Inhuman and unnecessary

                           I would like to comment on the Sept. 19 editorial "Sanctions Must Stay." In
                           1998, the United States withdrew the weapons inspectors so it could bomb
                           Iraq. Tariq Aziz, deputy prime minister of the Republic of Iraq, has since
                           stated that if the sanctions are lifted, Iraq will allow the inspectors to resume
                           their work.

                           And the former U.N. arms inspector who aggressively pursued disarmament
                           in Iraq, Scott Ritter, recently stated that he believes Iraq is qualitatively
                           disarmed and the Security Council should reassess its position. A careful
                           reading of the latest U.N. Resolution regarding Iraq makes it clear that
                           sanctions will not be automatically lifted if the inspectors are readmitted.

                           Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's statement that Saddam Hussein can
                           let himself out of the sanction box by letting the inspectors in is a lie. There is
                           no rational excuse for maintaining economic sanctions that are killing Iraqi
                           children at the rate of one every six minutes.

                           The editorial states that Iraq has been able to buy billions of dollars worth of
                           food and medicine with the oil for food money. In fact, out of these proceeds,
                           Iraq is paying $400 million per month compensation in war reparations to
                           Kuwait and others who lost property during the Gulf war. What is left
                           amounts to about 70 cents per Iraqi per day. And billions of dollars worth of
                           medical and food supplies requested by Iraq have been blocked by the
                           sanctions committee under pressure from the United States.

                           During the Gulf war, the U.S.-led allied forces deliberately destroyed the
                           infrastructure in Iraq needed to produce clean water. Since then, the sanctions
                           have blocked the importation of equipment needed to rebuild this
                           infrastructure and the importation of medicines with which to combat the
                           waterborne diseases that are now killing thousands of Iraqis, mostly children.

                           The statements I am making are contradicted by information put out by the
                           State Department, but I believe that my sources are credible and that my
                           statements are based in fact. Iraq is often called the cradle of civilization. If the
                           economic sanctions are not soon ended, the ashes of Iraq will be the
                           deathbed of our humanity.

                                                                   MARK L. CLEMENT
                                                                         Farmington, Pa.

                           Editor's note: The writer is a member of the Bruderhof Communities, a
                           group of Christian pacifist communities. His family is hosting a child from
                           Iraq, Mariam Hamza, who is in the United States for medical treatment.