TEST ON US-IRAQ WAR: Here’s something from the Internet that we think is relevant to our stance (either pro or con) on the imminent US invasion of Iraq. Do you know enough to form an informed opinion? Take this War on Iraq IQ Test and find out:

1. Q: What percentage of the world’s population does the US have? A: 6%
2. Q: What percentage of the world’s wealth does the US have? A: 50%
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 US? A:50%
7. Q: What percent of US military spending would ensure the essentials of life to everyone in the world, according to the UN? A: 10% (that’s about $40 billion, the funding initially requested for the US 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 1980’s.
10. Q: Did Iraq develop these chemical and biological weapons on its own?A: No, the materials and technology were supplied by the US government, along with Britain and private corporations.
11. Q: Did the US 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 the US use in Vietnam? A: 17 million.
15. Q: Are there any proven links between Iraq and the September 11th terrorist attack? A: No
16. Q: What is the estimated number of civilian casualties in the Gulf War?A: 35,000
17. Q: How many casualties did the Iraqi military inflict on the western forces during the Gulf War? A: 0
18. Q: How many retreating Iraqi soldiers were buried alive by US tanks with ploughs mounted on the front? A: 6,000
19. Q: How many tons of depleted uranium were left in Iraq and Kuwait after the Gulf War? A: 40 tons
20. Q: What, according to the UN, was the increase in cancer rates in Iraq between 1991 and 1994? A: 700%
21. Q: How much of Iraq’s military capacity did America claim it had destroyed in 1991? A: 80%
22. Q: Is there any proof that Iraq plans to use its weapons for anything other than deterrence and self defense? A: No
23. Q: Does Iraq present more of a threat to world peace now than 10 years ago? A: No
24. Q: How many civilian deaths has the Pentagon predicted in the event of an attack on Iraq in 2002/3? A: 10,000
25. Q: What percentage of these will be children? A: Over 50%
26. Q: How many years has the US engaged in air strikes on Iraq? A: 11 years
27. Q: Were the US and the UK at war with Iraq between December 1998 and September 1999? A: No
28. Q: How many pounds of explosives were dropped on Iraq between December 1998 and September 1999? A: 20 million
29. Q: How many years ago was UN Resolution 661 introduced, imposing strict sanctions on Iraq’s imports and exports? A: 12 years
30. Q: What was the child death rate in Iraq in 1989 (per 1,000 births)? A: 38
31. Q: What was the estimated child death rate in Iraq in 1999 (per 1,000 births)? A: 131 (that’s an increase of 345%)
32. Q: How many Iraqis are estimated to have died by October 1999 as a result of UN sanctions? A: 1.5 million
33. Q: How many Iraqi children are estimated to have died due to sanctions since 1997? A: 750,000
34. Q: Did Saddam order the inspectors out of Iraq? A: No
35. Q: How many inspections were there in November and December 1998? A: 300
36. Q: How many of these inspections had problems? A: 5
37. Q: Were the weapons inspectors allowed entry to the Ba’ath Party HQ?A: Yes
38. Q: Who said that by December 1998, Iraq had been disarmed to a level unprecedented in modern history? A: Scott Ritter, UNSCOM chief
39. Q: In 1998, how much of Iraq’s post-1991 capacity to develop weapons of mass destruction did the UN weapons inspectors claim to have discovered and dismantled? A: 90%
40. Q: Is Iraq willing to allow the weapons inspectors back in? A: Yes
41. Q: How many UN resolutions did Israel violate by 1992? A: Over 65
42. Q: How many UN resolutions on Israel did the US veto between 1972 and 1990? A: 30+
43. Q: How much does the US fund Israel a year? A: $5 billion
44. Q: How many countries are known to have nuclear weapons? A: 8
45. Q: How many nuclear warheads does Iraq have? A: 0
46. Q: How many nuclear warheads does the US have? A: Over 10,000
47. Q: Which is the only country to use nuclear weapons? A: the US
48. Q: How many nuclear warheads does Israel have? A: Over 400
49. Q: Has Israel ever allowed UN weapons inspections? A: No
50. Q: What percentage of the Palestinian territories are controlled by Israeli settlements? A: 42%
51. Q: Is Israel illegally occupying Palestinian land? A: Yes
52. Q: Which country do you think poses the greatest threat to global peace: Iraq or the US? A: ?
53. Q: Who said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter”? A: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

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STO. TOMAS SIDE: We mentioned Labor Secretary Patricia A. Sto. Tomas days ago as opposing the move of Director General Dante Liban of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) to abolish the office having to do with screening and certifying performing artists bound for abroad.

“Mr. Liban does not know whereof he speaks,” says Sto. Tomas. She continues:

“Some time in the early 80s. the Japanese government required that all entertainers wishing to go to Japan must carry a certification from government that they are genuine entertainers. As administrator of POEA, we mobilized the entertainment industry sector and set out to do this. From the very start, our testing officers came from entertainment practitioners in the private sector. The testing venue was originally only POEA but the volume just got too much so that ensuing POEA administrators allowed private testing venues.

“The practice then was that entertainers trained with managers, took the examinations after and were then given certification by government as to their skills. From the very start, this was a private-sector, entertainment-industry-led testing process. Government regulation entered only to ensure its integrity and international acceptance and to make sure that workers are not taken advantage of by operators that abound in this business. That process has remained basically the same through the years and if anybody says he has reformed the same, he can only be lying.

“The first major reform done in years on the artist certification process is for us to transfer this to Tesda from POEA. You see, POEA does not have skills testing and certification as its mandate; Tesda has. Insofar as school-based professional skills are concerned, this is done by the Professional Regulation Commission. POEA ran this for years without the attendant scandal that bedevils this process now.

“Perhaps, Mr. Liban is not up to the challenge, particularly since of all the skills that Tesda certifies, it is only the performing artists that he took directly under his wings and from which he excluded the regular employees of Tesda. He could have directly supervised the certification of computer specialists, seafarers, plumbers, mechanics — in fact, the whole range of other skills that Tesda certifies.

“But he chose to directly oversee only the certification of overseas performing artists and look at how big a stink it created. He is either guilty of corruption which is what the industry accuses him of, or he is grossly incompetent.”