Date: Thu, 1 Apr 1999 23:39:17 -0500
From: Aaron Micheau <amaarchy-AT-compuserve.com>
Subject: Re: The Anarchist Attitude To War


Message text written by danceswithcarp
>

On Thu, 1 Apr 1999, Aaron Micheau wrote:

> another way to put it is, as i heard on Pacifica radio today, some
> 1,000,000 Iraqi civilians have died as a result of UN sanctions in the
past
> eight years.  

I think the sanctions should go, and go quickly, and the no-fly cover for
airstrikes should disappear too.  But I have to question, again and again,
this assertion that 1,000,000 Irakis have died as a "result" of the
sanctions.<

i admit i'm not sure whose numbers those are, some NGO like UNICEF or CARE
i think... although i believe they refer to 'preventable' deaths- those
which would not have occurred but for a lack of basic medical supplies and
procedures.  by all accounts pre-war Iraq had a top rate health care system
for a poor country. i suppose it is not inconceivable that the state is
withholding medical care, but it's clear that that isn't the whole story. 
i do believe there are, more or less, objective voices on the issue- those
other than corporate media, and the Iraqi News Service.

-apm