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Dear all While I would agree with Yasser Alaskary's point that it is largely irrelevant whether the inspectors were expelled or withdrawn I find it a very handy starting point in debates with people who throw this up as well as challenging it when said by politicians. Being able to correct this appararently minor point can cause questions to be made about other issues. It illustrates the accuracy of our own country's media. Having corrected this point it is possible to go on and say about the tragic consequences that the sanctions are having. I further agree that we should be only concerned for what is best for the people of Iraq , and now I find a bit of a problem. Before anyone says anything let me make it 100% clear I am not in favour of any war but how do we support the Iraqi people and stop them suffering from the sanctions? Of course I want to see the sanctions and therefore the suffering removed ,it is futile to quibble about inspectors being expelled/withdrawn but it is equally futile to expect the sanctions to be lifted when America has said it will not ease the sanctions all the time Saddam is in power.Yes this is unjust and inhumane but that is the real situation, America will not allow itself to be seen as backing down and couldn't give a ***** for worldwide opinion. We all know we should not be in this position but we cannot rewrite history, we are where we are and trying to find a practical and realistic way out is the problem. The thing that is hurting and killing the people are the sanctions imposed on them by the West in an attempt to get rid of Saddam, so it can be argued that if the west goes in and kicks him out the Iraqi people will have the sanctions lifted and their suffering will be ended. So on that basis should we be supporting the proposed military action? However there is (as always) another side to this , despite the rhetoric that the action will be carefully targeted to only hit the republican guard it is bound to cause civilian loss of life as well , almost certainly will exascerbate tensions in the region, and be seen as an act of American aggresion. We all know that if Saddam is removed there will be a puppet put in his place but the suffering of the Iraqi people will be removed. Please do not slam into me , this is a genuine concern and I would welcome anyone's constructive comments. I deplore war and I deplore the sanctions. J2 ----- Original Message ----- From: Yasser Alaskary <ya1980@hotmail.com> To: <soc-casi-discuss@lists.cam.ac.uk> Sent: Thursday, March 14, 2002 11:24 PM Subject: [casi] anti-sanctions or just anti-government? Hi all, I've become somewhat alarmed by recent comments made on this group. the reason any of us is campaigning and working for the end of sanctions is for the iraqi people, or at least that should be the reason. by the same logic, we should not be trying to defend the iraqi regime in any way. those who say "its none of our business" and we should only deal with what our country imposes on iraq, thats like saying "who gives a crap about what happens to the iraqi people, as long as we're not responsible". it is extremely hypocritical, and anyway the US and UK have helped keep saddam in power so many times (not least in '91) that it does become our responsibility. this isn't some game were our objective is soley to object against whatever america and the government do, our work should stem for our sincere, heartfelt concern for the starved and oppressed iraqi people - and this concern should have no boundaries. picking on the little detail of whether saddam hussein ejected the inspectors or whether they left themselves is irrelevant to the fact that the bombing and sanctions only hurt the iraqi people, killing hundreds of thousands. the people of iraq should not be tied to the inspectors - that is were the point should be made, not about some media injustices are done against the brutal iraqi regime. by making such a point we are endorsing the belief that the issue of inspections and sanctions should be interlinked. come on people, focus on the objective. regards, yasser alaskary president, imperial college iraqi society ------------------------------------------------------------ See how the rest of the world sees today's news at http://www.cafe-uni.com. News of world events and international politics from the world's newspapers --------------------------------------------------------------------- Express yourself with a super cool email address from BigMailBox.com. Hundreds of choices. It's free! http://www.bigmailbox.com --------------------------------------------------------------------- _______________________________________________ Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk