By Dara Cohen
Brown Daily Herald
Brown U.

(U-WIRE) PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Denis Halliday, former director of the United Nations humanitarian operations in Iraq, spoke to a crowded auditorium Saturday night in Brown University's List 120. Halliday's speech, entitled "Iraq under Sanctions: Worth the Price?" argued for a politically unpopular position in the debate over the nine-year-long economic sanctions against Iraq.

The audience, although containing few students, consisted of many Providence community members. Several political groups attended, including the International Socialist Organization (ISO) and the Green Party, as well as local activist groups who distributed flyers, petitions, and newspapers describing the issues at stake.

Halliday, who quit his job in frustration over the issue of U.N. sanctions against Iraq, has become something of a hero to those who believe the sanctions should cease. Mohammed Sharif, professor of economics at the University of Rhode Island, introduced Halliday by saying that Halliday was "one of the great people left on the surface of this earth who put their lives at any cost to serve the purpose of humanity."

Halliday is "a great man with a great heart with lion's courage," Sharif said. "He gave up a very lucrative job for the cause of humanity to bring [the sanctions] to the front of human concern."

Halliday began his speech by explaining that he had just recently returned from Iraq with a documentary team who was "documenting the impact of sanctions." This recent trip was Halliday's first time back in Iraq in 12 months.

Halliday described Baghdad as a "sad and neglected place." He gave a long list of hardships caused by the sanctions including malnutrition, infant mortality, lack of electrical power, and a dearth of medical supplies.

In addition, Halliday cited "social consequences of the sanctions."

"There is an 80 percent unemployment rate -- families are disintegrating. Children are dropping out of school. There is a sense of hopelessness," Halliday said. "And for the poorest, there is a sense of desperation," he said, explaining that families are sometimes forced to sell their daughters into prostitution.

"This is the deadly weight of economic sanctions -- the breakdown of high Islamic family values," Halliday said.

Halliday said that the sanctions are far more destructive than they may seem. "The sanctions are destroying the lives of the children of tomorrow," he said. "This is a catastrophe about much more than food -- it is about the breakdown of cherished standards."

"Genocide requires intent," Halliday said. "But the facts of economic sanctions are de facto genocide. There are 1.7 million dead and 500,000 to 600,000 are children."

Halliday pointed the finger of responsibility at the American people. "We are responsible," he said. "No matter what the media, or London, or Washington may tell us -- can we really justify the killing of Iraqi children? Of an entire people?" he asked.

Halliday also spoke of the need to institute change through the political process. "This killing could stop if Washington heard loudly, clearly, repeatedly that the genocide could be ended," he said.

Halliday warned against the "demonization" of Saddam Hussein. "President Saddam Hussein must share the responsibility because of the invasion of Kuwait," Halliday said. "But Saddam Hussein has refused to totally humiliate his people -- pride and honor are highly valued," he said.

Halliday urged people to accept that Hussein is the leader of Iraq and to search for ways to constructively work with Hussein. "President Hussein is not going to step down," he said.

The continued sanctions for what Halliday described as "the strategic control of oil" are deeply disappointing, he said. "The sanctions prove a moral bankruptcy and a willingness to destroy what we cannot have," he said.

"Why are we not concerned about perceptions?" Halliday asked. "We are doing damage to our reputation, and creating dangerous conditions of extremism in the future."

Halliday called for "the need to influence positive change on the government of Iraq through the North Korea model," he said. "We have learned that isolation does not work."

He also suggested audience members "sit on the sofas, floors, and desks of our representatives" and educate them about the realities of economic sanctions.

A question and answer session, lead by local activist Stacey Gottlieb of the Rhode Island Emergency Response Network, followed the speech.

One audience member asked about the typical response of legislators -- that Hussein hoards the food and medicine intended for the Iraqi people. "The U.N. has 150 observers tracing shipments of food and interviewing the recipients to be sure they got the food. There is no truth to the claim that Saddam Hussein has been averting foodstuffs," Halliday replied.

(C) 1999 Brown Daily Herald via U-WIRE