The Logic Off Topic list

--- In logic-ot@y..., "Wilson Zorn" <wilson.zorn@a...> wrote:
> > War and the US enforced sanctions against Iraq, which have 
had
> > ABSOLUTELY NO EFFECT on Saddam Hussein.
> >
> 
> I keep hearing this but I don't get it - Hussein has been 
impacted greatly
> by it; his ability to rebuild the military has been severely 
hampered and
> he's had to fight more internal wars than he previously had to.  
He has been
> affected.

The impact that economic sanctions have had on Saddam 
Hussein are very small compared to the effect they've had on the 
Iraqi people, He's been selling oil illegally for years since the 
sanctions to rebuild his military, so even in that respect, it was a 
short term hit on his forces,so please explain to me how he has 
been affected other than militarily.

Take the Yugoslavia situation as an example. Sanctions were 
implemented on Yugoslavia (Slobodan Milosevic's regime), 
followed by a brief military action by NATO against Yugoslavia, 
the people of Yugoslavia and the opposition parties recognised 
the hardships imposed on them by Milosevic's policies, and in 
the next election, he was ousted. Sanctions played a role in that 
whole situation.

In Iraq, The opposition parties are weak at best, and the people 
seem to stand more behind Saddam than before the Gulf War. 
His military may not be as effective as before the war, but It's still 
there. So is Saddam. Therefore, sanctions didn't work against 
Saddam. In fact, IMO the sanctions backfired, because they not 
only left Saddam Hussein still in power, they helped to form the 
current feeling of animostiy towards the US from other Musilm / 
Arab countries, and used as an excuse for any terrorist 
organisation as justification for terrorist actions.

Charles Simmons