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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Dear Felicity and all, You're absolutely right - number crunching over dead children is distasteful. We all know children are dying and that it must stop. The point I make - and I think Colin makes too - is that we are dealing, in the UK and US governments, the UK press and UK public opinion, with adversaries that do not share this viewpoint. They want convincing on an intellectual not an emotional level, and yes they *do* ask distasteful questions - how many have died, are they dying less now than before, how many would have died without sanctions. We can't counter this only by saying 'even one extra death is too many' because they don't believe that this is true. By refusing to engage in the issue intellectually, it gives them license to discredit us as irrational and unrealistic with our heads in the clouds. But this is not the same as saying that we should not use emotional campaigning. Nowhere do Colin et al ever say that in campaigning it is wrong to describe the horror of watching a child die. Your talks and articles, Felicity, are brilliant - they hit straight to the heart and are what inspired us to get CASI going in the first place. What there is definitely no room for, however, is people quoting inaccurate statistics claiming that they are 'official' - all that this does is turn us into sitting ducks. best, abi -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 CASI's website - www.casi.org.uk - includes an archive of all postings.