I hope some are saved from getting their panties in a bunch when they read the info.
"CBS Reporter Lesley Stahl (speaking of post-war sanctions against Iraq):
"We have heard that a half million children have died. I mean, that's more children than died in Hiroshima. And - and you know, is the price worth it?"
Madeleine Albright (at that time, US Ambassador to the UN):
"I think this is a very hard choice, but the price - we think the price is worth it."
Seven years later albright tried to backpedal:
"I must have been crazy; I should have answered the question by reframing it and pointing out the inherrent flaws in the premise behind it. Saddam Hussein could have prevented any child from suffering by simply meeting his obligations."
It's typical for people to try to ignore this by saying it was the UN. That is true but it's ******* stupid to ignore we were the ones driving it and she pointed out that Bush said the Sanctions would remain as long as Saddam was in power......which means Albright's claim is bullshit because even one hundred percent adherence would not have ended them. While the numbers are not exact it is safe to say the claim we have killed and wounded hundreds of thousands in iraq over the past 20 years is easily supported by this and other sources regarding the increase during our invasion and occupation. The original study cited by CBS was flawed but a different study within iraq reflected the same info.
"The CESR study that estimated 500,000 excess deaths among Iraqi children (cited in the CBS report) was found to be methodologically flawed.
However, a 1999 UNICEF survey within Iraq reinforced the earlier studies. Based on new data, it also estimated 500,000 excess deaths among Iraqi children under 5-years old.
UN Assistant Secretary General Denis Halliday, the Humanitarian Coordinator for the Oil for Food program in Iraq, resigned in 1998 to protest sanctions that he later termed "genocidal".
Sanctions and War in Iraq
The sanctions were not designed to hurt Saddam but only the iraqis in hopes they would revolt against the Ba'ath Party. It's safe to say as a Nation we do not have the moral authority to ***** about needless killing.