Dr Samir Rihani is an Iraqi living in the UK, a chartered civil engineer, a transportation planner, a chartered marketing specialist, PhD in in development studies, an academic consultant, lecturer, and researecher. Author of ."Complex Systems Theory and Development Practice" (2002) he is prresently a Research Fellow and lectures on human and economic development and International Political Economy to third year and postgraduate students at the School of Politics and Communication, University of Liverpool, UK (see:
http://www.globalcomplexity.org/DrSamirRihani.htm
).
Dr Samir Rihani on the Iraqi Holocaust and Iraqi Genocide from colonial occupation, dictatorship, the Iran-Iraq war, Gulf War, sanctions and occupation, outlining UK, US, Israeli, UN and indigenous Iraqi complicity (2004): "The Washington based Institute for Policy Studies published a report in June 2004 to chronicle the horrendous costs of the illegal 2003 war on Iraq. Dwelling on this latest episode, however, obscures the fact that the intentional and systematic 'scourging of Iraq', the title of a powerful book by Geoff Simons, began decades before. Iraqis cannot forgive or forget this process of wanton destruction in which their own leaders as well as external powers led by the USA were the main villains. Neither can they ignore the role played by the UN as willing tool and legitimising authority for the horrors heaped on their head. The current unrest is prompted by a great deal more than just resistance to occupation by foreign forces...Again, war was not deemed enough. Preparation for the next stage was meticulous. Propaganda, misinformation, and outright lies were used on a scale that dwarfs Britain's infamous dossier and other mind-making efforts associated with the 2003 war. The tool chosen was sanctions; described by Woodrow Wilson as the 'silent deadly remedy'. And so it proved to be for the majority of ordinary Iraqis. The ruling elite, by contrast, grew stronger and benefited hugely. The UN, under pressure from the US government, imposed a strict regime of sanction on Iraq that was maintained for thirteen years. The ensuing devastation was on a biblical scale. The genocide inflicted by the sanctions on Iraqi people is well documented. The damage was clear as early as late-1991 when a Harvard team published their shocking report. However, the most disturbing accounts came from UN agencies and their staff in Iraq. Denis Halliday and Hans von Sponeck, who resigned in disgust, are prime examples.The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation reported in 1995 that "more than one million Iraqis have died- 567,000 of them children- as a direct result of the economic sanctions. Madeleine Albright thought that price was acceptable. It seems astonishing, but some commentators still hold that viewpoint today (see Foreign Affairs, July-August 2004).And the carnage mounted despite the sham of the oil-for-food programme introduced in 1996 and the 'smart' sanctions of 2000. A whole generation of children was blighted, hundreds of thousands perished, and highly qualified people left the country in droves. As promised by James Baker in 1991, Iraq regressed to the pre-industrial age. And remember, this is before one shot had been fired in the 2003 war." [1].
[1]. Dr Samir Rihani, “Iraq’s Holocaust”, 30 August 2004: http://www.globalcomplexity.org/Iraq%27sHolocaust.htm .