December 1, 2004
HE IS WHO THEY THINK THEY ARE:
Looking the Other Way (Kathy Kelly, 12/01/04, CounterPunch )
This morning, columnists in major US papers will continue alerting US people to possible wrongs, even crimes, committed by UN officials in the course of the "oil for food" program which coordinated and monitored sales of Iraqi oil, while economic sanctions ravaged Iraq. These economic sanctions constituted the most comprehensive state of siege ever imposed in modern history. It's not likely that Saddam Hussein ever missed a meal, but children, hundreds of thousands of children, suffered gruesomely. Their suffering and death can be likened to child sacrifice, certainly the most egregious instance of child abuse in modern times. They'd committed no crime, yet they were brutally--and lethally--punished for the government of the country into which they were haplessly born. You aren't likely to find this story in the current exposés of UN wrongdoing.In fact, many UN officials tried valiantly to put an end to the economic sanctions.
George Bush ended the sanctions. Posted by Orrin Judd at December 1, 2004 11:04 AM
The big difference here is that the UN officials wanted to remove sanctions but leave Saddam in place, effectively letting Saddam off the hook. Bush on the other hand, by removing Saddam, removed the need for the sanctions to exist at all.
Posted by: AWW at December 1, 2004 12:06 PMMs Kelly is quite correct, it was child sacrifice; committed by Saddam, aided by some UN officials, as well as powerful politicians from many nations.
If they'd ended the food-for-oil programme, once they saw that it was a Saddam-enrichment programme, that too would have led to ending the sanctions, by putting the squeeze on Saddam to get his mind right.
Posted by: Michael Herdegen at December 1, 2004 12:29 PMKen you crack me up.
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at December 2, 2004 1:54 AM