A girl suffering from malnutrition is being attended to on the floor of Saddam Hospital, her mother tries to cool her but the air conditioners are broken. This hospital was once one of the best in the Middle East, before the post-war embargo was imposed. 

Adil Abd Faleh, 26 years old, discovered that he had leukaemia 3 months ago. He and his family live close to the border with Kuwait where huge amounts of depleted Uranium were dropped. Five members of his family have developed cancer since the Gulf War. 

In January 17, 1991 the Gulf war began. Over a period of 43 days approximately 140,000 tons of explosives were dropped on Iraq (the equivalent of 7 atomic bombs). Thousands were killed. In April 1991 a cease-fire between the Allied forces and Iraq was established and the 1st Gulf War officially ended. Subsequently the sanctions that were imposed on Iraq in August of 1990, as a consequence of its invasion of Kuwait, came into full effect. Every major facility in Iraq had been destroyed. Iraq 's infrastructure had been completely annihilated. Tons of depleted uranium bomb fragments were still scattered around the country. The damaging effects of the ongoing sanctions are still felt throughout Iraq today. Hospitals that were once renowned in Iraq and neighbouring countries for the advanced medical care they provided now lack basic necessities and medications needed to heal and cure. The majority of the population, whose financial condition does not allow for any alternative, are being treated at these rudimentary clinics. A large number of Iraqi children suffer from malnutrition and congenital abnormalities.