DATE=4/12/2000 TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT TITLE=RETHINKING IRAQ NUMBER=5-46112 BYLINE=ED WARNER DATELINE=WASHINGTON CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: A number of countries as well as members of the U-S Congress have urged that economic sanctions on Iraq be lifted. They argue that sanctions have not weakened Saddam Hussein or changed his behavior, but have brought great hardship to the Iraqi people. The United States insists on maintaining the sanctions, which were imposed by the United Nations, until the Iraqi leader complies with U-N inspections of his weapons of mass destruction. VOA's Ed Warner reports the growing debate. TEXT: "Slowly, inexorably, a generation is being crushed in Iraq. Thousands are dying, thousands more are leading stunted lives and storing up bitter hatreds for the future." That is how the British weekly "The Economist" describes conditions in Iraq because of economic sanctions. The sanctions, imposed by the United Nations, are intended to force Iraq to comply with U-N inspections of its weapons of mass destruction. Since Saddam Hussein has ejected the inspectors, the sanctions remain in place. The Economist says they impinge on the lives of Iraqis every moment of the day. Electric power flickers on and off. Tap water is polluted. Sewers overflow, breeding swarms of insects Iraqis cannot afford to spray. U-N reports indicate thousands of children are dying each month from malnutrition and diseases once unknown in Iraq. At a hospital in Baghdad, reporters from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer were shown children suffering from typhoid fever, pneumonia, leukemia, tuberculosis, cholera, and polio. While they looked on, a two year old girl afflicted with meningitis was trying to breathe through a small oxygen mask. She could not. With a final gasp, she died in front of her parents. The doctor said a fifty cent tube would have saved her, but the sanctions prevented him from getting one. Are the sanctions worth the suffering? By no means, says Michael Hudson, professor of International Relations and Arab Studies at Georgetown University. He notes they have not weakened Saddam Hussein, who does not suffer along with his people. Under the sanction policy, he seems more entrenched than ever: /// HUDSON ACT /// It does not seem to be doing much to bring down the regime of Saddam Hussein, and it clearly has been doing a great deal of damage to the civilian population. Even though Iraq is now making more money from its oil -- partly because of higher oil prices and partly because they are allowed to sell more - there are still very serious hardships being inflicted on the Iraqi population /// END ACT /// For others, the sanctions are worth the price. It is not the United States but Saddam Hussein who is devastating the Iraqi people, says Jim Phillips, Middle East analyst for Washington's Heritage Foundation: /// PHILLIPS ACT /// I think the sanctions are accomplishing their purpose, which is to delay and prevent Saddam Hussein from reconstructing his weapons of mass destruction. The sanctions, at least until now, have succeeded in preventing him from rebuilding his military machine. Iraq's problems are not with U-N sanctions but with the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein, and the sooner that dictatorship is gone, the quicker the Iraqi people can return to normal living conditions. /// END ACT /// That opinion is also held by U-S policymakers. Asked last December if the United States bears any responsibility for the deaths of Iraqi children from lack of food and medicine, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright replied: "No. Saddam Hussein bears full responsibility for that." Jim Phillips says Iraqis might suffer more without sanctions: /// PHILLIPS ACT /// If the United Nations lifted its sanctions, Saddam goes back to business as usual, building his nuclear weapons, chemical and biological weapons. It is only a matter of time before there is more trouble in the Persian Gulf - another Gulf War, and then the Iraqi people are even worse off. /// END ACT /// That is in the future, contends Professor Hudson. The suffering is now. He says some Americans are beginning to recognize a moral catastrophe for what it is. More than seventy members of the U-S Congress recently signed a letter urging President Clinton to lift the sanctions. Opponents of the sanctions say U-S and British planes patrolling the no-fly zones in northern and southern Iraq add to the suffering. When Iraqis fire on the planes or track them with radar, the radar and missile sites are often bombed. Inevitably, there are civilian casualties. France has called these attacks pointless and deadly. China and Russia also object. In general, Europeans are growing impatient with both the air attacks and the sanctions. What concerns Professor Hudson is the lack of discussion about Iraq in the American media. He believes that acts of warfare go largely unreported and unnoticed: /// HUDSON ACT /// It is a strange thing. This issue really does not get the attention one might think it ought to get. After all, it is an ongoing military operation of the United States. It is taking up a lot of energy and time from the American military, and yet there is very little discussion. I must say there seems to have been a particular kind of blackout on this business with Iraq. /// END ACT /// Professor Hudson says this blackout leads to suspicions, especially in the Muslim world, that the United States has a hidden agenda. It may want to keep Iraq weak so it can maintain its considerable forces in the Persian Gulf for the benefit of its Arab allies and Israel. It is time, says Professor Hudson, for a full-fledged debate on U-S policy toward Iraq. (Signed) NEB/EW/KL 12-Apr-2000 12:40 PM EDT (12-Apr-2000 1640 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .