Iraq Sanctions Remembered

It seems to me that our print and other media are doing us a great disservice by presenting the news of the day in a very superficial fashion.   Reading the famous "Blowback" series of books by Chalmers Johnson a few years ago, I was shocked to read that the United States was the primary promoter of the sanctions imposed on Iraq by the U.N. Security Council after the Gulf War, and that those sanctions were estimated to have caused the deaths of 1,000,000 Iraqi civilians, including 500,000 children under the age of 5.    Skeptical about Mr Johnson's claims, I researched the question myself and in short order was able to confirm his claims through independent, reliable sources.

During the first Gulf War the administration of President George H.W. Bush determined to drive Saddam Hussein's troops back into Iraq but not to prosecute the war further in any direct way.  It was decided that our policy would be, simply put, to try to make life so miserable for Iraqi citizens that they would eventually drive Saddam Hussein from power themselves.  A Department of Defense study at the time noted that Iraq's water supply was extremely vulnerable, partially on account of Iraq's rivers being heavily contaminated with bacteria and other toxic substances.  Before the end of the actual fighting, American bombers intentionally targeted and destroyed virtually all of Iraq's civilian water treatment plants, sewage treatment plants and power generating stations, despite the existence of a Geneva Convention protocol prohibiting the targeting during war of primarily civilian targets such as water treatment plants and power plants. 

After the cessation of hostilities, the United Nations Security Council, at the behest of the United States and Britain, then imposed harsh and unprecedented sanctions on Iraq, specifically including the prevention of the importation of chlorine and many medicines.  Also, the U.N. sanctions prevented Iraq from importing the parts necessary to rebuild water treatment, sewage and power plants.  The United States government's goal was to "degrade" Iraq's water supply to the point that severe public health consequences would follow for the citizens of Iraq, including the spread of diseases such as cholera, dysentery and diarrhea.   To make matters worse, the sanctions prohibiited the importation into Iraq of many vaccines, medicines and basic drugs.   The plan apparently worked to perfection.  A UNICEF study in 1996 concluded that over 560,000 Iraqi children had died as a direct result of the draconian sanctions.   The sanctions were continued up until the invasion of Iraq in 2003. 

This was not simply a Republican Party policy.  The Clinton administration continued to insist in the U.N. Security Council that the sanctions be continued, even after other Security Council member countries France, Germany and Russia concluded that the sanctions should be eased on humanitarian grounds.  Under Security Council rules, the United States and Britain had the power to veto any change in the sanctions. 

In 1996 Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was asked by Lesley Stahl on "60 Minutes" about reports that as many as 500,000 Iraqi children had died as a direct result of the sanctions and, specifically, if the sanctions were "worth it."   Secretary Albright stated:   It's a tough question but we think it's worth it."   You can hear this for yourself on Youtube.  Put in "Madeleine Albright" and "worth it."  Secretary Albright later termed her answer "dumb."  However, neither she or the United States government at any time denied that either her answer or the basic assumption of the question was accurate.  Indeed, the only apparent disagreement as to the effect of the American policy in Iraq is about the total number of civilians who died as a result of the misery and disease caused by the dual actions of destroying water treatment, sewage disposal and power plants and preventing through the U.N. sanctions the importation of chlorine and the parts and equipment necessary to repair the plants, as well as many vaccines, drugs and medicines.  

Former U.N. Delegate Bill Richardson endorsed the sanctions and accepted the fact that 500,000 Iraqi children had died as a direct result of the sanctions in a 2005 interview..   <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/5S1YkQs5nXQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

It has been reported that the national news media was virtually silent about Secretary Albright's interview on 60 Minutes.    The clip from 60 minutes apparently received a huge amount of play around the world but virtually none in the United States.    This omission might be an example of why there appears to be a substantial disconnect between our own rosy vision of our country and the more negative view taken by many around the world.

The world at large was justifiably outraged on 9/11 when Osama Bin Laden and Al-Quaeda flew passenger planes into the World Trade Center towers and killed 3,000 innocent people.    Is killing masses of innocent people ever justified in order to achieve political goals?    Does our national news media intentionally under report news events that would cause the American people to question our government's international policies?