Thursday, January 28, 2010

Iraq inquiry should begin with 1991

'The "Iraq inquiry" in the UK should focus on the illegalities of genocidal sanctions and abandoning Iraqis in 1991 before touching on 2003'

I agree.

4 comments :

Don Cox said...

Was there anything in the sanctions that prevented Saddam from importing food and medicines?

Iraqi Mojo said...

There seemed always to be arguments about "dual-use" items that hindered Iraq's ability to function normally, but I believe Saddam intentionally neglected the south.

"Although most contracts for food in the last few years bypassed the Security Council altogether, political interference with related contracts still occurred. In a March 20, 2000, 661 Committee meeting—after considerable debate and numerous U.S. and U.K. objections—a UNICEF official, Anupama Rao Singh, made a presentation on the deplorable humanitarian situation in Iraq. Her report included the following: 25 percent of children in south and central governorates suffered from chronic malnutrition, which was often irreversible, 9 percent from acute malnutrition, and child—mortality rates had more than doubled since the imposition of sanctions."

Anonymous said...

As much as we may agree to GUESS that removing Saddam in '91 would have worked out better, we need to have some humility about that analysis. We can track a hurricane, and learn to hit the curve ball, but the trajectory of a war is not that predictable.

Anonymous said...

What a great resource!