Re: Ultra-right US politician on sanctions and Iraq

[Colin Rowat <cir20@DELETETHIScus.cam.ac.uk>]

Thanks for the update on Patrick Buchanan, John.  I would agree that much
of what Buchanan stands for, I would not support.

I do think, though, that some of his points on this topic may (i) be ones
that I can agree with; and (ii) be made by someone whose "tough guy"
credentials are well enough established that he might convince Americans
who would otherwise suspect opponents of sanctions as being "pro-Saddam".

In explaining myself, let me stress that these are personal thoughts,
rather than the elaboration of an official CASI position.  I stress this
both because it's true but also because I always fear that these
discussions may serve to emphasise differences between us rather than our
common ground.  So: please disagree with me, but don't think that you have
also to disagree with CASI (other than insofar as it decided to accept
me).

For example, his claim that, "More Iraq children have been lost in nine
years to U.S. sanctions than all the American solders killed in combat in
all the wars of the 20th century" strikes me as about as powerful a
comparison as one can possibly make in the US: take every fallen American,
commemorated in all of our national war memorials.  The number of children
that we have helped to kill is less than these.

I also think that Buchanan's reasons for opposing the sanctions ("because
they don't work") is reasonable.  It seems to me that we might oppose
something because we dislike the idea of it, or because we dislike the
effects of it.  Furthermore, I think that a large reason that people
dislike the idea of something is because they dislike its effects: people
may dislike imperialism because it involves subjugation and oppression. 
So I think that opposing sanctions on Iraq because one thinks that their
effect has been bad is a very defensible position.

The Militant implies that Buchanan thinks that sanctions not working
primarily means that they have not toppled the government.  Given
Buchanan's powerful remarks about child deaths, though, I don't know what
relative weight Buchanan gives to these two concerns that he has about the
sanctions.  Without getting more information, I'd be hesitant to conclude
that his sole concern is toppling Saddam.

The part of the article that I was most unclear about was the following:

        "Sanctions have become a way for the United States to vent its
        anger on the cheap, said the rightist politician. Use them, but
        use them to deadlier effect, he advised. "If they are to be
        reapplied, I will understand what the world used to know: that
        embargoes and blockades are weapons of war."

You will see that there are only three quotation marks (this is also the
case on the web version of the article). The last two seem clear enough
but it is not clear where his first quote ends.  My guess is that the
paragraph is meant to read:

        "Sanctions have become a way for the United States to vent its
        anger on the cheap", said the rightist politician. Use them, but
        use them to deadlier effect, he advised. "If they are to be
        reapplied, I will understand what the world used to know: that
        embargoes and blockades are weapons of war."

If this guess is correct then Buchanan is merely saying that there is
nothing innocent about sanctions, they are weapons of war and we should
not pretend otherwise.  I think that his allusion to "what the world used
to know" is simply a reference to the earlier term for economic sanctions,
"economic warfare".  If so, I again think that Buchanan is correct with
that sort of statement. 

The key to this interpretation is that it assumes that Buchanan did not
say "Use them, but use them to deadlier effect".  It is possible that he
did but given that he has already noted that they have killed more
children than US soldiers have died in 20th century wars, I think that he
already believes them to have been quite deadly enough.

To conclude, I have not written to defend Patrick Buchanan in toto.  I
merely think that (i) his comments on this subject, as quoted above, seem
quite reasonable to me; and (ii) it strikes me as a good thing that
someone with a very different constituency is making these comments.  

As a final aside, I was present at something of a political roundtable in
November and was quite surprised to hear the more conversative members (a
Tory MP and a journalist for the right-wing Daily Express) making more
sensible remarks on the sanctions than the more progressive members (a
Lib-Dem MP and a Labour MP).  On all other topics, I found the latter more
sensible.  Strange bedfellows, perhaps, but bedfellows for now
nonetheless.

Thanks again, and keep up the good work,

Colin Rowat
393 King's College                      www.cus.cam.ac.uk/~cir20
Cambridge CB2 1ST                       tel: +44 (0)468 056 984
England                                 fax: +44 (0)870 063 4984


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