Apart from the mounting civilian casualties, Iraqis confined in their war-ravaged homes are suffering from food shortages, disrupted water and electricity supplies, and hopelessness. The combination of these scourges has led to concerns over serious public health problems, such as malnutrition, diarrhoea and dehydration, which are expected to spread quickly as the temperature increases.

On the other hand, the war has also sparked fears of an imminent flood of refugees. Although a large exodus of Iraqi refugees fleeing to neighbouring countries has yet to materialize, international aid agencies and Iraq's neighbours are bracing themselves for this. The United Nations (UN) estimates that by the end of the war more than 3.5 million people will have left their homes, with 600,000 of them fleeing Iraq altogether.

Twelve years of UN sanctions on Iraq have reduced it to the status of one of the world's least-developed countries. The US-led war only rubs salt into the Iraqi people's wounds.

Worse still, ceaseless air strikes on Iraqi targets, including civilian ones, not only block the path of much needed aid, but also make refugees' journeys even more treacherous.

Hence, the White House spokesman's claim on Monday that "one of the central focuses of all the military planning was to make certain that humanitarian supplies were able to reach the people of Iraq as quickly as possible," is, if not hypocritical, insincere at least.

The United States has repeatedly asserted that its troops in Iraq are there for the ultimate goal of freeing Iraqi people. But the very fact is the US-led military action has put the basic living conditions, and even lives, of the Iraqis under constant threat.

If the United States fails to stop its war machine, its military should at least set up safe corridors for the transport of humanitarian aid and the safe passage of refugees. The United States should also honour its own commitment to keep civilian casualties to the minimum. Otherwise, the United States will eventually lose the tiny amount of credibility some good-natured people still think it has.

(China Daily March 27, 2003)