lack of medicine and care. There is a great urgency from this point of view. There is a fear that the losses of the war will be supplemented by postwar losses. This is why it is urgently necessary to take measures to supply the population with what they need.
Douceline Bonvalet: The primary problem is water. This has been rendered acute by the destruction of the purification plant in Baghdad and the canals in a country where water is hard to find, and people find themselves obliged to drink polluted water, with a risk of catastrophic epidemics. These have not yet occurred, but we read in a Baghdad journal that 30 cases of cholera have shown up in the Baghdad region.
Further problems result from the ten months long embargo, as well as the war itself. Thus far there is undernourishment rather than famine. But such under-nourishment can have very serious consequences for infants. They are not yet dying from hunger, but their resistance to disease has been reduced, and dehydration occurs more easily. On average, families have cut their food consumption by half. This is not yet famine, but such a level of nutrition can have very serious consequences. This is getting worse by the day, and, if the embargo is not lifted, deaths will result.
The embargo is also affecting the supply of medicines which are almost all imported. The Iraqis are using up their stocks and doctors are reducing their prescriptions. But it hard to tell at what point a reduced prescription loses all value. Vaccinations are also a problem. The lack of milk - which is all imported -is also a serous problem for children. Thus the embargo is an underhand way of condemning people to a slow death. • What is the military situation of Iraq?
Iraq's military capacity has been considerably reduced by the war. On a legal point, it should be pointed out that there is no UN resolution stating that Iraq's future military potential should be destroyed. Now, this potential has been destroyed. The considerable sums invested to build up this potential have been lost. More conventional military potential has been considerably damaged, and Iraq is certainly militarily much weaker than it was.
At the same time the country's infrastructure has suffered. Between 150 and 165 bridges have been destroyed. A considerable effort has been made over the past decade to build up the country's transport system. Iraq has excellent threelane highways, but all the river crossings have been destroyed. Rebuilding the bridges will be expensive and will divert resources away from development.
Iraq will go backwards. This is the result of serious mistakes by the Iraqi leaders, but the human problem remains. This is why we are demanding the ending of sanctions. * people should not have to pay for the misdeeds of their leaders. When Mr. Bush says that Mr.Saddam Hussein must go at any price, he is claiming a right to interfere which has not before been recognized in international law. It is up to the Iraqi people to decide if they want to keep Saddam Hussein as president or not, and not a choice for the president of the United States.
It seems that the total number of victims of this war will be between 100 and 150,000. However this figure will grow. In 1992, 200,000 children will probably die of the effects of what they have lived through - dehydration, pollution, enterogastrites and all
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ALGERIA
State of siege THREE weeks before the country's first multiparty national elections, Algeria's president Chadli Benjedid announced a state of emergency and changed the head of the government - despite the fact that, a few days before, everything had looked rosy for the regime.
On June 7 the new government promised presidential and legislative elections for this year, and the fundamentalists of the FIS rescinded their unlimited general strike call. However the regime has proceeded with the arrest of a number of fundamentalist milltants.