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Life in Iraq before military action (last updated October 1, 2004)
Fahrenheit 9/11 shows some images of civilian life in Baghdad just before the war in Iraq. Some have criticized such images as depicting civilian life in an overly sympathetic light.
Under Saddam Hussein, power was concentrated into a one-party apparatus that particularly benefited one religious group, the Sunni Arabs that make up about 12-15 percent of the population, as well as members of Hussein's extended family and tribes. For such people, life in Hussein's Iraq probably was as good as was depicted in the movie. Such citizens appear to have had a decent life, and members of Hussein's extended family reportedly enjoyed lives of luxury and privilege.
At the same time, many Iraqi citizens - especially the Kurds in northern Iraq and the Shi'a Muslims in the southern marshes - faced military attacks, extrajudicial detentions and killings, torture, embargos designed to prevent the delivery of food and other humanitarian supplies, and restrictions on religious rights. For these people, daily life in Iraq probably was not as good, especially given a relatively poor economy and poor health statistics arguably resulting from the sanctions imposed for Iraq's continued non-compliance with disarmament obligations.
Human Rights in Iraq
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Overall, Iraq's human-rights record had long been criticized by the United States. In the annual human-rights reports filed by the United States Department of State each year, Iraq's record under Saddam Hussein was called "abysmal" in 1996 and "extremely poor" for each year afterwards.
Throughout such reports, Iraq was repeatedly criticized for the following kinds of human-rights violations, among others:
- Widespread executions of prisoners and political opponents. Iraq executed thousands of people over the years, often en masse and often for a broad range of crimes including anything that could be considered 'sabotaging the national economy' (such as forgery or smuggling cars), membership in certain political parties, or insulting the President or the Ba'th Party. The United States Department of State estimated in early 2002 that Iraq had executed "more than 4,000 since 1997." In 2002, the State Department wrote that the motive for so many executions appeared to be linked to reduction of prison populations, intimidation of the population, and elimination of political rivals. In 2004, the State Department estimated that about 2,500 prisoners had been executed from 1997 to 1999 as part of Iraq's "prison cleansing program."
- Use of torture. Iraq's security services "routinely and systematically" tortured detainees, according to the United States Department of State's human rights reports published in early 2000 and 2001. Techniques included branding, electric shocks, extended solitary confinement, and the rape of detainees and family members. The State Department reported in early 2001 that a former member of the Mukhabarat said that a unit "uses rape and sexual assault in a systematic and institutionalized manner for political purposes. The unit reportedly also videotaped the rape of female relatives of suspected oppositionists and used the videotapes for blackmail purposes and to ensure their future cooperation."
- Actions targeting Shi'a Muslims. Under Saddam Hussein, Iraq conducted deliberate artillery attacks against Shi'a civilians in the southern marshes. Iraq also executed Shi'a Muslim leaders, restricted Shi'a religious rights, and undertook projects that Iraq claimed were land-reclamation efforts but others criticized as attempts to destroy the culture of the Shi'a marsh Arabs. Shi'a Muslims constitute about 60-65 percent of the population but have not dominated the country's economic and political life
- Actions against Kurds. Iraq killed many Kurds in northern Iraq during the "Anfal" campaign of 1988, which resulted in the disappearances of thousands upon thousands of Kurds. In the 1990s, Iraq maintained embargos against Kurd-controlled areas for much of 1996 and 1997 and forcibly moved Kurds out of homes in the late 1990s so that Kurd-controlled areas can be "Arabized."
Based on the State Department's first human-rights report after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, Iraq's worst acts appear to have been conducted in the 1980s through 1991. At least 55 mass graves had been confirmed as of the end of 2003, and most of the mass graves corresponded to one of five major atrocities committed between 1983 and 1991: the 1983 attack against Kurds, the 1988 Anfal campaign against the Kurds, the 1991 massacre of Shi'a Muslims in southern Iraq, and the 1991 massacre of Kurds in northern Iraq.
Poor Economy, Health
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Many Iraqi citizens, especially outside the urban areas, also suffered from the poor economy that followed years of war and then the isolation that resulted from Iraq's refusal to comply with weapon inspections and the United Nations' continuation of economic sanctions. Such isolation also arguably had an effect on Iraqi people's health and well-being.
According to UNICEF, the mortality rate for children under 5 years old in Iraq was 130 deaths per 1,000 live births, nearly triple what it had been in 1990. This rate was about twice that of the Middle East region (64 deaths per 1,000 live births) and was the 34th highest in the world (the United States, by contrast, has a rate of 8 deaths per 1,000, ranked 159 among state rates). From 1995 to 2000, 23 percent of infants were born with low birth weight, again nearly twice that of the rest of the Middle East region (11 percent).
Many have debated the cause of such conditions, either blaming the sanctions directly or accusing Iraq's government of allowing these conditions due to mismanagement and for propaganda purposes. Notably, in October 1998, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Chief UN Relief Coordinator for Iraq, Denis Halliday, resigned in protest at the impact of sanctions on the Iraqi population.
The effect of sanctions was moderated in the late 1990s by the United Nations' Oil for Food program, which allowed Iraq to export some oil and to use the revenue for humanitarian efforts in Iraq, international compensation efforts, and the weapons monitoring program. Iraq agreed in 1995 to participate, exported the first oil in December 1996, and imported the first food under the program in March 1997. By December 2001, Iraq had exported about $12.6 billion worth of oil.
Sources: U.S. State Department reports on human rights in Iraq and in other countries are available on-line here. UNICEF, State of the World's Children 20002 Official Summary (on-line here. Sarah Graham-Brown, Sanctioning Saddam: The politics of intervention in Iraq (I.B. Tauris, 1999).
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