This issue of New Doctor includes a mixed bag of topics. In view of the Federal Government’s current machinations on health, it is unsurprising that material on Medicare features prominently. This issue includes a reprint from 1983 that provides an account of Medicare’s history very different to the current government’s version. We also find space to discuss, among other things, the potential problems of xenotransplantation, food irradiation and mandatory detention of refugees. The one major gap was an article on the Iraq War. A decision was made to discuss this issue here in the editorial.

At time of writing, the killing continues but media interest is fast fading. This war, initially unwanted by most Australians, did receive a popularity boost courtesy of a few minutes of structured footage celebrating a dictator’s demise. Blowing up thousands of Iraqis is now widely stated to have been a worthwhile exercise in peace, stability and democracy.

This new justification for the war, namely bringing freedom for Iraqis (the ones in Iraq, not the ones in Australian detention centres), became necessary when weapons of mass destruction could not readily be found. It all seems a long time ago but "WMDs" supposedly made war essential. The current U.S. position is that a failure to locate these weapons proves that the Iraqis shipped them elsewhere - perhaps to the next country on an evolving invasion list. Saddam Hussein has gone missing but, unlike Bin Laden, the U.S. has nothing obvious to gain from a question mark over his existence. This presumably means Saddam’s file will be closed sooner or later, quite likely by the time these words are read. The Iraqis may even get a "democracy" - if they allow U.S. military bases to stay, maintain a suitable oil price and, most vital of all, are not silly enough to try to elect an Islamic or anti-Western government.

The view that Australians were needlessly sucked into a war that was driven by U.S. pride and money rather than a concern with human decency is less heard now. The world has never known a propaganda tool as effective as today’s commercial mass media. How many people recall Iraqis emptying incubators of their Kuwaiti babies before the 1991 Gulf War yet forget, or never realised, that these reports proved to be a complete fabrication? A decade from now, how many will recall that the recent "dramatic rescue" of the female American Private Lynch from an enemy hospital was also fabricated? The wide-view photographs taken during the toppling of Hussein’s statue suggest that the military and media outnumbered Iraqis at this event. This seems to have been noted by few Australians. No doubt fewer still have viewed on the internet the suppressed pictures of maimed and bloodied Iraqi children.

The long term results of this war remain to be seen. We all hope that the violence in Iraq will quickly resolve but there seems little reason to expect this. Like most wars, there will be no clean end to the killing.

The cluster bombs used by British and U.S. forces are notorious for leaving unexploded bomblets. In the 1991 Gulf War, up to 40 per cent of cluster weapon bomblets used in Iraq and Kuwait failed to explode. In the first two years after the 1991 war, unexploded cluster bombs killed 1600 Iraqi civilians and injured 2500 more. In Kuwait, there were 1609 deaths and injuries from cluster bombs in just the first 10 months after the war. People are still being killed by unexploded bombs from that conflict. Indeed, a quarter of a century after the Vietnam war there remain 500,000 tonnes of unexploded bomblets in Laos. The long-term humanitarian effects of cluster bombs are like those of landmines - but these are now banned by 132 countries. There is no specific international law dealing with cluster munitions. Worse still, unexploded cluster bombs are more likely to kill than landmines and can attract children with their bright colours.

The use of depleted uranium (DU) shells provides another long-term health concern. DU is used on the tips of armour-piercing shells because it is denser than lead yet "self-sharpens" as it ignites and burns on impact. During 1991 Gulf war, it is estimated that the US and Britain fired 350 tonnes of DU at Iraqi tanks. Presumably a similar amount has been used in the current conflict. Both radioactive and toxic, researchers suggest that chemical and radiological damage from DU may reinforce each other. Doctors in southern Iraq report a marked increase in cancers and birth defects, and it is postulated that these might be caused by DU contamination from tank battles in 1991 on farmland west of Basra.

Meanwhile our Prime Minister, John Howard, seems to feel that adopting America’s wars is not enough. He also hopes to adopt America’s health system. His propaganda campaign in this particular battle would impress any military leader.

Andrew for the editorial committee

30 April 2003

References:

Richard Lloyd. "No way to win the peace" New Scientist vol. 178 issue 2390 - 12 April 2003

Duncan Graham-Rowe. "Depleted uranium casts a shadow over peace in Iraq" New Scientist vol. 178 issue 2391 - 19 April 2003

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