The Yale College Council and Dwight Hall condemnations of sanctions against Iraq are misguided. United Nations sanctions against Iraq, which permit the importation of food and medicine, cannot be blamed for civilian hardship while Saddam Hussein funnels his country's resources into:

• Building massive palaces

• Concealing weapons of mass destruction

• Carrying on programs to develop weapons of mass destruction as well as long-range missiles

• Flying fighters into no-fly zones and deploying military hardware against regional peacekeepers.

This is certainly not the first time in recent history where internal abuses by a nation's leaders have left citizens of an otherwise wealthy country perishing for lack of food and medicine. (See, for example, Nigeria, Somalia, Ethiopia, etc.)

Nevertheless, it seems that students are swallowing the notoriously deceptive Iraqi public relations whole (see Tuesday's letter, "End crippling sanctions against Iraq"). Don't let yourself be fooled into thinking UN sanctions are to blame.

David Bookstaber '99

April 8, 1999