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Gorgo
SFN Die Hard
USA
5310 Posts |
 Posted - 05/29/2002 : 15:45:23
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"Not one human life should be expended in this reckless violence called a war against terrorism." - Howard Zinn
Edited by - gorgo on 07/05/2002 06:41:58
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Gorgo
SFN Die Hard
USA
5310 Posts |
Posted - 07/05/2002 : 06:39:02 [Permalink]
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Too much collateral damage
'Smart sanctions' hurt innocent Iraqis, says HANS VON SPONECK. It's time to dispense with the mirage of mitigation
By HANS VON SPONECK
Tuesday, July 2, 2002 – Print Edition, Page A15
On May 14, the United Nations Security Council passed a ninth revision of its 1990 resolution on economic sanctions against Iraq. In the face of mounting international concern and a "this or nothing" U.S. veto threat, the so-called "smart sanctions" passed unanimously, with its U.S. and British proponents suggesting that the resolution would expedite the import of civilian goods into Iraq.
For the sake of the Iraqi people, one can only hope it will. But will increased imports resolve the humanitarian crisis? Are smart sanctions "smart" enough? As UN co-ordinator of the oil-for-food program from 1998 to 2000, I write from privileged experience into humanitarian conditions in Iraq.
Six years of revisions to sanctions policy on Baghdad have repeatedly promised "mitigation" of civilian suffering. Yet, in 1999, Unicef confirmed our worst fears: that one child in seven dies before the age of 5 -- an estimated 5,000 excess child deaths every month above the 1989 pre-sanctions rate. Four months ago, Unicef reported that more than 22 per cent of the country's young children remain chronically malnourished, confirming yet again how limited this "mitigation" has been.
The failure is not one of internal distribution. During my tenure, more than 90 per cent of oil-for-food goods distributed by the government reached their intended destinations. UN reports have consistently confirmed this success rate -- one beyond expectation, given the chaotic constraints of disintegrating infrastructure, erratic communications and electrical power, and arbitrary U.S. "holds" on $5-billion worth of contracts.
Rather, the failure has been a problem of woefully inadequate amounts and range of goods received. Until May of 2002, the total value of all food, medicines, education, sanitation, agricultural and infrastructure supplies that have arrived in Iraq has amounted to $175 per person a year, or less than 49 cents a day.
This has made postwar reconstruction impossible, and ensured mass unemployment and continuing deterioration of schools, health centres and transportation. "Smuggled" oil revenues represent only a small fraction of oil-for-food funds. Even here, an estimated three-quarters of these funds have been directed to social services. Above all, it is a problem of livelihood. What Iraqis need is employment. What Resolution 1409 offers, instead, is allegedly less paperwork.
Without massive investment to rebuild the war- and embargo-shattered infrastructure, most Iraqi families cannot earn income to purchase the civilian goods promised. Like all previous revisions, "smart sanctions" leave the root cause of their troubles -- strangulation of the civilian economy -- unaddressed.
Oil revenues continue to be channelled out of the country into a UN escrow account, unavailable to pay teachers, doctors, garbage collectors or agricultural services. No foreign loans, no foreign investment, no access to foreign exchange are permitted. Import of much of the equipment and tools needed for rebuilding the shattered civilian infrastructure remains subject to U.S. veto.
In 1999, an expert panel of the Security Council warned that the humanitarian crisis in Iraq would continue without "sustained revival of the Iraqi economy." Three years on, several Security Council members still haggle over import restrictions while the Iraqi people continue to suffer, and die, for lack of work. Last month, The Economist predicted even further decline in Iraq's GDP in the coming year under "smart sanctions."
Reports of stores full of new merchandise only serve to mask the continuing poverty that is the plight of most Iraqis. "No matter how much you modify the UN humanitarian program," said Tun Myat, my successor as UN co-ordinator, "it is not designed for -- and it will never be -- a substitute for normal economic activity. . . . The markets are quite full of things; the problem is whether or not there are people who have the purchasing power to buy them."
Smart sanctions policy ignores these realities. Worse, it serves to distract from the critical disarmament issues at hand.
Arms inspectors must return to Iraq. The international community must be satisfied that weapons of mass destruction no longer exist. But as long as an ambiguous framework for inspections remains in place, any incentive for compliance is undermined.
The refusal of individual Security Council members to recognize incremental progress in disarmament by Iraq in the pre-1998 period constituted a fundamental mistake of historic proportions. Scott Ritter, a former U.S. inspector known for his thoroughness, has said that Iraq was already qualitatively disarmed when UN weapons inspectors were withdrawn at the request of the U.S. in 1998.
An unambiguous framework for inspections, arms monitoring and definition of compliance is needed, as an indication that sanctions will not continue in perpetuity.
Dishonesty has not been limited to the Iraqi government. Some U.S. inspectors doubled as spies; this was not conducive to creating the kind of trust essential to resolving the current weapons inspection impasse. The Secretary- General must be in a position to guarantee no further misuse of UN weapons inspections.
Can the West ever trust Saddam Hussein again? Unquestionably, Iraq needs a government that will lead the country back to normal relations with the world. But the people of Iraq will suffer more if this change is violent and uncontrolled. CIA or military intervention is unlikely to bring democracy, and will only increase fear and suspicion within the Iraqi government -- and trigger further internal repression.
A much more constructive solution would be to lift the economic sanctions that have impoverished society, decimated the Iraqi middle class and eliminated any possibility for the emergence of alternative leadership. Political change would not happen overnight. But then again, 12 years of sanctions have only strengthened the current regime.
Credible opposition groups outside Iraq have called for delinking economic and military sanctions.
At the March Arab summit in Beirut, all 22 Arab governments (including Kuwait) called for the same. If the economic embargo on Iraq is not in their interest, then in whose interest is it?
"Smart sanctions" only reaffirm the position of Iraqi women and children as bargaining tools in the continuing dispute between Washington and Baghdad. It is time to dispense with the mirage of mitigation and allow Iraq to again become a better place for the men, women and children who have suffered so grievously under sanctions. The Security Council and the Iraqi government bear the obligation to create the conditions that make this possible.
Hans von Sponeck is a former UN humanitarian co-ordinator for Iraq.
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"Not one human life should be expended in this reckless violence called a war against terrorism." - Howard Zinn |
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Ogami
New Member
USA
15 Posts |
Posted - 07/12/2002 : 18:06:17 [Permalink]
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"Not one human life should be expended in this reckless violence called a war against terrorism." - Howard Zinn
Human lives were expended when the war was declared against our country. Does Howard Zinn have a realistic alternative besides this sound bite?
___________
As for the sanctions against Iraq, I thought they were there because Saddam Hussein is not cooperating with inspectors who want a look at his biological/chemical weapon stockpiles and research labs. Saddam apparently has plenty of money to fund those activities, yet the starvation of his own people is somehow not his fault? Must be nice to be a dictator.
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Gorgo
SFN Die Hard
USA
5310 Posts |
Posted - 07/12/2002 : 18:54:37 [Permalink]
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Iraq has cooperated with the U.N. inspectors. The inspectors said as much.
Certainly they had no incentive at all to cooperate. The sanctions were not about weapons inspection, the sanctions were about regime change. There was no indication that this brutal attack on the people of Iraq had anything to do with anything other than a brutal attack on the people of Iraq.
It's a sound bite because I made it one, not because Howard Zinn made it one.
A few murderers committed murder and 'W' used that as an excuse to kill thousands more innocent people in his quest for world domination.
quote:
"Not one human life should be expended in this reckless violence called a war against terrorism." - Howard Zinn
Human lives were expended when the war was declared against our country. Does Howard Zinn have a realistic alternative besides this sound bite?
___________
"Not one human life should be expended in this reckless violence called a war against terrorism." - Howard Zinn |
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Gorgo
SFN Die Hard
USA
5310 Posts |
Posted - 07/12/2002 : 18:58:44 [Permalink]
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And you have no idea how much "Saddam" has and what he should be using to pay for what. Much of the money "Saddam" has is going for public works projects. Yes, he's a rich mean sumbitch that lives well while his people starve. Like that doesn't go on here. Let's educate and feed our people instead of using that money to impoverish and kill others.
"Not one human life should be expended in this reckless violence called a war against terrorism." - Howard Zinn |
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WindupAtheist
New Member
41 Posts |
Posted - 07/12/2002 : 19:58:42 [Permalink]
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Does Gorgo ever have anything to contribute besides "Blargh! America = evil! Waah!"
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Zandermann
Skeptic Friend
USA
431 Posts |
Posted - 07/12/2002 : 20:13:18 [Permalink]
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quote:
Does Gorgo ever have anything to contribute besides "Blargh! America = evil! Waah!"
No, that's pretty much it. |
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Gorgo
SFN Die Hard
USA
5310 Posts |
Posted - 07/13/2002 : 03:15:41 [Permalink]
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Someone else who believes in evil spirits.
quote:
Does Gorgo ever have anything to contribute besides "Blargh! America = evil! Waah!"
"Not one human life should be expended in this reckless violence called a war against terrorism." - Howard Zinn |
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Satan
New Member
USA
27 Posts |
Posted - 07/19/2002 : 16:20:09 [Permalink]
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Unfortunately, the U.S. has done much to forfeit the trust of both Iraqis and American citizens. A reasonable person must expect lies and exaggeration of the truth from gov't officials, but the extent to which it occurs in America is ridiculous. Hence, I can sympathize with anyone who does little but vent about the latest outrage in American politics or foreign policy.
Nevertheless, we have much to thank our gov't for, despite the lies, the accounting, the reckless "war on terror" that unnecessarily claims human lives. Why is it that no one ever talks about the good things that America has and does (besides the fact that she sings her own praises fairly well)?
Satan,
a.k.a. the Talking Snake Whom Atheists, Witches, Muslims, and Puerto Ricans Worship (If You Ask Anyone In This State) |
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@tomic
Administrator
USA
4607 Posts |
Posted - 07/19/2002 : 16:52:03 [Permalink]
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Hey, it seems we bombed Iraq again and once more managed to kill only civilians with our most precise bombs. It's been 10 years now since the war and isn't it astounding that any time the US takes an action only civilians in Iraq die? They also hold funerals mere hours agter the events. Gosh are they ever organized.
 @tomic
Gravity, not just a good idea...it's the law! |
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Gorgo
SFN Die Hard
USA
5310 Posts |
Posted - 07/19/2002 : 18:38:40 [Permalink]
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Yet you don't ask yourself why the U.S. keeps bombing people illegally.
quote:
Hey, it seems we bombed Iraq again and
"Not one human life should be expended in this reckless violence called a war against terrorism." - Howard Zinn |
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Gorgo
SFN Die Hard
USA
5310 Posts |
Posted - 07/20/2002 : 04:32:11 [Permalink]
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There is much to appreciate in the world, that is true. This brings to mind an article in the American Atheists magazine. Atheists are criticized because they define themselves by a negative. However, as I've said on these fora, atheism is a positive statement about the world. We care about reality.
As the article questions, are people criticized at the American Cancer Society because they're "negative?" They're against cancer, so they define their existence in a negative way.
Am I against the world because there are a few aspects of it I'd like people to consider changing?
Would someone who lived in Nazi Germany be considered "negative" on these fora because they criticized some of Hitler's policies? "Oh, he's so negative, there is much in Germany to be thankful for?"
The criticism I get here sounds the same as the criticism I get in a "metaphysical" mailing list I'm on. "Homeopathy works for me, why are you so negative?"
Why is reality considered a negative thing?
quote:
Nevertheless, we have much to thank our gov't for, despite the lies, the accounting, the reckless "war on terror" that unnecessarily claims human lives. Why is it that no one ever talks about the good things that America has and does (besides the fact that she sings her own praises fairly well)?
"Not one human life should be expended in this reckless violence called a war against terrorism." - Howard Zinn
Edited by - gorgo on 07/20/2002 04:33:12 |
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Gorgo
SFN Die Hard
USA
5310 Posts |
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Valiant Dancer
Forum Goalie
USA
4826 Posts |
Posted - 08/06/2002 : 09:19:14 [Permalink]
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quote:
Hey, it seems we bombed Iraq again and once more managed to kill only civilians with our most precise bombs. It's been 10 years now since the war and isn't it astounding that any time the US takes an action only civilians in Iraq die? They also hold funerals mere hours agter the events. Gosh are they ever organized.
<img src="/forum/images/Abomb1.gif" border=0>@tomic<img src="/forum/images/Abomb1.gif" border=0>
Gravity, not just a good idea...it's the law!
I suppose it's easier to have the bodies ready beforehand. Seriously, though. It is possible to hold a funeral mere hours after a death. They don't hold a wake nor to they embalm the body. Plus the families don't have anything better to do.
Gorgo is off talking about illegal bombings, again. Besides his own and Chomski's claim that it is illegal, what makes it so? Besides being a Bush family tradition as well as an American tradition dating back a decade, (Clinton bombed Saddam, too.) bombing Iraq for failure to cooperate with UN inspectors and support of international terrorism was the justification.
1) Iraq has denied access to UN inspector for suspected weapons development and production facilities. Just because they put a sign identifying the site as a condensed milk factory doesn't make it so. Criminals will find a way to wrap their contraband in legal products. Cocaine smugglers have been wrapping their shipments in coffee.
2) Saddam Hussein has offered monetary rewards to the families of suicide bombers.
3) The UN has not condemned the US for bombing campaigns.
4) The UN has condemned other countries which the US supports. (Israel was condemned for overuse of force. Palestine was condemned for not tracking down the suicide bombers.) This tends to indicate that they are not afraid of the US or anyone else.
5) The inspectors said that Saddam called them before the bombing to invite the inspectors back over and comply with the resolutions. So far he has done that five times. Each time, he backtracks. It was not reasonable to believe him now. The UN inspectors said that their job was impossible to do if they were denied access to the sites in question. Or do you have evidence to the contrary?
6) Although the accusation that some US inspectors doubled as spies was probably accurate, Iraq expelled all US inspectors citing possible espionage as a reason. This was an attempt to not include any US inspectors. Iraq knew that US inspectors were less likely to be subject to intimidation.
Cthulu/Asmodeus, when you're tired of voting for the lesser of two evils. |
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Gorgo
SFN Die Hard
USA
5310 Posts |
Posted - 08/06/2002 : 09:30:56 [Permalink]
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The inspectors were withdrawn by the UN because of the impending bombing attack. They were not expelled. They have not been allowed to return (as if Iraq could stop them) because of the problem of U.S. skulduggery.
quote:
6) Although the accusation that some US inspectors doubled as spies was probably accurate, Iraq expelled all US inspectors citing possible espionage as a reason. This was an attempt to not include any US inspectors. Iraq knew that US inspectors were less likely to be subject to intimidation.
"Not one human life should be expended in this reckless violence called a war against terrorism." - Howard Zinn |
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Gorgo
SFN Die Hard
USA
5310 Posts |
Posted - 08/06/2002 : 09:47:22 [Permalink]
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So, if "Saddam" had grievances with Kuwait, it was okay for "him" to attack Kuwait, because anyone with any grievance at all can kill anyone.
quote:
2) Saddam Hussein has offered monetary rewards to the families of suicide bombers.
"Not one human life should be expended in this reckless violence called a war against terrorism." - Howard Zinn |
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