The risks are the same for allied troops as for the inhabitants of target countries. At the end of the Gulf War of 1991 the United States reported 760 troops casualties: 294 dead and the rest wounded or ill. Now 221,000 of those same troops are claiming disability benefit and 8,000 are dead. In the U.K., 9,000 troops are sick and more than 600 have died This amounts to around 30% of all troops who went to the Gulf. No one knows how many Iraqis died in that war. Estimates are between 100,000 and 200,000. The average monthly death rate in Iraq has increased from just over 2,000 a month in 1989 to over 15,000 in recent years[1]. By 1998, UNICEF was reckoning half a million excess deaths of children under 5 years of age. This is due in part to the bombing of vital civilian infrastructure and the continuation of sanctions. But more insidious has been the unexplained illnesses, the rise in cancers and leukaemias and children born with genetic defect.

This is reflected in the experience of allied veterans. A survey made by the Veteran’s Administration of 251 Gulf War Veterans families in Mississippi showed a that 67% of children conceived and born since the war had rare illnesses and genetic problems[2]. Many babies in Iraq are now born with serious genetic defects. Sometimes without limbs or head and misformed internal organs. Neural tube defects have substantially increased as have Down’s Syndrome births. Many young children now have cancer or leukaemia. The majority of these are under five years of age which is itself an indicator of early exposure to radiation.