Iraqis fear for future

By CNN's James Martone

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A decade ago, Iraq had one of the most modern infrastructures and highest standards of living in the Middle East.

An oil-rich country, Iraq had modern hospitals and an extensive school and university system.

Almost 11 years of international trade sanctions have destroyed that.

Many Iraqis who were formerly teachers, engineers and university professors have left their jobs where their monthly incomes had dwindled to as little as $3 a month.

They look for jobs as taxi drivers, or with the few institutions with money, such as the U.N. agencies here or international embassies.

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The vast majority of Iraq's estimated 23 million people depend on food rations to survive.

Every month, Iraq -- under the UN Oil for Food deal -- provides each citizen with the basic food products, including flour, rice, cooking oil and beans.

But even the symbolic price of about 12 cents per person is too expensive for some.

"Families who cannot afford it, borrow money, buy the rations and then sell half to pay what they borrowed," says Hussein, a taxi driver.

Hussein says he can only afford to get meat for his family "once a month."

Meat is not included in the rations. Lamb meat, a favourite here, can cost about $1.50 a kilo.

U.N. and humanitarian agencies worry about malnutrition and death among children, the hardest hit by the sanctions.

According to a UNICEF report of 1999, infant mortality in most of Iraq has more than doubled since sanctions were imposed.

Exodus

Iraq reports that 5,696 children under five died of sickness in April alone.

Education has also been affected. Many parents can no longer afford to send their children to school, and have pulled them out to work.

No well paid jobs means that many professionals are seeking to leave the country, or have already left.

"Even if sanctions were lifted tomorrow, it would take years for the country to return to the same standards as before the Gulf war," reads a 1999-2000 report on Iraq by the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Many Iraqis say they feel sanctions will never be lifted, and there is a general sense of renunciation.

"I will never invest here, there is no future,'' says another taxi driver -- the only person a reporter can speak to without fear of being overheard.

"Iraq is finished, and I will never even invest in repairing my house."