>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Degraded policy >Children suffering, filthy water, burning villages: >these are our sanctions against Iraq > >Special report: Iraq > >Jeremy Hardy >Saturday November 18, 2000 >The Guardian > >Monday sees the launch of a national petition against >sanctions in Iraq. It will probably pass unnoticed. >Sanctions aside, Britain and America bomb Iraq >whenever they feel like it, and with no news coverage >at all. Presumably, the purpose of the bombing and >sanctions is to degrade something. The something is >ourselves. > >I'm sure those who are reinventing world politics in >the light of a new-found enthusiasm for western >military intervention, are convinced that Saddam >Hussein is about to fall at any moment. If he does at >least Iraq will be newsworthy. Saddam is getting more >press these days anyway because he's sitting on a lot >of oil. So are we, if only we had the wit to >renationalise it, but since we gave it all away, we >rely on oil companies to make nice with dictators and >help them to crush internal opposition so that we can >keep our hauliers trucking. The oil-for-food programme >is one way in which the west has sought to keep the >oil coming. > >In fact, the amount of oil which Iraq is allowed to >export was set higher than its much degraded industry >was able to produce. Even then the programme is not as >generous as it sounds, because the oil money is held >in a UN-managed account with 30% coming off the top in >reparations and imports subject to approval by the >Security Council. Equipment vital to Iraq's >electricity and water supplies are held up. As a >result water is frequently contaminated (there's a >biological weapon for you) and the national grid could >completely pack up at any moment. > >The British government line is that medical shortages >are the result of stockpiling. Former UN humanitarian >co-ordinators, Denis Halliday and Hans von Sponeck, >who resigned in succession over sanctions, both >dispute this. The infrastructure was degraded by the >west and distribution suffered. In addition, some >medicines and equipment are useless without others. >Much is lost through spoilage during power cuts. In >fact, von Sponeck stated, "We have found no evidence >that there is a conscious withholding of medicines >ordered by the government." > >It is possible that such a policy exists. Certainly, >Saddam has a cavalier disregard for the suffering of >his own people. He boasts to them of how he enjoys his >lavish lifestyle, free from the ravages that sanctions >and bombs have brought to ordinary Iraqis. He feasts >while they suffer. Perhaps he does withhold medicines. >But how would that boost the case of the dwindling >number of politicians who support the sanctions? It >further demonstrates that the 10-year war we have >waged against his people, while ostensibly having "no >quarrel" with them, is all grist to the mill as far as >he is concerned. That is why all the voices for change >in Iraq, and all Saddam's opponents in exile, are >telling us to stop. > >The west certainly has a curious notion of what it is >not to have a quarrel with someone. I suppose in the >sense of fisticuffs over a Leylandii tree, it is not a >quarrel. Perhaps extermination is a better word. >According to Unicef, which as a UN agency is forced to >tread carefully, sanctions have contributed to the >deaths of 500,000 children since the Gulf war, and >800,000 are chronically malnourished. Asked to comment >on such figures, Madeleine Albright has replied: "We >think the price is worth it." And it is always worth >going to her rather than to Robin Cook. The organ >grinder doesn't mess about. She plays a simple tune >that's easily recognisable. The monkey leaps about all >over the place, making a lot of silly noises. > >So let's listen to Washington rather than Westminster. >Albright told us in 1997: "We do not agree ... that if >Iraq complies with its obligations concerning weapons >of mass destruction sanctions should be lifted." In >1998, former weapons inspector Scott Ritter said: >"Sanctions only punish the people of Iraq, they don't >punish this regime." In June this year, the former >head of Unscom, Richard Butler, said: "We now know >that using economic sanctions to bring about >compliance in the weapons area does not work." Deputy >US national security adviser, Robert Gates, said back >in 1991: "Iraqis will pay the price while [Saddam] >remains in power. All possible sanctions will be >maintained until he is gone." That year, Colonel John >A Warden III, of the US air force, said that the >wrecking of Iraq's electricity system "gives us >long-term leverage". > >According to Mike Horn, who flew F-15s in two tours of >duty in the northern no-fly zone, "You'd see Turkish >F-14s and F-16s inbound, loaded to the gills with >munitions. Then they'd come out half an hour later >with their munitions expended." When US pilots flew >back over the Kurds whom the no-fly zone ostensibly >protects, they would see "burning villages, lots of >smoke and fire". Instructions were not to interfere. >Someone remind me who this quarrel is with? > > > >__________________________________________________ >Do You Yahoo!? >Yahoo! Calendar - Get organized for the holidays! >http://calendar.yahoo.com/ > > >______________________________________________________________________ >To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Want to effectively manage your Accounts Receivables? Need to >maximize cash flow? 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