Eight years of sanctions have denied an entire generation things as harmless as books and pencils and have caused them physical and mental damage they will never overcome.

The U.S.-led sanctions were imposed to prevent Iraq from selling oil and to freeze Iraq's foreign assets, the result of which is normally the inability to purchase the food and medicine that the people of Iraq need to survive. The U.S. claims these were just "unintended consequences," and political figures such as Madeline Albright believe the grave punishment the Iraqi people are taking is "worth it."

Sanctions have brought fierce poverty to a quarter of Iraq¹s population. That translates to roughly 5,750,000 people. The Iraqi people cannot even purchase pipe to fix their sewer systems. People drink the polluted water that is flooding the streets because they have no other choice. Deaths due to the resulting disease and malnutrition are estimated between 300,000 and more than a million.

The United States and the rest of the United Nations refuse to lift the sanctions until Saddam Hussein begins to comply with UN resolutions. Iraq has made a number of gestures of compliance with these resolutions. In November 1993, Iraq accepted the stationing of permanent UN weapons monitoring facilities on Iraqi territory. In November 1994, it recognized the redrawn international borders with Kuwait. The 1994 decision was described by the Security Council as "a significant step in the direction towards implementation." It would seem the corporate-owned media will not let us remember certain things.

With these sanctions, the UN is actually contradicting itself. These human rights violations that have resulted from the sanctions reveal a tragic incongruity between sanctions that are harming the innocent human beings who live in Iraq and the United Nations Charter, specifically the Convention on Human Rights and the Rights of the Child.

Radford University students, your tax dollars are paying for these sanctions. The money you work incredibly hard to earn eventually trickles into the funds that support a weapon far more devastating than war. What do you want the government to do with your money?

This also corrodes the relationship we have with our governments. We are the next-in-line human beings in this world, all of us, stretching across the globe. Human rights violations anywhere are a great disturbance to many of us. We cannot stand by and allow the governments of the world to continue oppressing these people. Weapons should not worry us as much as the lethargic and excruciating death of a nation.

Name: S. Cloud
Year: Senior
Major: Social Science
Comments:
I hate to quible. Actually, no I don't. It's one of my ture pleasures in life. Anyway, our modern letters were not invented in Iraq. They arn't even Arabian. Most scholors agree they originated in Asia or northern India. Iraq is the "middle" east because for most of history it was the trading gateway between the west and east. Often our Western forefathers took an idea from the middle east and just assumed it originated there. We know better now and can see that the ancient middle easterners actually got a lot of good stuff from the East and just passed it on. I know this because I am taking History of the Middle East. There, I used that class for something. Tuiton validatied.

Name: jeff (the author)
Comments:
that should be ILLITERACY among women, not literacy...:)

Name: jeff (the author)
Comments:
OK, time to play devil's advocate (somewhat) here. What statements or actions has Saddam made? The failure to distribute the insulin that was sent to his country? Syringes were banned! The failure to utilize the heart/lung machines supplied to the hospitals? The computers used to run them were banned. The rice given to the country...how can they cook it without clean water? I am in no way a proponent of Saddam's dictatorial ways. However, one should note that prior to the entire business about these sanctions, Hussein's government did amazing things with the oil money. Granted, an elite people were funded with extravagant palaces and such, but that is only one aspect. Literacy among women was lowered from 88% to 9% in only 5 years. All forms of school were free. Operations such as kidney replacements costed citizens the equivalent of $3.25 in US currency. Culture incorporates politics in a great way, and culture is relative. Too many people judge practices in other countries with "good ol' American democracy" as the frame of reference. Does one really believe that Iraq would embrace something similar to our governmental practices after we tried to Cocacolize that country, in effect saying that WE ARE RIGHT and THEY ARE WRONG? Iraq is also worth defending because they are one of the most history-rich countries in the world. The wheel was invented in what is now Iraq. Iraq is what was once Mesopotamia--the Fertile Crescent. And, very personal for me, Iraq gave us the symbols that we today call letters. Iraq gave us writing. If these sanctions were placed on any country, honestly, who in their right mind would defend them? We need to stop labeling people as Americans, Turks, Poles, Iraqis and so forth. These are all human beings. The fact that these are human lives extinguished on a daily basis is reason enough to oppose them. I know for certain, in my heart, that it is reason enough for me.

Name: Kimber's Fan Club
Comments:
I don't think I go as far as 95%. Not that I disagree with most of the facts presented, just that presenting others that were omitted like the number of instances over the years when the current regime in Iraq has refused to comply with the sanctions might lead one to a slightly different balance as to who's to blame for the current situation. The only part I really disagree with is the sentence beginning "weapons should not worry us as much as..". Given Saddam's past history and statements, we (the civililzed nations of the world) are in the difficult position of having to decide between oppressing Iraq or letting the current regime build back up it's arsenals and use them against us. The sanctions clearly haven't worked as they were originally intended (since the current regime is still in power), but just lifting them with the current regime in power doesn't present a very good alternative either. One of the most thought provoking articles I've read in WHIM. BTW Kimber - your graphics RULE !!!

Name: S. Cloud
Year: Senior
Major: Social Science
Comments:
I agree with 95% of this article. However, there are a few other issues to be considered. Clearly, modern Iraq is living under a destructive totalitarian rule. Besides imposing economic sanctions, what should we do about that? Should we remove the Hussain regime by force? If so, then why should we not do the same thing to every other bloody dictator in the world? What gives us the moral imperative to say to that our imposed verion of government would be any better that the Hussain regime? After all, the US has a notorious history of installing dictatorial tyrants in states where it overthrows even democratically elected rulers. If the recent past is any indication, Iraq would wind up with just as barbaric of a leader but one who is friendly to American corporate interests. Thus, I can not easily support a military intervention to Americanize Iraq. So, what are the options? If we end economic sanctions, how does that effect Iraq's status? How does that effect the Hussain regime? I would tend to think that it would strengthen both, which is unacceptable. So, what are the other options? How can we nonviolently work to end Hussain’s regime and restore democracy and liberty?