Sanctions: 'A crime against humanity'
Anti-imperialist debates State Dept. on Iraq
On June 22, International Action Center West Coast
Co-coordinator Richard Becker debated Elizabeth Jones,
assistant secretary of state for Near East affairs, on
KPFA-Pacifica Radio's Morning Show. The issue was the ongoing
U.S./UN sanctions against Iraq, which have been in effect for
nearly nine years and claimed the lives of over 1.5 million
Iraqis.
Jones, a former U.S. ambassador to Kazakhstan, defended the
sanctions and attempted to place all responsibility for the
suffering of the Iraqi people on the government of President
Saddam Hussein. She said the U.S. government's official policy
toward Iraq is "regime change."
Becker responded that Secretary of State Madeleine Albright,
appearing on the CBS-TV program "60 Minutes" on May 11, 1996,
had said that the death of a half-million Iraqi children due to
the sanctions was "worth the price."
The IAC organizer called Albright's statement "a confession
to a massive violation of international law and a crime against
humanity." Becker stated that the policy of "regime
change"--seeking to overthrow the government of Iraq--is part
of a decade-long U.S. drive to re-colonize Iraq and secure
control of the vast oil resources of the Gulf region.
Becker pointed out that "what has changed from 10 years
earlier, when Iraq was a thriving country with an excellent
health-care system, was not the government of Iraq, but instead
the U.S.-led war and blockade, which had devastated the
country."
A similar debate between Becker and Jones took place three
weeks earlier on KQED, the San Francisco-based affiliate of
National Public Radio.
--Workers World
San Francisco bureau
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