Iraq Sanctions
Re “We Must Break Out of the Failed ‘Saddam Trap,’ ” Commentary, Sept. 5: In arguing for an end to crippling sanctions, Scott Ritter states that “Iraq no longer possesses meaningful quantities of weapons of mass destruction or the means to produce such weapons.” But Khidhir Hamza, the highest-ranking scientist ever to defect from that country, has said that if Iraq were able to buy fissile material, an atomic bomb could be made in two to six months.
While the Clinton administration has shown little concern for the humanitarian tragedy brought on by sanctions, those who are concerned must also realize that ending sanctions would provide Saddam Hussein with the cash needed to build the bomb.
CHRIS NORLIN
Los Angeles
* Ritter tells us that 1.2 million Iraqis have died directly or indirectly because of the sanctions but fails to mention that sanctions are led by the United States. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is on record that the price of sanctions, the deaths of 1.2 million, is worth it. Whatever happened to the phrase “never again”?
ROBERT PISAPIA
Westlake Village
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