U.N. Trade Sanctions on Iraq Assailed

A U.S. church leader has called for an end to United Nations trade sanctions against Iraq, saying that they hurt civilians and leave government officials untouched.

The Rev. Rodney Page of the National Council of Churches called the sanctions on Iraq unjust and inhumane, advocating that they be lifted.

Page led a group of U.S. clergymen to Iraq, bringing along $100,000 in medicine and surgical supplies for hospitals.

“I have been to Cuba, North Korea, Haiti and many other places in the world, but haven’t seen such suffering and malnutrition,” Page told Associated Press. “The sanctions hit the children, the poor, the old and the sick. It is not the government leaders [who suffer].”

The U.N. imposed sweeping trade sanctions on Iraq after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Although food and medicine are not blocked, Baghdad says sanctions leave no money to pay for imports.

The U.N. has said sanctions will not be lifted until inspectors certify that Iraq has eliminated all weapons of mass destruction. The church group, Page said, has brought $3 million in humanitarian goods to Iraq since 1991.