----- Original Message ----- From: Sandeep Vaidya <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: STOP NATO: ��O PASARAN! <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, May 29, 2000 1:05 PM Subject: [STOPNATO] [Fwd: THE SCOOP: UN Sanctions Against Iraq] STOP NATO: NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.COM The Scoop wrote: > > To recent subscribers... you're always welcome to forward these columns to > anyone who you think might be interested. Just please keep the whole > thing intact. Thanks! > > THE SCOOP for May 29, 2000 > ___________________________ > > U.N. Sanctions Against Iraq: > Saving The World From An Iraqi Stockpile Of Spatulas, Doorknobs, Napkins, > and Lipstick > 2000 Bob Harris > http://www.bobharris.com > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > * * = italics > > According to United Nations figures, more than a million Iraqis have died > as a direct result of sanctions imposed after the Gulf War. Other > estimates place the death toll at 1.5 million or more. > > Most of the casualties are children, many of whom were not even born when > the Gulf War took place. > > The Sanctions Committee does not issue a comprehensive list of contraband > items; applications for exporting anything into Iraq are considered in > closed session and only approved if nothing on the list can imaginably > have military applications. > > Unfortunately, few things on Earth can meet these standards. > > As a consequence, the thousands of items routinely declared off-limits > include: > > Air conditioning > Aluminum foil > Ambulances > Amplifiers > Answering machines > Ashtrays > Baby food > Badminton rackets > Bags > Baking soda > Bandages > Baskets > Bath brushes > Batteries > Belts > Benches > Bicycles > Blankets > Boots > Bottles > Bowls > Boxes > Broilers > Calculators > Cameras > Candles > Candlesticks > Canvas > Carpets > Cars > Carts > Catheters > Cellophane > Chairs > Chalk > Chess boards > Chiffon > Children's clothes > Clock radios > Clocks > Cloth > Coats > Combs > Cotton swabs > Cupboards > Cups > Desk lamps > Deodorants > Desks > Detergents > Dialysis equipment > Dishes > Dishwashers > Dolls > Doorknobs > Doormats > Dresses > Easels > Envelopes > Erasers > Eyeglasses > Fans > Filing cabinets > Filing cards > Film > Filters > Flashlights > Flowerpots > Forks > Fountain pens > Gauze > Generators > Girdles > Glass > Glue > Gowns > Grills > Hairpins > Hammers > Handkerchiefs > Hats > Headlights > Headphones > Hearing aids > Helmets > Hoes > Hooks > Hoses > Incubators > Ink > Insulation > Intravenous fluid bags > Kettles > Lamps > Lamp shades > Lawn mowers > Leather > Light bulbs > Lipstick > Magnets > Matches > Medical journals > Microphones > Microscopes > Mirrors > Mops > Motors > Mufflers > Musical instruments > Nail brushes > Nail files > Nail polish > Napkins > Notebooks > Oxygen tents > Pails > Paint > Paintbrushes > Pans > Paper > Paper clips > Pencil sharpeners > Pencils > Pens > Photocopiers > Ping-pong balls > Pins > Plates > Pliers > Plywood > Porcelain > Pots > Pressure cookers > Pulleys > Putty > Razor blades > Recorded music > Roasters > Rubber > Rugs > Rulers > Sandals > Sandpaper > Saucers > Saws > Scales > School textbooks > Seats > Shampoo > Shirts > Shoelaces > Shoe leather > Shoe polish > Shoes > Shopping carts > Shovels > Soap > Soccer balls > Socks > Spatulas > Sponges > Spoons > Stamps > Staplers > Stethoscopes > Stoves > Surgical gloves > Surgical instruments > Swimsuits > Syringes > Tables > Tacks > Telephones > Tents > Thermometers > Threads > Tire pumps > Tissue paper > Toasters > Toilet paper > Toilets > Tongs > Toothbrushes > Toothpaste > Toothpicks > Towels > Toys > Tractors > Trash cans > TV sets > Typewriters > Vacuum cleaners > Vaseline > Vases > Venetian blinds > Waffle irons > Wagons > Wallets > Wallpaper > Washing machines > Watches > Water purification chemicals > Wheelbarrows > Wheels > Window shades > Wood > Wool > Wrenches > > Entire broad categories of stuff which are commonly forbidden: > > Agricultural equipment > Automobile, truck, tractor, or motorcycle parts and equipment > Books and magazines (including medical journals) > Building materials > Clothing > Computers and all peripherals > Electrical equipment > Manufacturing equipment > Medical supplies (from ECG and X-ray machines down to latex gloves and > syringes) > Medicine > > (The above is in no way a complete list of the tens of thousands of items > kept out of Iraq; it is merely a summary compiled from news reports and > lists kept by several groups keeping track of the ever-growing insanity of > the sanctions. For more information, see below.) > > One is immediately impressed by the UN's faith in the MacGyver-like > ability of starving Iraqis to improvise Pentagon-threatening weapons out > of hearing aids, candlesticks, and baby food. > > Evidently, Saddam Hussein is so evil that even men's hats and ping-pong > balls must be kept from his sinister grip. Perhaps NATO fears the > development of a Hat Gap. > > Just as credibly, we are to believe that allowing Iraqi children -- who > have, incidentally, no influence whatsoever on Saddam Hussein, his > government, or a war that occurred before they were even born -- access to > basic medicine, nutrition, and sanitation would apparently endanger the > world as we know it. > > Denis Halliday, a 30-year veteran of the United Nations, once coordinated > the U.N.'s "Oil For Food" program in Iraq. He also resigned in protest in > 1998, calling the sanctions "totally bankrupt." In just over a year > overseeing the program, Halliday learned first-hand "it doesn't impact on > governance effectively and instead it damages the innocent people of the > country... it probably strengthens the leadership." > > Halliday's successor was Hans von Sponeck, a 36-year U.N. official from > Germany. Von Sponeck, too, expressed increasing disgust over the > sanctions, ultimately resigning last March 31st, accusing the U.S. and > Great Britain of delaying contracts for humanitarian supplies. Jutta > Burqhardt, head of the U.N. food program in Iraq, resigned at the same > time, for the same reasons. > > Even if Iraq is still a military threat, it is clear that the sanctions > are only strengthing Saddam Hussein's control, and should therefore be > stopped. But the credibility of the threat Iraq currently imposes is > profoundly questionable. Scott Ritter, a high-ranking U.N. weapons > inspector who resigned in 1998, insists that Iraq does not possess > credible weapons of mass destruction, nor does it present a credible > military threat to its neighbors, and that sanctions are causing the > unnecessary deaths of over a thousand children each week. > > Almost ten years ago, we were told scary stories about invading hordes > ripping babies from incubators, received credulously at first because > Saddam's armies had indeed committed great crimes against innocent people. > The incubator tale, however, turned out to be an invention of the Kuwaiti > royal family and their American PR firm. > > Ironically, it is the U.N. which now keeps incubators away from premature > Arab children. > > Of those who survive, most grow up with little exposure to people, ideas, > or technology from outside their local area. Extremism and anti-Western > sentiment is rapidly growing. > > If Saddam is ever to be deposed, and anything resembling democracy is ever > to develop in Iraq -- a circumstance even less likely now than when the > sanctions and consequent deaths from malnutrition and preventable disease > began -- these children must one day grow up to be the nation's leaders. > > No one can deny the crimes and terror imposed by Saddam Hussein and his > Iraqi regime. But the current U.N. policy makes no one safer and does > nothing to alleviate anyone's suffering. > > Instead, every nine minutes -- roughly the time it probably took you to > read this article -- another Iraqi dies as a direct result of the > sanctions. > > How many more must die before the West concedes that the sanctions are a > failed policy with predictable consequences so well-known, obvious, and > continuing that they border on genocide? > > ___________________________ > > For more info: > > Directory of numerous sanction-related websites > http://dmoz.org/Society/Issues/Economic/Sanctions/on_Iraq/ > > End The Sanctions Against Iraq Ad Campaign (advised by Noam Chomsky and > Howard Zinn) > http://www.suba.com/~solimine/ > > Human Rights Watch's call to reform the sanctions > http://www.hrw.org/press/2000/03/iraq0323.htm > > BBC story on Halliday's resignation > http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/middle%5Feast/newsid%5F183000/183499.stm > > The International Action Center (founded by former U.S. Atty. General > Ramsey Clark) > http://www.iacenter.org > > The Iraq Action Coalition > http://iraqaction.org > > ___________________________ > > Bob Harris is a political humorist whose morning radio show can be heard > online from 8-11 am EST at http://www.radioforchange.com. > > To receive a free email subscription to The Scoop, just send a blank email > to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > ___________________________ > > Bob?s Big Plug-O-Rama? (updated 5/29/00): > > *Steal This Book And Get Life Without Parole* has been nominated for a > Firecracker Alternative Book Award as one of the five best political books > of the year! Also, the American Booksellers Association recently made > *Steal This Book And Get Life Without Parole* a Recommended choice. The > book can be ordered directly from > http://www.commoncouragepress.com/steal.html at 25% off retail. You can > read some ridiculously kind reviews at http://www.bobharris.com/book.htm. > > RadioForChange.com now features In These Times columnist, former > Counterspin host, and Pacifica Radio luminary Laura Flanders from 11 am > until 2 pm eastern time. Jim Hightower is on at 10 pm each evening, and > I'm on from 8-11 each morning. For more on the evolving coolness of our > broadcast day, visit our new address, > http://www.workingforchange.com/radio/index.cfm. > > The Hollywood Reporter has recently dubbed yours truly as an heir to the > radio legacies of Howard Stern, Dr. Laura, and Rush Limbaugh. (They > apparently meant it as a compliment.) Check out > http://www.radioforchange.com from 8-11 am Eastern, 5-8 am Pacific. > > Syndication of "This Is Bob Harris," the daily 60-second radio commentary, > is rolling along. Call your favorite station and ask for the feature. They > pay attention, honest. > > The radio stuff is now also rebroadcast four times daily to over 140 > countries by Armed Forces Radio. You can also hear an audio version of my > commentaries online at Soapbox, which is at > http://www.webactive.com/webactive/soapbox/monday.html. > > Http://www.bobharris.com is still in mid-update. The redesign of the main > page and template for the others is complete; the rest of the pages will > be updated in the next few weeks. > > According to the domain names in the subscriber list, the email version of > this column now has subscribers in 49 countries. 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