WHO'S ON THIRD

Sanctions Harden Iraqis Attitude to U.N. (JAMIE TARABAY, 8/23/03, AP)

When a truck packed with explosives blew up outside the United Nations compound in Baghdad and killed at least 23 people, much of the world recoiled in shock, horrified anyone would attack an organization known everywhere for its good works.

Everywhere, that is, except in Iraq, where there is deep ambivalence toward the world body.

For many Iraqis, the United Nations was synonymous with economic hardship - responsible for much of the everyday misery here.

The crippling international sanctions imposed by the world body after Iraq invaded Kuwait 12 years ago have been blamed for everything from high infant mortality rates to a ban on ice cream.

Geoff Keele, a spokesman for UNICEF who has worked in Iraq since June 2002, said under the previous government, the state press - the only source of information for people - would condemn the United Nations regularly, blaming it for the lack of quality health care.

"So there are people who are out there who do feel that the United Nations is to blame for a lot of the situations they find themselves in right now in this country,'' Keele said.

Many Iraqis couldn't separate U.N. humanitarian programs from the political measures meted out by its member states. For them, the same organization that tried to fund schools and bring in rice and flour under the Oil for Food Program was also the instrument that laid the groundwork for the 1991 Gulf War.

The 12 years of sanctions that followed did nothing to diminish the United Nations' image as a lackey for the United States.

"When you talk to me about the United Nations, what comes to mind is a political organization,'' said Moaid Al Rawi, 27, in his electrical appliance store in downtown Baghdad. "I don't consider their humanitarian contribution to be so great for us here. But don't get me wrong,'' he quickly added, "no one agrees with what happened.''

We'll know better what's really involved here after the third truck-bombing. The first two, which hit the Jordanian embassy and UN headquarters, don't seem to make much sense in the context of the Ba'athists vs. the Anglo-Americans, but make perfect sense in the context of ordinary Iraqis vs those who collaborated with Saddam against them. If the next target is some kind of French or Russian facility, then these truck-bombings probably aren't generically anti-Western attacks. Posted by Orrin Judd at August 23, 2003 6:37 AM