Reply #36: Well it's not like kids are as important as oil. Especially Iraqi kids.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

Or, Rwandan kids. Or, Cuban kids, or North Korean kids, or Sudanese kids.

http://www.firethistime.org/chrono2000.htm

Humanitarian Aid Co-ordinator Hans Von Sponeck was heavily criticised by the US for continuing his predecessor Denis Halliday’s outspokenness. Indeed the US State Department accused him of ‘….exceeding his authority…’ and allegedly tried to have him removed from his post. The truth was more disturbing. Von Sponeck actually attempted to resign in protest in late December. Kofi Annan would not accept his resignation.

Von Sponeck stated on 13th Feb. 2000: "As a UN official, I should not be expected to be silent to that which I recognise as a true human tragedy that needs to be ended. How long the civilian population, which is totally innocent on all this, be exposed to such punishment for something they have never done? The very title that I hold as a humanitarian co-ordinator suggests that I cannot be silent over that which we see here. program does not guarantee the minimum that a human being requires, which is clearly defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. My support, my commitment is for the Iraqi people as a group of deprived people whose tragedy should end."

Two days later he resigned.

When asked about Von Sponeck’s departure, U.S. State Department spokesman James Rubin said: "Good. I think an article in the Iraqi press praising his approach to his work is ample evidence of his unsuitability of this post. His job is to work on behalf of Iraqi people and not the regime and we look forward to an able manager who will maximise the benefits of the oil-for-food programme."

On Monday, February 14, Dr. Jutta Burghardt, the head of the UN World Food Program in Iraq also resigned, citing similar failure of UN relief programs in Iraq.

To date, despite constant public pressure, and the fact that any lifting of sanctions was dependent on Iraq supplying the names of the companies who supplied arms and biological and chemical materials to Iraq, UNSCOM has refused to publish the list. Additionally, an investigation into the gassing of Halabja in 1988 recovered the containers that the gas was carried in. They were supplied by a British company. Its’ identity remains unknown.

In January an Early Day Motion by British MP Alan Simpson was submitted to the House of Commons:

‘That this House regrets that British and American forces continue to fire over 100 missiles a month at targets inside Iraq and have done so throughout the whole of last year; questions the moral and military value of this approach and of the £4.5 million per month which it costs the UK to pursue it; and urges the government to end the bombing, lift the sanctions and re-direct expenditure towards the tragedy of child mortality in Iraq which has doubled in the nine years since sanctions were imposed.’