U.S. and Iraq quiz

Catholic New Times, April 20, 2003 by Charles Sheketoff

1. Q: What percentage of the world's population does the U.S. have? A: 6 per cent

2. Q: What percentage of the world's wealth does the U.S. have? A: 50 per cent

3. Q: Which country has the largest oil reserves? A: Saudi Arabia

4. Q: Which country has the second largest oil reserves? A: Iraq

5. Q: How much is spent on military budgets a year worldwide? A: $900 billion

6. Q: How much of this is spent by the U.S.? A: 50 per cent

7. Q: What percent of U.S. military spending would ensure the essentials of life to everyone in the world, according the UN? A: 10 per cent (that's about $40 billion, the amount of funding initially requested to fund a U.S. retaliatory attack on Afghanistan).

8. Q: How many people have died in wars since World War II? A: 86 million

9. Q: How long has Iraq had chemical and biological weapons? A: Since the early 1980s.

10. Q: Did Iraq develop these chemical & biological weapons on their own? A: No, the materials and technology were supplied by the U.S. government, along with Britain and private corporations.

11. Q: Did the U.S. government condemn the Iraqi use of gas warfare against Iran? A: No

12. Q: How many people did Saddam Hussein kill using gas in the Kurdish town of Halabja in 1988? A: 5,000

13. Q: How many western countries condemned this action at the time? A: 0

14. Q: How many gallons of agent Orange did America use in Vietnam? A: 17 million.

15. Q: Are there any proven links between Iraq and September 11 terrorist attack? A: No

16. Q: How many casualties did the Iraqi military inflict on the western forces during the Gulf War? A: 0

17. Q: How many retreating Iraqi soldiers were buried alive by U.S. tanks with ploughs mounted on the front? A: 6,000

18. Q: How many tons of depleted uranium were left in Iraq and Kuwait after the Gulf War? A: 40 tons

19. Q: What according to the UN was the increase in cancer rates in Iraq between 1991 and 1994? A: 700 per cent

20. Q: How much of Iraq's military capacity did America claim it had destroyed in 1991? A: 80 per cent

21. Q: Is there any proof that Iraq plans to use its weapons for anything other than deterrence and self defense? A: No

22. Q: Does Iraq present more of a threat to world peace now than 10 years ago? A: No

23. Q: How many civilian deaths has the Pentagon predicted in the event of an attack on Iraq in 2002/2003? A: 10,000

24. Q: What percentage of these will be children? A: Over 50 per cent

25. Q: How many years has the U.S. engaged in air strikes on Iraq? A: 11 years

26. Q: How many pounds of explosives were dropped on Iraq between December 1998 and September 1999? A: 20 million

27. Q: How many years ago was UN Resolution 661 introduced, imposing strict sanctions on Iraq's imports and exports? A: 12 years

28. Q: What was the child death rate in Iraq in 1989 (per 1,000 births)? A: 38

29. Q: What was the estimated child death rate in Iraq in 1999 (per 1,000 births)? A: 131 (that's an increase of 345 per cent)

30. Q: How many Iraqis are estimated to have died by October 1999 as a result of UN sanctions? A: 1.5 million

31. Q: How many Iraqi children are estimated to have died due to sanctions since 1997? A: 750,000

32. Q: Did Saddam order the inspectors out of Iraq? A: No

33. Q: How many inspections were there in November and December 1998? A: 300

34. Q: How many of these inspections had problems? A: 5

35. Q: Were the weapons inspectors allowed entry to the Ba'ath Party HQ? A: Yes

36. Q: Who said that by December 1998, "Iraq had in fact, been disarmed to a level unprecedented in modern history." A: Scott Ritter, UNSCOM chief.

37. Q: How many UN resolutions did Israel violate by 1992? A: Over 65

38. Q: How many UN resolutions on Israel did America veto between 1972 and 1990? A: 30

39. Q: How many countries are known to have nuclear weapons? A: 8

40. Q: How many nuclear warheads has Iraq got? A: 0

41. Q: How many nuclear warheads has U.S. got? A: over 10,000

42. Q: Which is the only country to use nuclear weapons? A: the U.S.

43. Q: How many nuclear warheads does Israel have? A: Over 400

44. Q: Who said, "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter?" A: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr

45. What developed country gives the least non-military foreign aid per capita? A: the U.S. (less than one-tenth of 1 per cent)

52: How many Iraqis were among the 19 9-11 terrorists? A: 0

Charles Sheketoff, Executive Director, Oregon Center for Public Policy, PO Box 7, Silverton, OR 97381