In the Gulf War, Western bombs transformed Iraq from a modern, urban society to a "pre-industrial age".

The deliberate destruction of Iraq's electrical system led to a breakdown in water and sanitation with severe consequences for public health.

According to a March 1991 report by the UN World Health Organisation, Baghdad's water supply was reduced to 5% of its pre-war level whilst the sewage system was brought 'to a virtual standstill'.

The resulting outbreaks of cholera, typhoid and other infectious diseases caused many deaths. An estimated 47,000 Iraqi children died during the first eight months of 1991 as a consequence of the Gulf War and its aftermath.

Today, as a result of 12 years of UN economic sanctions, Iraq's electricity, water and sewage infrastructure remain dilapidated and in a state of disrepair.

Today, because of sanctions, Iraqi people are still drinking dirty, deadly water: 'the biggest killer of children in Iraq today' in the words of UN Humanitarian Co-ordinator in Iraq Tun Myat (May 2002). In 1999, UNICEF reported that, since the beginning of the 1990s, the infant mortality rate in Iraq had doubled.

If a new military assault takes place it is highly likely that much of Iraq's infrastructure will again be destroyed, with devastating effects for ordinary Iraqis. Save the Children has stated that an attack will 'lead to a humanitarian disaster for which the international community would bear a heavy responsibility'.

NO MORE BOMBS ON IRAQ