The aftermath of the Iraq War

It is always the children who pay the price

Five years have passed since May 2003, when the "major combat operations" of the Iraq War were officially declared at an end. By March of this year, freelance journalist Fumikazu Nishitani, 47, had traveled to Iraq six times to cover the conflict there. From the stories he told us and the images we were shown, it is clear that the Iraq tragedy continues even now, although we are seeing less of it in the news these days.

There are children who suffer from cancer apparently caused by depleted uranium munitions, and children who are still being injured by unexploded ordnance and terrorist attacks. Despite the early declaration that combat operations had ended, fighting continues in Iraq, and local people, including young people of our own generation, are still suffering the effects. Images captured by Mr. Nishitani were used as evidence by the Nagoya High Court in its ruling that air-transport activities being performed in Iraq by Japan's Air Self-Defense Forces were in violation of Japan's Constitution.

Fumikazu Nishitani

Born in Kyoto in 1960, Mr. Nishitani graduated from Osaka City University and worked in Suita City Hall in Osaka as a civil servant. In 2004, he left his job to become a freelance journalist, covering conflict areas, such as Iraq and Afghanistan. He also represents an NGO, Rescue the Iraqi Children. He has published two DVDs about Iraq, Houshanou wo Abiru Kodomotachi (Children Exposed to Radiation) and Iraq, Senjou kara no Kokuhatsu (Iraq: Battlefield Indictment). He lives in Suita City.

Mr. Nishitani speaking about radiation effects: "There are lots of 'Barefoot Gens' in Iraq." ("Barefoot Gen" is a famous cartoon story set in wartime Hiroshima.) (photo by Takeshi Suyma, 15)

Mr. Nishitani has obtained video recordings and photographs of children with cancer believed to be caused by exposure to depleted uranium, as well as victims of suicide attacks that have occurred during Iraq's internal conflicts. The appeals made to the camera by the victims' families make a strong impression.

According to Mr. Nishitani, over 2000 tons of depleted uranium munitions have been used in the Iraq war. When such munitions strike their targets, they scatter minute radioactive particles into the air. Since the war began, the number of children suffering from leukemia and cancer has increased.

In such works as his DVD, "Iraq: Battlefield Indictment," Mr. Nishitani shows us a boy with a huge tumor on his neck, a baby with another such tumor on his back, and a single hospital in the city of Basra, southern Iraq, where 5000 children die per year. Depleted uranium was used in the area.

Many of the disabled children apparently were afflicted while still in their mothers' wombs. Mr. Nishitani considers depleted uranium to be the cause of these abnormalities, though the United States has not recognized this.

A mother and her children at a refugee camp in Sulaimaniya, northern Iraq. The child in the mother's arms is said to have suffered brain damage after an American air raid. (Photo by Mr. Nishitani, March 18, 2008)

Cluster bombs also can do serious harm to children. A cluster bomb is designed to pop open and scatter 500 to 600 small "bomblets" around the area where it is dropped. Often around 10% of the bomblets fail to explode and are left lying around the area. A child who later plays in that area may pick up or kick a bomblet and lose a hand or a leg when it finally explodes.

Halabja, a city in northeastern Iraq, is sometimes called the "Hiroshima of Iraq," because it was attacked with weapons of mass destruction. In March of 1988, the Saddam Hussein regime attacked the minority Kurdish population there with poison gas, causing the deaths of 5000 people. In Iraq, Hiroshima is well known because Saddam Hussein's anti-American government carried out an education program about the atomic-bomb damage. The story of Hiroshima's recovery from its devastation is regarded as a model for Halabja's revival.

This interview was the first time we had heard of Halabja, and it made us think seriously about the realities of life in Iraq. Although the Iraqis are acquainted with Hiroshima, we know little of Iraq. Now we feel a need to learn more about Iraq. (Rikako Okada, 17; Nao Tatsugawa, 16)

I interviewed Professor Keiko Sakai, 49, an expert in Iraqi political history at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. Asked about conditions leading to the Iraq War and the civil unrest that has followed, she explained that a big factor was a change in American Mideast policy following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.

Before the terrorist attacks, America was reluctant to interfere in other countries' internal politics, believing that the costs of military activities and the like were prohibitive.

However, following the terror attacks, the U.S. began pressuring the Saddam Hussein regime and other anti-American governments in an effort to prevent further attacks. "Their anti-terror counterattack in Afghanistan was going smoothly, and they had overly optimistic expectations for a similar approach in Iraq," she points out.

At the core of Iraq's current regime, there are people who had fled to Iran during the Saddam Hussein years. There are forces within Iraq who resist American as well as Iranian influences. These forces oppose a government backed by the American military, and this has led to conditions approaching a civil war.

Professor Sakai suggests that, in order to stop the fighting, "American forces should withdraw from Iraq, and then after foreign influence has been excluded, an opportunity should be arranged for just the Iraqis themselves to come together and discuss their future." (Aoi Otomo, 13)

Basra people show their smiling faces as they receive food that has been distributed. April 20, 2008 (photo courtesy of JIM-NET)

In Iraq, Japanese support organizations are very active in the fields of medicine and education. Because of the bad security situation in Iraq, Japanese staffs are stationed in neighboring countries, such as Jordan, where they work in cooperation with staff in Iraq.

The Japan Iraq Medical Network (JIM-NET), with head offices in Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture, is comprised of eight organizations, including companies and five medical-support NGOs. JIM-NET has set up an education program in hospitals in Baghdad and elsewhere. Bureau chief Maki Sato, 46, told us a story about a girl, which she had heard from a teacher in Basra.

Three years ago, when the girl was twelve years old, her right eye had to be surgically removed because of cancer, and last March, it was found that the cancer had spread. She decided that if she was going to die anyway, she did not want to undergo any uncomfortable treatments, and she stopped going to the hospital. The teacher visited her at home and told her that the hospital had received some medicine as a result of her previous efforts. She had drawn a design for a package of chocolate that was used for a campaign in Japan. The design was popular and a lot of chocolate was sold. When she learned that she had been able to do something for others with her design, she decided to return to the hospital and try to fight her disease. So, we can find Japan's support helping in many different ways.

Another case is Peace Winds Japan (PWJ), a Tokyo-based NGO that provides vocational training and other services in refugee camps.

At a refugee camp near the border of the Kurdish Autonomous Region in northern Iraq, they are training people in such skills as plastering and hair cutting. This year they will begin building a hospital for mothers and newborn infants in Halabja.

JEN, a Tokyo non-profit organization, is involved in repairing school buildings in Baghdad. Shortly after the war began, they set up a clinic and started providing medical services in a refugee camp near the Jordanian border. (Masahiro Mikoshi, 15, and Manami Yamamoto, 13)