Should oil-for-food funds be released and used to pay for emergency supplies?
No – international law, specifically Geneva Conventions, requires belligerent -and occupying power – to take responsibility (meaning pay) for humanitarian needs of civilian population under occupation. Currently that includes most of Iraq. The oil-for-food money is Iraqi money; it belongs to the people of Iraq, and should remain in the bank until there is a functioning government in Iraq to whom it can be turned over. 2) Then how should emergency food, medicine, other needs be paid for? The US, the occupying power and belligerent, should pay all costs for emergency care and initial rehabilitation efforts, at least during period while hostilities continue. 3) Why should poor and working people in the US support their tax dollars being used to pay for rebuilding schools, roads, hospitals destroyed by the US in Iraq, when those things are also crumbling in US cities? They shouldn’t. The program should be funded through a special 50% Excess Profit/ Windfall for War tax on all contracts off
