Iraqis' hope for a future

The May 1 Chronicle editorial, "Iraqi spirits: Saddam's regime gets drunk
while Iraqis suffer," seemed to describe a classic case of the fox in the
chicken coop calling the weasel a murderer.

The side seldom heard regarding the issue of Iraqi sanctions is that for 10
years we have - through the United Nations - inflicted economic sanctions
which violate the Geneva Convention expressly prohibiting the manipulation
of the availability of food or medicine to a civilian population in order to
coerce its government.

Reporting on Saddam Hussein's palaces and alcoholic consumption with his
cohorts adds nothing substantial to a conscientious discussion about the
devastation of a whole population - especially its children.

The statistics are staggering. UNICEF (along with the World Health
Organization) estimates that 5,000 children under the age of 5 die each
month from sanctions-related causes.

The use of depleted uranium in bombs is the suspected culprit in a spike of
cancer cases and malformed infants in Iraq.

Sufferings inflicted by sanctions also include a failed water and sewage
system, severely damaged infrastructure, fewer children attending school,
premature and low birth weights and more.

Blaming only Saddam for the suffering prevents us from seeing the other side
of the story.

The sacrifice of generations of children for political or economic gain is
unconscionable.

To further demonize a man who seems incapable of feeling the pain of his own
people does not excuse our culpability in the destruction of human life and
a country's hope for a future.

Mariana Wood, Houston