On 6 August 1990, led by the US and British governments, the UN Security Council responded to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait by imposing a total blockade on Iraq1, preventing even food and medicine from getting through.
Six months later, the US-led assault on Iraq devastated the country to such an extent that, according to the UN's own evaluation, Iraq had been:
"returned to a pre-industrial age".
It continued:
... it is beyond doubt that the people of Iraq [are] faced with a new and imminent catastrophe, including epidemics and famine, if the massive needs for vital sustenance are not rapidly satisfied...2
The predicted catastrophe has happened, and it is still going on. The destruction of 1991, followed by ten years of sanctions, has wrecked the economy and caused the death of perhaps a million of Iraq's 22 million people. Unemployment is 70% and those who have jobs earn virtually nothing. From being a relatively affluent country, Iraq now ranks among the poorest nations on earth. Recent figures from UNICEF suggest that sanctions and war cause the death of an Iraqi child every six minutes. US and British warplanes continue to bomb Iraqi targets on a daily basis.
What right have the US and British governments to use their UN Security Council veto to force the whole world to continue a cruel siege of Iraq and its people? Until they fell out, Britain and the US were long-time arms suppliers to Saddam's army and police. They encouraged Iraq to attack Iran, starting a war in which two million died.
Today, while 'disarming Iraq', Britain and the US are channeling vast quantities of weapons to other violent and oppressive regimes in the region, such as Israel, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.