The destruction of water and electrical infrastructure in Iraq after the Gulf War left civilians with no clean drinking water and a country to rebuild.

With the sanctions or restriction of trade put on Iraq 10 years ago, the economy and water and electrical infrastructure have left the Iraqi people with little help or hope to repair and rebuild their country.

Andrew Mandell from the humanitarian, non-violent organization Voices in the Wilderness, which is against the sanctions on Iraq, shared his vivid experiences in Iraq on his short trip with a Voices of the Wilderness relief delegation in Thursday night’s forum, “Humanitarian Crisis in Iraq: An Evening With Voices in the Wilderness.”

Mandell was walking down the street one day in Chicago and found a flier about Voices in the Wilderness. Having just read an article about it in a magazine, he went to its office in Chicago. Mandell has been member of Voices in the Wilderness for two years. The organization goes into Iraq to provide relief, which is an act punishable by fine and/or prison, according to U.S. policy.

“I didn’t know anything about the sanctions. I guess I walked obliviously through it,” he said. “I became intrigued and interested to read more about it.”

Before 1991, 70 percent of Iraq’s food was imported. These kind of sanctions have proved devastating for Iraq, Mandell said.

On his trip to Iraqi cities Baghdad and Basra, Mandell said he felt uncomfortable in a totalitarian regime of Iraq.

“I like free speech,” Mandell said. “I felt the bottled-up artists and people in school.”

On his way to Iraq, Mandell encountered Sattar, his taxi driver who had a bachelor’s degree in engineering.

“To feed his family he drives his car,” Mandell said.

Mandell then visited the depleted hospitals where he met the head of a the hospital, who only made $27 a month.

They looked like Western hospitals, except the lack of staff and dirt everywhere. It’s hard for them to get cleaning products, Mandell said.

Mandell had to witness doctors making life-and-death decisions. Iraqi doctors have to ask who will live and die with the limited medical supplies they have.

In the U.S. there is a 95 percent rate of survival for cancer patients. In Iraq, with the sanctions, the survival rate is 15 percent, Mandell said.

Mandell also visited Iraqi schools.

Education is not free anymore, as it was prior to 1991, and many people can’t afford books, Mandell said.

“There is a downturn in education where in that regime strong education is important,” Mandell said.

Despite the Iraqi people’s poor humanitarian situation, they still have faith in the American people.

“They love our culture and love us as individuals,” Mandell said. “But then there’s the America that deprived them of resources and kept them on the back end.”

Jenny Tomkins, a member of the DeKalb Interfaith Network for Peace and Justice, thought that the forum was very important because of the recent talks of bombing Iraq.

“We cannot go for military solutions after the tragedy of Sept. 11,” Tomkins said. “We need to look for political solutions. We need to look at foreign policy in a much broader context.”

Tomkins liked that Mandell touched on the Iraqis’ view of the Middle East.

“People in foreign countries make a distinction. Is it very generous of them,” Tomkin added. “We are a democracy and in a way we’re responsible.”

The U.N. has allowed some relief, including an oil-for-food program, which allows Iraq to sell a limited amount of oil for food, but it is still not enough, Mandell said.

Mandell is not hopeful that sanctions will be lifted anytime soon.

The U.S. suspects Iraq of producing weapons of mass destruction, which is their main reason for not lifting sanctions.

“As much as the White house does, I don’t want Saddam Hussein to have nuclear weapons,” Mandell said. “The greatest weapon of mass destruction is the human mind. If you’re gonna sanction that, then I don’t know.”