New York State of Mind

[Paul Mackin]

Rob puts it in just about the way I would. Two main points need to be
remembered. Barring a fit of temporary insanity Madeline Allbright would
never accede to  a statement anything like "the loss of 500,000 childrens'
lives was worth it" (regardless of what "it" was).

1. The 500,000 dead children is Saddam's number. The United Nations says it
is an exaggeration.

2. Whatever the truth might be, it is the position of the American State
Department and Allbright that the sanctions are not the primary reason for
the deaths of the children. Rather it is the diversion of food and medical
aid away from the intended receivers to government loyalists or reselling
the goods outside the country.

I'm sure all this has been pointed out to the p-list before. By Charles
Albert or someone else who keeps up with things. Doesn't depend for their
news on Altnews.com  :-)


        P.


----- Original Message -----
From: "jbor" <jbor at bigpond.com>
To: "Otto" <o.sell at telda.net>
Cc: <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Friday, October 05, 2001 2:03 AM
Subject: Re: New York State of Mind


> on 5/10/01 2:24 PM, Otto at o.sell at telda.net wrote:
>
> > Robert:
> >> (And in reply to Otto's point about Iraq, I suspect much the same
> > situation
> >> has prevailed under Saddam's rule there since those economic sanctions
> > were
> >> imposed, and I truly wonder how many of the 500,000 children who have
died
> >> were actually from the already persecuted minorities within his state:
> >> Kurds, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Mandaeans etc.)
> >>
> >
> > Rob, this may be the case but Mrs. Albright did not use this explanation
nor
> > did she question the numbers. She just said that it was worth the price.
>
> She has retracted the substance of those words on several occasions since
> 1996 I believe. I doubt that she or anyone else in the U.S. believes that
> innocent Iraqi children deserve to die. I doubt that she believed it even
as
> she was speaking those words: in fact, isn't it also true that on that
> interview the interviewer began to speak over the top of her before she
had
> even finished the sentence or had the chance to clarify her response?
>
> Whatever the case might be with Madeleine Albright, I certainly don't
> believe that 500,000 Iraqi children have deserved to die, and I'm not
> particularly happy about your insinuation that I do.
>
> > And
> > this is a question everybody who defends the sanctions "has the clear
> > obligation to answer".
>
> I'm not defending them -- you brought the topic up. But don't you think
> Saddam and his supporters need to shoulder at least some of the
> responsibility for what has been happening in the state he rules over? Do
> the UN sanctions forbid domestic or international aid agencies from
> providing humanitarian relief in Iraq?
>
> best
>