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Encouragingarticle about Iraq Sanctions



Cnn.com has an article today about the US "rethinking" the sancions. 

There are some encouraging points in the article. Note some of the
Orwelian double-think and Double speak, such as "sharpening sanctions"

In solidarity,

stacey gottlieb & rick vanwie

Here is the text:

Britain, U.S. rethink Iraq sanctions
  
Iraq claims the regime of sanctions and U.S. and British bombing raids
are harming innocent civilians    
February 20, 2001
Web posted at: 8:34 AM EST (1334 GMT)


LONDON, England -- Britain and the U.S. are considering easing sanctions
on Iraq, just days after launching joint air strikes near its capital,
Baghdad. 

A senior British diplomat is to meet U.S. officials in Washington on
Thursday to explore an alternative format for implementing sanctions. 

Switching to so-called "smart sanctions" focused more tightly on arms
control, and removing controls on civilian goods imposed after Iraq's
1990 invasion of Kuwait, was one possible change, British sources said on
Tuesday. 

"We will see if there is room to sharpen the sanctions around weapons of
mass destruction," a British official said. 

Baghdad blames existing sanctions for a humanitarian disaster which
President Saddam Hussein says has killed more than one million people.
Britain and the U.S. blame Saddam's policies for the situation. 

The impact of sanctions has been eased in the last four years by an
"oil-for-food" arrangement that allows Iraq to sell oil and buy food and
medicines with some of the proceeds. 

Washington and London insist sanctions cannot be finally lifted until
Iraq complies with 1991 Gulf War ceasefire resolutions and allows U.N.
weapons inspectors to oversee elimination of its weapons of mass
destruction programmes. 

But Iraq, which refused to let the inspectors back in after a wave of
U.S.-British air strikes in December 1998, argues it has already met its
obligations and has rallied international support for a complete end to
what it calls the blockade. 

"Sanctions were never intended to make life hell for the Iraqi people,"
the British official said. 

Britain wants to look at ways to concentrate on stemming imports for
Iraq's military machine, he added. 

"Unchecked, Iraq could redevelop offensive chemical and biological
capabilities, and develop a crude nuclear device in about five years,"
Foreign Secretary Robin Cook wrote in a British newspaper this week. 

The discussions on Iraq will take place a day before U.S. President
George Bush meets British Prime Minister Tony Blair in Washington on
Friday, and shortly before U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell -- an
architect of the 1991 Gulf War that drove Iraqi troops from Kuwait --
begins a tour of the Middle East. 

Iraq seeks U.N. explanation
British diplomats say Powell's call to "re-energise" sanctions is in line
with a shift towards so-called smart sanctions. 

But they add it is not clear whether his view will prevail over more
hawkish members of Bush's new administration. 

Britain, Washington's most steadfast ally on Iraq and its only partner in
aerial patrols over the country, has maintained its fierce public
criticism of Saddam in recent weeks but at the same time signalled some
flexibility on sanctions. 

Former Foreign Office minister Peter Hain said last month Saddam would
find "reasonable people ready to do business" if he was prepared to
negotiate the return of U.N. weapons inspectors to Iraq. 

An Iraqi delegation will meet U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan next week
for talks aimed at trying to break the sanctions deadlock. 

A senior Iraqi official criticised the U.N. on Tuesday for failing to
censure last week's U.S.-British air strikes near Baghdad. 

The senior member of President Saddam Hussein's ruling Baath Party
accused the United States of blocking any such move in the U.N. Security
Council. 

"Where is the (U.N.) Security Council... where is the United Nations and
where are those who defend the U.N.'s charter," said Abdul-Ghani
Abdul-Ghafur. 
-- 
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