[PEN-L:4473] Re: Fw: Holocaust against Iraq

["Charles Brown" <CharlesB@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I cannot verify The Economist's claim. I got this from another list. I will post your question there. Perhaps a message to The Economist ?

Charles Brown

>>> "Frank Durgin" <fdurgin1@xxxxxxxxxxxx> 03/22/99 10:43AM >>>
Charles:

     Thank you for the excellent posting on Iraq.

  I would be interested in knowing the  Economist's source of the statement
that "Just prior to the Gulf War, Iraq's GDP was more than ten times
>  higher--around $60 billion."

   US Statistical Abstract states that  in 1990 it  was $23 billion in 1990
dollars and $26 Billion in 1995 dollars.Their scource is the U.S. Arms
control and disarmament Agency; the IBRD and CIA..

Frank



----------
> From: Charles Brown <CharlesB@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: pen-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [PEN-L:4470] Holocaust against Iraq
> Date: Monday, March 22, 1999 10:13 AM
>
>  Subj:   Iraq's chilling economic statistics  (fwd)
>  Date:  3/19/99 7:15:30 PM Eastern Standard Time
>  From:  eschuster2@xxxxxxxx (Eric A Schuster)
>  To:    SocialistsUnmoderated@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
>  --------- Begin forwarded message ----------
>
>  March 18, 1999
>
>  IRAQ'S CHILLING ECONOMIC STATISTICS
>
>  Iraq's total GDP has fallen to just $5.7 billion, or $247 per capita,
>  according to estimates by the well-respected Economist Intelligence Unit
>  in The Economist's newly published annual supplement "The World in
1999."
>
>
>  Just prior to the Gulf War, Iraq's GDP was more than ten times
>  higher--around $60 billion.
>
>  Last year the Economist Intelligence Unit estimated Iraqi GDP at $30.4
>  billion, or $1,300 per capita. This year's figure represents both a
>  further precipitous decline, and more accurate estimates.
>
>  To put this in perspective, Jordan, Iraq's tiny neighbor has a GDP of
>  $8.6
>  billion.
>
>  With an estimated per capita GDP of only $247, Iraq, once one of the
most
>  developed countries in the Middle East, is now poorer than many
countries
>  in sub-saharan Africa.
>
>  Just this evening I had the opportunity to attend a talk by former UN
>  humanitarian relief coordinator for Iraq, Denis Halliday. Halliday noted
>  that Iraq's recurring annual budget needs for health, food and essential
>  services, is $12-15 billion. With the Oil-for-Food program, which
>  Halliday
>  ran for thirteen months, Iraq gets barely $4 billion.
>
>  With a total GDP of $5.7 billion Iraq's economy is worth about the same
>  as
>  four B-1 bombers. It is worth about half of Bill Gates.
>
>  The entire Iraqi economy amounts to just 2% (two percent) of the annual
>  United States DEFENSE budget of $265 billion.
>
>  The increase in the US defense budget proposed for next year by the
>  Clinton Administration ($12 billion) is more than twice the entire GDP
of
>  Iraq.
>
>  Just exactly what kind of threat can Iraq present? You do the math.
>
>  Ali Abunimah
>  ahabunim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>  http://www.abunimah.org
>  -------------------------------
>
>  Note: The destruction of Iraq's economy by the sanctions has
>  distinctively
>  changed the life in Iraq: children are dying in greater numbers;
families
>  are breaking apart; educational systems are crumbling ... For more
>  information, please refer to the articles by Denis Halliday
>  <http://iraqaction.org/denis.html>
>
>
============================================================================

>
>  --------
>  Iraq Action Coalition
>  http://iraqaction.org
>
>
>   >>
>