Films on Iraq

UK/Iraq, 2000, 75 min., video

20 Jul 2000 18:33:07 -0000

This documentary by John Pilger showed the shocking realities of everyday life in Iraq since the imposition of UN Security Council sanctions nine years ago.

In the documentary, the award-winning journalist and filmmaker takes the former Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations Denis Halliday back to the crippled country for the first time since he resigned in protest over the sanctions in September 1998.

Together, they reveal an extraordinary portrait of life in a country with a decaying infrastructure and a population that Pilger says is being held hostage to the compliance of Saddam Hussein.

The UN Security Council imposed the sanctions and demanded the destruction of Saddam's chemical and biological weapons under the supervision of a UN Special Commission (UNSCOM). Iraq is permitted to sell a limited amount of oil in exchange for some food and medicine.

But Pilger brought back disturbing evidence that the 'holds' on humanitarian supplies -- as wide-ranging as vital medicines, heart and lung machines, agricultural supplies and even detergent -- has paralyzed the country and devastated millions of people, many dying from curable diseases because life-saving drugs are, at best, only available intermittently.

He also found that the breakdown of the clean water system and health facilities are having a particularly tragic effect on young children, contributing to an alarming rise in their mortality rate -- an estimated 150 a day.

Among those Pilger interviews are doctors throughout Iraq, representatives of the US government, the UN secretary-general Kofi Annan and his predecessor Boutros Boutros-Ghali.

In addition to its remarkable detailing of the humanitarian crisis in Iraq, as well as the failures of the Oil for Food programme, this documentary "breaks the mold" by interviewing US and British officials and ambassadors in support of the sanctions. The faulty reasoning that underlies the sanctions regime is brilliantly exposed. "Paying the Price"is also ground-breaking in its exquisite portrayal of the depth and richness of Iraqi history and culture.

The same week this 75 minute documentary was aired on British ITV to three million viewers, the BBC twice led its 9-O'Clock Nightly News with sanctions reports and The Guardian, The New Statesman, and The Independent each delivered a stinging series of articles. The Economist (April 8-14) dissected sanctions powerfully and called for a change in policy.

" Many other people who saw the programme must have been similarly appalled, and it may be that it will ultimately be seen as a turning point, a moment when public opinion began to come out strongly against the sanctions policy and influence our leaders to abandon it. I sincerely hope so." - William Radice in The Statesman (Calcutta and New Delhi)