Detailed study of military, economic, and humanitarian intervention
in Iraq by the international community since 1991. In that year, a
coalition of forces defeated Iraq and forced its retreat from
Kuwait. Since that time, economic sanctions have been imposed on
Iraq to disarm and demilitarize that state. A further goal, at
least in the eyes of the US, has been to force Saddam Hussein from
power. Eight years later, despite enormous suffering among the
Iraqi people, Graham-Brown (Images of Women: The Portrayal of Women
in Photography in the Middle East 1860-1950, not reviewed)
concludes that the success of economic sanctions is far from clear
and that the use of sanctions as a general instrument of
international power is of dubious efficacy. While Graham-Brown
spends considerable time discussing the breakdown of the Gulf War
coalition and the circumstances within Iraq that have lead to
Saddam's continued rule, her particular focus is on international
aid to the Iraqi population. She terms such aid humanitarian
"intervention" as it has been imposed on Iraq by outside forces and
thus calls into question rights of national sovereignty. Does the
international community have the right to help a state that doesn't
want it? Humanitarian aid has been difficult in the case of Iraq as
it has been buffeted on all sides by politics. Aid agencies have
been plagued by lukewarm support from donor states and by political
manipulation by Saddam and by the separatist Kurdish enclave in
northern Iraq, who would attempt to use such aid to their political
advantage. Further, aid organizations have been, willingly or not,
implicated in the morally questionable imposition of sanctions, as
their work has been used to blunt criticism of these sanctions.
This is, however, an overly ambitious work, repetitive at times and
detailed to the point of confusion. Too much time is spent on all
aspects of intervention in Iraq, too little on the humanitarian
aspect. Useful perhaps for experts, but not for the general reader.
(Kirkus Reviews)
Throughout the 1990s, Iraq has been the target not only of military
attack but of the most draconian and protracted economic embargo
ever imposed by the international community. In the immediate
aftermath of the Gulf War, the embargo was accompanied by an effort
to provide aid to the Iraqi people and to protect them against
human rights abuses: an initiative that seemed to break new ground
in providing protection for civilians in a situation of conflict.
Yet the outcome of the international community's efforts has fallen
short of the promise. Why has there been such a large gap between
the rhetoric and reality? How exactly have the combinatin of
economic sanctions, international humanitarian aid and limited
protection of civilians affected Iraq? What lessons can be drawn
from the experience? This is the most carefully documented,
comprehensive account of the consequences of intervention in Iraq
during the 1990s. It examines not only the record of intervention
but also the complicated political context which has shaped
international policy and the Iraqi response to it, and which has
made events seem so unpredictable.
General
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