The following is an archived copy of a message sent to a Discussion List run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
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Thought the list might like to see this letter.
Cheers
Eric
--------------------
Ms. Sian Kevill
Editor
BBC2 Newsnight
Television Centre
Wood Lane
London
W12 7RJ
8 October 1999
Dear Ms. Kevill:
I am a lecturer in international politics at the University
of Bristol engaged in research on the UN Security Council
sanctions on Iraq. I have done various pieces of work for
Newsnight on international crises over the years.
I saw the package by your Diplomatic Editor, Mark Urban, on
22 September regarding the UN Security Council sanctions on
Iraq. In that package, Mr. Urban made the claims that the
Iraqi government is deliberately keeping infant mortality
high, that the UN has powerful evidence of this, and that
this is the view of those running the UN programme,
though they can only hint at it. The powerful evidence
Mr. Urban referred to in the package was a UNICEF report,
but that UNICEF report makes no such claim and UNICEFs
Executive Director Caroline Bellamy has gone out of her way
to attribute the relatively high infant mortality rate in
the centre and south of Iraq to the relative ferocity of UN
sanctions (see the attached correspondence).
>From my correspondence with Mr. Urban, it is clear that his
evidence amounts to no more than off-the-record assertions
which, far from that being the view of those running the
UN programme, is openly and directly disputed by many of
them.
I would urge Newsnight not to claim again that Saddam is
deliberately keep infant mortality high unless it labels it
as mere speculation perhaps shared privately by some UN
personnel but certainly contradicted openly by some of
them too. He is a vile and brutal dictator, but claims
still have to be substantiated.
I would be happy to supply you with up-to-date background
information should you decide to cover this issue again. in
case it is of interest, I enclose a recent paper which
critiques British government policy on the sanctions.
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