Robert J. White's Feb. 27 Commentary article recommends softening the sanctions on Iraq. His recommendation is not based on any moral grounds but on the argument that the sanctions have failed to "accomplish their purpose" of changing Iraq's behavior.

Although ordinary Iraqis have been suffering for 10 years under economic warfare imposed by the United States, this seems only of minor concern to White. He blames Iraq alone for the humanitarian crisis there, claiming the Oil for Food program could have provided enough assistance if only the Iraqi leadership would "make full use of exemptions" for food and medicine. White may wish to contemplate the following statistics from a UNICEF report on the impact of the sanctions on the people of Iraq:
 

  The sanctions have resulted in at least 500,000-1 million dead Iraqi children from hunger and disease. One half of these children died from malnutrition, which was not a problem before the sanctions.
 

  Wheat flour now costs 12,000 times what it did before the sanctions.
 

  Iraqi salaries have fallen dramatically since the sanctions were imposed.
 

  Before the sanctions, 92 percent of the population had access to safe water and modern sanitation. Now Iraq's water and sanitation are in a state of collapse (in 1997, lack of sewage treatment caused over 100 tons of raw sewage to be dumped into major rivers).

Although dissent was not tolerated, the Iraqis had a good standard of living because of their supply of oil. They enjoyed free access to health care, education, social security and social welfare programs. What is noteworthy is that this standard of living existed under the current regime. Now, as a result of 10 years of sanctions and a continuous bombing campaign, many teachers and doctors have either left the country or are driving taxis to supplement their small salaries. White's assertion that the Iraqi leadership (and not the U.S. government) is alone to blame for the condition of Iraq today is, at best, dubious.

One other strange thing about White's piece: He seems to consider the gassing of Iraqi Kurds in 1988 as proof that Hussein will not hesitate to commit atrocities; this forms part of his justification for his previous support of sanctions. But he fails to mention that Hussein was a U.S. ally at the time and received substantial military aid from the United States before and after this act (some human rights groups even say the United States barred contacts with Kurdish and democratic dissidents after this act to indicate support). Not until Hussein disobeyed U.S. orders by invading Kuwait did he fall from grace in the eyes of the U.S. government. This omission by White and his insensitive attitude toward the plight of ordinary Iraqis suggest that his heart is in the wrong place -- a very cowardly place where concern for non-U.S. citizens is appropriate only if it coincides with current U.S. power interests.

-- Chris Petrilla, Minneapolis. Statistician.