November 18, 2004
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Oil for Bombers
National politics.Stifling sanctions were maintained against Iraq for a decade. These sanctions were put in place mainly to weaken or punish the leader of Iraq, Saddam Hussein. Unfortunately, the rich and powerful are generally far less affected by this sort of thing as the poorer masses of the nation which is why many of us were against the sanctions.
The UN decided to run a “Oil for Food” program. Basically, the idea was that Iraq could sell some oil if the money from that oil was used only for basic needs like food. Very humanitarian.
The sort of program that ends up being abused by the corrupt pretty much every time. Haven’t decades of dictators in Africa siphoning aid funds that should go to feed their people taught us anything?
In short, the people of Iraq still starved, people like me still opposed the sanctions, some folks running the program got very rich as did Saddam Hussein, the man who the sanctions were their to punish.
According to this article, he was able to siphon over $21 billion in illegal revenue… So we starved the country but continued to make its leader rich. (By “we” I mean everyone who let this situation exist. Primarily, the UN, the United States, Britain, France, and Russia)
Oh, but here’s the kicker. What did he do with that money?
Of all the claims made about Iraq as we were trying to implicate him in “the war against terrorism”, one of the few that were unequivocally true was that he was paying $25,000 to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers. Not that this in any way tied him to 9/11, but it was certainly a support of terrorist tactics.
So, where was he getting this money to pay for these attacks? From the money he was getting from bribes related to the oil for food program. Just one more way in which the sanctions situation was all messed up.
NOTE: Just to be clear on my take on suicide bombing, the Palestinian situation, and a bit more philosophy.Suicide bombing against military targets is as acceptable as any other military practice. Suicide bombing against civilian targets is as abhorrent as any other attack against civilian targets. The fact that the attacker dies in the attack doesn’t change the ethics of the attack at all.
I am highly sympathetic to the Palestinian cause. I think they got screwed. I think those who were chased out of Israel should be able to return to their lands (especially in the case where those lands are still abandoned) or, if return is absolutely not possible, be fairly compensated for their loss. I think Israel should be forced to comply with various UN resolutions such as withdrawing from “occupied” territory and withdrawing from the settlements. I think Israel should stop using missiles in populated areas and stop shooting kids.
I understand that a kid growing up in a refugee camp, seeing family and friends killed by Israeli military and US supplied weaponry might see very little hope. I can see how they might be persuaded to strap on a bomb and blow up a coffee shop or bus. I can understand how this happens.
I don’t think it is right. I don’t think anyone has the right to kill someone unless they are preventing the imminent demise of themselves or someone else. If a country is attacking you, you have a right to kill their soldiers in combat (those soldiers, by fighting, accept that you might kill them). You do not have a right to kill non-combatants. You don’t even have a right to kill soldiers who have dropped their weapons. Suicide bombing against civilian targets is morally indefensible.
And yes, although it pisses people off, I still say that I understand why it happens. Just like I understand why a Marine shoots an unarmed wounded man. Just like I understand why a police officer may get used to using too much force against people who fit a “profile”. Just like I understand why a bunch of soldiers might think it is OK to degrade their prisoners. I don’t think that any of these things are acceptable, but they all derive from putting people in situations people shouldn’t have to be in. All these circumstances are putting people in hells created by people.
We humans do well when our hells are created by the environment. We band together, we support the weak, we do extraordinary things to help people we don’t know. But when our hells are created by other people, we tend to react poorly on all sides. The oppressors, the oppressed, and the witnesses all suffer, and all make mistakes and may do horrible things in reaction to that suffering.
