End Sanctions on Iraq
By Nayyer Ali, MD

It is almost 10 years now since Saddam Hussein attempted to seize Kuwait in one of the worst miscalculations by a dictator in history. Not only did he lose; he has plunged his country into a decade of suffering. Just after he invaded, the UN imposed sanctions prohibiting the sale of Iraqi exports to any UN country, banned all trade, and froze Iraqi overseas assets. Many opponents of the US led military action in the Gulf argued that these sanctions alone, given enough time, would force Saddam to withdraw from Kuwait without war. Given how defiant he has been with these same sanctions in place now for 10 years, it is unlikely that approach would have succeeded.

These 10 years of sanctions have devastated Iraq. The economy in 1989 was based on the sale of oil, as Iraq has the second largest reserves of crude in the world. These oil sales paid for a huge variety of advanced imports that gave Iraq a fairly high standard of living, even after the cost of the Iran-Iraq war and the substantial wealth accumulated by Saddam and his henchmen. The entire economy was in some way dependent on imports from the simplest factory needing spare parts, to the insecticides that controlled mosquitoes. The loss of imports has destroyed the Iraqi economy for the average person. The middle class no longer exists.

The sanctions most terrible effect has been on the health care system, which was among the best in the Arab Middle East before the war. Now hospitals make do without sutures, antibiotics, or blood transfusions. Electric power is significantly curtailed, and this effects health care. The end result is terrible rise in mortality, especially for children. A Columbia University survey of NGO data found that between 100 thousand and 250 thousand children died between 1991 and 1998 as a result of the war and sanctions. A UNICEF report put the figure at 500 thousand, which sounds a little implausible in a country of 17 million. Regardless, it is clear that the children of Iraq have suffered tremendously.

It is important to recognize that even though America and Britain have pushed hard to keep these sanctions in place, it is ultimately Saddam’s fault that this catastrophe has befallen his nation. Saddam is among the most evil men to rule in the Muslim world. He did not hesitate to kill 2000 Kurdish villagers, including children, in the infamous poison gas attack on the village of Halabja in the late 1980’s. Even today, his regime earns large amounts of foreign exchange by smuggling out oil, but the proceeds go to his cronies and not the people of Iraq.

The UN weapons inspection regime, which was trying to eliminate Iraq’s capacity to develop nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons had been rather successful until 1998, when Saddam had decided to stop cooperating at all and expelled the inspectors. The US bombed for a while in retaliation, but since then there has been an uneasy truce with neither side moving at all. The sanctions were meant to force Saddam’s full compliance with UN weapons inspections, but he clearly was not going to be pressured by his people’s suffering, which matters not a bit to him.

The US and Britain have supported a UN “Oil for Food” program that was meant to allow Iraq to export some oil for the purchase of humanitarian goods. This program has done some good, especially in the Kurdish north which is free of Saddam’s control. However, it is constrained by excessive red tape. In addition, the US prevents Iraq from importing items that could be used by the military. This has extended to ambulances and school computers, even though these items can be readily smuggled by the regime. On the other hand, Saddam has continued to misuse his funds as much as he can. The Iraqis used some Oil for Food money to buy an MRI machine, which would only be used for the care of the elite, while millions of pregnant women suffer from anemia that could be treated with small doses of iron. In addition, Saddam has built himself 7 new palaces in the last few years, monuments to his own megalomania.

The sanctions regime has failed. It has punished the people of Iraq without forcing Saddam to behave in the manner the US and UN wants. At this point, the sanctions have outlived their usefulness. They should be lifted and Iraq should be allowed to rejoin the world economy. At the end of the day, America should recognize that the price of keeping Saddam in his box is too high in terms of the human suffering inflicted on Iraq. In this sad capacity to tolerate his own peoples’ suffering, Saddam has clearly won the battle of the sanctions. It is time that the West admits its defeat. Comments can reach me at Nali@socal.rr.com