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Subscribers who are planning to approach MPs should take note of the information they have received from Parliament's in-house research service, which is regarded as reliable and credible. The House of Commons research library provides briefings for MPs. Research paper 99/13 "Iraq: Desert Fox and Policy Developments" runs to 65 pages. Humanitarian issues are hardly mentioned. On page 15, we learn - truthfully enough - that sanctions mortality estimates are disputed, falling between 200,000 and one million. Four short paragraphs deal with the resignation of Denis Halliday. Page 16 reproduces the resolution 661 para 3(c) claim that the embargo does not cover strictly medical supplies or 'in humanitarian circumstances' food. After that it's the usual stuff about requests for liposuction machines. >From this section of the briefing, the uninformed reader would have no notion that the US and Britain prevent the import of innocuous items including food and medicines, or that there is any kind of controversy about this. The state of Iraqi infrastructure and its competence to benefit from OFF is not discussed. Indeed, page 29 quotes a 1998 FCO briefing to the effect that Desert Fox did not target generators, water or rail links because this 'would have harmed the Iraqi people.' Even if that is true, some observers have noted that Iraq never recovered from the 1991 bombing. Bear this in mind when you approach the honourable members; they tend to believe what the Library tells them. -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a discussion list run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq For removal from list, email soc-casi-discuss-request@lists.cam.ac.uk Full details of CASI's various lists can be found on the CASI website: http://welcome.to/casi