The following is an archived copy of a message sent to a Discussion List run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
Views expressed in this archived message are those of the author, not of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
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In reading this particular article there appears to be little evidence presented that sanctions were not to blame for the deaths of Iraqi children, beyond a few anecdotal quotes. The fact that the Iraqi regime at the time cynically paraded the corpses of babies for propaganda reasons does not mean that sanctions were not the cause of these deaths in the first place.Sanctions could still have caused most of the deaths, which the regime then milked for all it was worth in a tasteless way.This is not to say that Saddam Hussein's regime was blameless over a whole host of issues during the sanctions era, far from it, but the article didn't really explain anything. It also reminded me of the "breaking story" this week of "corruption" in the management of the oil for food program on ABC News in the US. Once again, nothing beyond assertions, anecdotal quotes, hearsay, and commentary from people who aren't experts in the field, with no evidence presented, nor any rigourous analysis, nor balanced presentation of the facts and circumstances.In fact, nothing more than the disingenuous soundbites that ill-informs a complacent public. Politicians and the media can get away with saying anything these days, we truly live in an era of unprecedented disinformation. Peter Kiernan _______________________________________________ Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk