- #26
BobG
Science Advisor
Homework Helper
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A longer term look at child mortality rates shows the impact of the sanctions even more clearly.
http://www.fas.org/news/iraq/1999/08/irqu5est.pdf
The problem is that the same data was used by two opposing viewpoints: Those that said the data proved Hussein needed to be removed and those that said the data proved the sanctions needed to be removed (infant mortality rates had been steadily falling and living conditions improving under Hussein prior to the Gulf War and imposition of sanctions).
If mortality rates were the primary concern, eliminating sanctions would have been the more efficient option.
Which points out the real reason for the invasion. Enough international pressure was building that we soon would have seen at least a slow easing of sanctions. We couldn't ease the sanctions because we wanted Hussein out of power.
It's a circular logic. We want Hussein gone, so we punish his country, then claim he has to be removed in order for us to remove the pain we're inflicting.
There were some valid reasons to have considered invading Iraq. The mortality rate wasn't one of them.
Additionally, unless the various Iraqi factions stop fighting each other and the US, living conditions and the mortality rate will get worse instead of better (but we can pass the buck on that to the insurgents, not our inability to instantly unite a seriously divided country). Given the performance of Bush-Rumsfield so far, we might be at least four years from seeing things even begin to improve even to the conditions that existed under Hussein.
http://www.fas.org/news/iraq/1999/08/irqu5est.pdf
The problem is that the same data was used by two opposing viewpoints: Those that said the data proved Hussein needed to be removed and those that said the data proved the sanctions needed to be removed (infant mortality rates had been steadily falling and living conditions improving under Hussein prior to the Gulf War and imposition of sanctions).
If mortality rates were the primary concern, eliminating sanctions would have been the more efficient option.
Which points out the real reason for the invasion. Enough international pressure was building that we soon would have seen at least a slow easing of sanctions. We couldn't ease the sanctions because we wanted Hussein out of power.
It's a circular logic. We want Hussein gone, so we punish his country, then claim he has to be removed in order for us to remove the pain we're inflicting.
There were some valid reasons to have considered invading Iraq. The mortality rate wasn't one of them.
Additionally, unless the various Iraqi factions stop fighting each other and the US, living conditions and the mortality rate will get worse instead of better (but we can pass the buck on that to the insurgents, not our inability to instantly unite a seriously divided country). Given the performance of Bush-Rumsfield so far, we might be at least four years from seeing things even begin to improve even to the conditions that existed under Hussein.
