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On Tue, 2 Feb 1999 16:28:30 +0000 (GMT) Abi Cox <agc29@hermes.cam.ac.uk> wrote: > > > Blair's first sentence is untrue in the sense that relying > > on those sources alone would not be enough. However, where > > Blair is right is that, if Saddam Hussein used the > > resources of his state to maximise the welfare of his > > people rather than diverting what resources he can to the > > elite and to military capability, then, combined with the > > oil for food programme he *could* feed and care for > > the Iraqi people to a great extent. A parallel here is with > > Cuba - in spite of US sanctions, Castro has managed to > > ensure a relatively high standard of living for his people. > > It is important that, when our opponents have a grain of > > truth, we should not deny it - that weakens our position. > > I think the point is Saddam Hussein could feed and care for the Iraqi > people to a *greater* extent - whether this would be sufficient to restore > an acceptable standard of living is questionable. It is questionable, and precision matters. So, I would be happy to reformulate to state that Saddam Hussein could could feed and care for his people to a much greater extent. That way we are acknowledging the grain of truth in the government's argument. What I'm getting at is that we need a simple and clear yet accurate response. > The parallel with Cuba > is misleading Parallels only draw attention to some similar elements of two situations. The particular parallel I drew was accurate. I wasn't suggesting the two situations are identical. , as it had not prior to sanctions been subjected to two > highly-destructive wars which reduced its infrastructure to pre-modern > levels. This shows the parallel is limited, not misleading. Castro cares about Cubans in a way that Saddam does not care about Iraqis. > I don't have Denis Halliday's figures to hand, but I > think they > indicated that even if Iraq did use all its available resources, they > would still be woefully inadequate to restore the infrastructure - I'd be interested to see such figures. If you find them, I'd appreciate it if you could supply them. > presumably why he referred to Oil for Food as "band aid stuff". Pumping in > medicines, for example, wouldn't address the cause of so much illness and > death, ie contaminated water supplies. True, but the government's point - that Saddam could do a lot more to help ordinary Iraqis - is true. > > Admittedly though, knowing exactly how much is spent on the military and > the elite would be helpful. Agreed. If anyone has any figures/estimates, I'd be grateful for them. Best wishes Eric ---------------------- Dr. Eric Herring Department of Politics University of Bristol 10 Priory Road Bristol BS8 1TU England, UK Tel. +44-(0)117-928-8582 Fax +44-(0)117-9732133 http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/Politics Eric.Herring@bristol.ac.uk -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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