Sanctions Against Iraq

* The use of economic sanctions against a government--whether Cuba, Haiti or Iraq--inevitably means punishing people who have little control over their own government. What is painfully absent from your editorial (March 7) and the Clinton Administration’s campaign to maintain economic sanctions against Iraq is any effort to mitigate the devastating impact that the 5-year-old sanctions are having on more than 4 million people.

Recent reports have documented that the widespread destruction from the Gulf War bombing, combined with the prohibition on importing irrigation pipes, seeds, fertilizers and pesticides, have dramatically reduced the productivity of Iraq’s historic fertile lands. Many villages still do not have safe drinking water; only a small percentage of private cars are still running for lack of spare parts.

Although shipping of food and medicines are permitted under sanction language, the reality is that England and Germany have refused to allow major drug firms to export medicine to Iraq precisely because of the sanctions. This means, for example, that an epileptic may have three or four seizures a day because of the general lack of even the most basic medicines. Iraqis living here in Southern California also report that prostitution, crime and domestic violence have soared as a direct result of the sanctions.

Clearly, the sanctions have not prevented Saddam Hussein from obtaining new military equipment. Wouldn’t it be more productive for the Clinton Administration or the United Nations to focus on controlling the global arms industry? Shouldn’t Iraq’s substantial efforts to meet the U.N.’s requirements be rewarded with a very narrowly focused easing of sanctions to assure that more drinking water, food and medicine could be available?

LINDA LOTZ

American Friends Service Committee

Pasadena

* Your editorial opposing the lifting of sanctions against Iraq was ill-conceived. It may well be true that the Saddam Hussein regime keeps trying to counter the huge advantage of U.S. and Israeli military might; that it has incorporated Kuwaiti captured equipment into its pitifully inept and disloyal forces, and that wealth has been squandered on palaces for the elite.

But please acknowledge that the poverty and suffering are real. Thousands of babies die each month; the old and ill are condemned to die for lack of food, medication, anesthetics; potable water and other necessities were virtually eliminated when we destroyed the existing infrastructure.

Iraq’s common people bear the brunt of sanctions. Give them a chance to survive, even flourish, and you may well a have the real answer as to how Hussein can be eliminated.

HELEN L. TRAVIS

San Pedro