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+AD4- Iraq has already used +AD4- chemical weapons extensively against Iran and against its own +AD4- Kurdish civilians, at Halabja, in March 1998, attacking them with +AD4- mustard gas and the nerve agent Tabun and killing thousands in the +AD4- process. The wrong year+ACE- What Goeffrey does not say is that we were supporting Iraq at the time and that when the reports of these atrocities surfaced our lot did their best to ignore and suppress these reports. - It was in 1988. +AD4- My honourable friend is right to be concerned about the humanitarian +AD4- situation in Iraq - the Government are also concerned, but we +AD4- reject the propaganda that seeks to hold the UN sanctions regime to +AD4- blame. Let me remind my honourable friend once again that food, +AD4- medicines and goods for essential civilian needs are not prohibited +AD4- under sanctions. That means Iraq can and does import, for example, +AD4- food, medicines, bandages, pencils, ambulances, chemotherapy drugs, +AD4- educational materials, medical journals and school desks. Claims +AD4- that the United Nations, or the United Kingdom itself blocks those +AD4- goods are nonsense. Again Geoffrey is telling the truth but not the whole truth+ACE- Iraq needs to BUY these items. It's only significant export is oil which is strictly controlled and then we see these items being effectively prohibited by the UNSC committee. Iraq cannot buy freely what it considers necessary for its people. Why else do Iraqis still die because of untreated water? - I don't think he's telling the truth. All scientific material (including books) is still forbidden, unless the UN Committee allows single contracts. I remember Denis Halliday (former chief of the UN humanitarian program in Baghdad) saying that the delivery of several ambulances was blocked for many months by the usual US-UK vetoes. Eri Garuti eri+AEA-deejay.it -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a discussion list run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq For removal from list, email soc-casi-discuss-request@lists.cam.ac.uk Full archive and list instructions are available from the CASI website: http://welcome.to/casi