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> does anyone know when the UNSC first proposed the oil-for-food deal to > Iraq? In August 1991 the UNSC passed SCR 706, which was a proto-oil-for-food resolution. It would have allowed Iraq (under September's SCR 712) to sell $1.6 billion of oil every 180 days. This cap, for which there was no humanitarian reason given that all funds were to be paid into a UN controlled account, would have left less money available for Iraq's humanitarian needs than what the UN Secretary General had just reported to the SC as being the minimum consistent with Iraq's most basic humanitarian needs. There is therefore strong evidence that the original oil-for-food deal was designed to be rejected, which it was. David Fine wrote in the Middle East Report (Jan/Feb 1992) that UN officials were convinced ... that the US intention was to present Saddam Hussein with so unattractive a package that Iraq would reject it and thus take on the blame, at least in Western eyes, for continued civilian suffering. Denis Halliday explained in January that Iraq tried to go it alone by devoting more resources to agriculture but, by 1995, it was clear that this had failed: the mortality rate were too high and agriculture wasn't producing. In 1995, SCR 987 was passed; it then took two years for it to be implemented, partly due to Iraq's continued suspicion that it was designed primarily to ease political pressure for the lifting of the sanctions. [some details taken from Mil Rai's letter to the editor of the Independent, 3 September 1999] Colin Rowat Coordinator, Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq http://welcome.to/casi *********************************************** * Support the: * * NATIONAL PETITION AGAINST SANCTIONS ON IRAQ * * http://go.to/iraqpetition * * or: 12 Trinity Road, London N2 8JJ * * or: iraqpetition@email.com * *********************************************** King's College Cambridge CB2 1ST tel: +44 (0)468 056 984 England fax: +44 (0)1223 335 219 -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a discussion list run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To be removed/added, email soc-casi-discuss-request@lists.cam.ac.uk, NOT the whole list. Please do not send emails with attached files to the list *** Archived at http://linux.clare.cam.ac.uk/~saw27/casi/discuss.html ***