A revealing examination of the New York Times and the UN Oil-for-Food scandal:
New York Times Editorial, September 8, 2005: "The Volcker panel has performed a valuable service - and underlined the need for bold reforms - by documenting how these conflicting forces let Saddam Hussein game the system." (1)
New York Times Editorial, October 14, 2004: "Everyone needs to remember that on the most critical count, sanctions worked." (2)
Let's see what the "system" was and what "everyone needs to remember":
Former UN official Denis Halliday: "The very provisions of the Charter of the United Nations and the Declaration of Human Rights are being set aside. We are waging a war, through the United Nations, on the children and people of Iraq, and with incredible results: results that you do not expect to see in a war under the Geneva Conventions. We're targeting civilians...I had been instructed to implement a policy that satisfies the definition of genocide" (3)
New York Times Editorial, September 8, 2005: "The Volcker panel has performed a valuable service - and underlined the need for bold reforms - by documenting how these conflicting forces let Saddam Hussein game the system." (1)
New York Times Editorial, October 14, 2004: "Everyone needs to remember that on the most critical count, sanctions worked." (2)
Let's see what the "system" was and what "everyone needs to remember":
Former UN official Denis Halliday: "The very provisions of the Charter of the United Nations and the Declaration of Human Rights are being set aside. We are waging a war, through the United Nations, on the children and people of Iraq, and with incredible results: results that you do not expect to see in a war under the Geneva Conventions. We're targeting civilians...I had been instructed to implement a policy that satisfies the definition of genocide" (3)
(1) "The Oil-for-Food Failures", The New York Times Editorial, September 8, 2005
(2) The New York Times Editorial, October 14, 2004
(3) Denis Halliday resigned in 1998 after thirty-four years with the United Nations in protest against the effects of the embargo on the Iraqi civilian population. He was then Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations and UN's Co-ordinator of Humanitarian Relief to Iraq. "The New Rulers of the World" by John Pilger (Verso)
(Thanks to the Cat's Dream.)
Wikipedia cuts to the chase:
"On May 10, 1996, appearing on 60 Minutes, Madeleine Albright (then Clinton's Ambassador to the United Nations) was presented with a figure of half a million children under five having died from the sanctions: Albright, not challenging this figure, infamously replied: "We think the price is worth it.""
1 Comments:
New York Times Editorial, October 14, 2004: "Everyone needs to remember that on the most critical count, sanctions worked." (2)
Obviously, the NYT has a different opinion of what the most critical count is.
Albright recanted the comment after September 11. It took her long enough. She also claimed it was quoted out of context.
The US wasn't the most pro-sanctions nation - that "honour" is more deserving to France, who wanted the regime maintained after Saddam had been deposed. The most likely reason nothing damning has been said by a French official is because no-one has put the blowtorch on them.
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