Economic Sanctions on Iraq Continue to Exact Deadly Toll on Civilian Population

Interview with Joy Gordon, professor of philosophy at Fairfield University conducted by Melinda Tuhus

For 12 years, economic sanctions against Iraq have been in place, with the express purpose of pressuring Baghdad to comply with the UN Security Council resolutions that ended the Gulf War and require Iraq to dismantle its weapons of mass destruction.

In 1999, UNICEF estimated that a half-million children under the age of five had died from illnesses and malnutrition directly related to the sanctions. It is believed that about 5,000 children a month are currently dying of the U.N.-imposed restrictions. Joy Gordon, a professor of philosophy at Fairfield University in Connecticut, has focused on ethical issues in international relations and specializes in researching the effects of economic sanctions. She recently published an article on the Iraqi sanctions in Harper's magazine, which led to several television and radio appearances.

Between The Lines' Melinda Tuhus spoke with Gordon about how the Iraqi sanctions are administered, the impact they're having on the Iraqi people, and what the interplay of sanctions might be with a future war considering the very real specter of a U.S. invasion.

Read Joy Gordon's article: "Cool War: Economic Sanctions as a Weapon of Mass Destruction", Harper's magazine, Nov. 2002.

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