Did US policy in the 90s really kill and starve Iraqi people… or is this exaggerated?
It wasn’t our policy that did it it was Saddam that did it. He allowed his people to starve while he lived high on the hog knowing full well that all it would take was to allow inspectors back in and the sanctions would be terminated. Don’t blame the US for that one, and btw, we weren’t the only country that had sanctions on Iraq, just about every other country in the world did too.
It was United Nations policy combined with the corruption of Saddam Hussein. The UN embargoed Iraq but allowed Iraq to sell oil in order to buy food and medicine. Most of that money 60+ billion dollars went to Saddam Hussein and billions went to Koffe Anons son and others. Haven’t you heard of the food for oil scandal? It involved the Mayor of London, the Home Secretary of England, members of the UN, some Russians, and some members of the French government. Finally according to the UN 5,000 people a month died in Iraq from starvation and neglect. Most of them childen and the elderly. If you can do the math our invasion and overthrow of Saddam has saved lives.
Blatantly exaggerated. Germany, France, Spain, Italy, most of these nations got a LOT (majority of) their oil from the Middle East. In France and Germany’s case, they saw an opportunity to circumvent the UN sanctions on Iraq, by cutting oil and weapons deals directly with Saddam, so whatever cash or aid was sent into Iraq, went straight to Saddam’s benefit, at the cost of Iraqi lives. They did this partly because they had to, partly because the other alternative was energy from Russia. Well now they have to play ball with Russia and the EU is getting its hat handed to it. No wonder they cozied up to Saddam so much and in such a deceitful way, the other vendor in the market was Bad Vlad himself. When Europe tries to play politics in its traditional, backhanded, sideswiping, selfish way, the world loses. This is what happened under the Oil for Food program and this will happen everytime the EU is called upon as an ally. I wouldn’t be surprised if Iran is getting gasoline and weapons tech
