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There has been some discussion about what to do to prevent Sadam Hussein from his escapades around the Gulf since sanctions and air strikes do not seem to deter him. I believe that a policy of containing Iraq as a sovereign state is a start- Lift sanctions - let Iraq flourish - it is a rich country - but prohibit the import of all weapons such as tanks, missiles, planes etc. Maybe Iraq could be one of the first states to have its borders and sovereignty guaranteed by the UN by a joint security force. This is a reasonable solution but the problem is that the Western economies cannot survive in their present state without large weapons exports to countries like Iraq Ultimately, Sadam and the other dictatorships around the Gulf are a product of Western policies towards the Gulf. We need to control these states as we need the oil and the business. It is much easier to deal with dictators - even those like Sadam- rather than deal with democratically elected governments who actually represent the will of the Arab peoples. If the dictators dont play the game they are easily removed. At present it suits the UK and USA to keep Sadam in power- it is good for business and when things get hot at home just send out a few gunboats- make a few air strikes- take a trip on Concorde to the USA Ron Eccles -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a discussion list run by Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To be removed/added, email soc-casi-discuss-request@lists.cam.ac.uk, NOT the whole list. Archived at http://linux.clare.cam.ac.uk/~saw27/casi/discuss.html