Rating: 
Summary: This will make you want to back-hand Clinton...
Review: First of all, this book comes from South End Press. South End is supposedly a "liberal," "one-sided" publisher. I was told this by a respected professor of mine. He brushed off this book without ever reading it...claiming to know its contents simply by virture of the company that published it. I believe this to be an intellectual cop-out.I do not think that a conservative person could ignore this book and its authors based on a liberal bias. This book is very critical of America's policy towards Iraq, and it makes me realized that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts. I don't think ideology has anything to do with this book. It is well written and serves as an interesting source of information now that we are in a post-Saddam era. Listening to people like Bush now, you'd swear that we were very concerned with the Iraqi people. That is a lie. Bush '43 continued the same sanctions policy that Clinton did that devastated the Iraqi population. However, this book is somewhat repetitive. There were many contributors and some material is mentioned more than once, but I do not think that this should keep people from reading the book. It's short and written in easy to read language. It is a valuable book now more than ever for those interested in what happens in Iraq.
Rating:
Summary: This will make you want to back-hand Clinton...
Review: First of all, this book comes from South End Press. South End is supposedly a "liberal," "one-sided" publisher. I was told this by a respected professor of mine. He brushed off this book without ever reading it...claiming to know its contents simply by virture of the company that published it. I believe this to be an intellectual cop-out. I do not think that a conservative person could ignore this book and its authors based on a liberal bias. This book is very critical of America's policy towards Iraq, and it makes me realized that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts. I don't think ideology has anything to do with this book. It is well written and serves as an interesting source of information now that we are in a post-Saddam era. Listening to people like Bush now, you'd swear that we were very concerned with the Iraqi people. That is a lie. Bush '43 continued the same sanctions policy that Clinton did that devastated the Iraqi population. However, this book is somewhat repetitive. There were many contributors and some material is mentioned more than once, but I do not think that this should keep people from reading the book. It's short and written in easy to read language. It is a valuable book now more than ever for those interested in what happens in Iraq.
Rating:
Summary: Read this for comfort in these viscious times
Review: People going out of their minds from the pathological jingoism and pentagon produced santizied media coverage should read this book. Reading the essays by people like Kathy Kelly , a real hero, of Voices in the Wilderness, an utterly wonderful organization, is somewhat soothing. And to read about the depleted uranium that our troops are being exposed to.... Anthony arnove quotes a Washington post article from June 2000 that the little notice "No-fly zone" bombings were regularly killing civilians.. During the Gulf war, our "smart bombs" hit water treatment facilities, electrical plants, and other such vital civilian infrastructure leading to the indirect murder of tens of thousand of Iraqis. Under "dual use" bans imposed by the U.S. Iraq has not been able to import vital medicines, spare parts and chemicals like chlorine for water treatment, fertilizers to fight agricultural plagues. So Iraqis drink water filled with sewage and die hideous deaths in hospitals which don't have equipment or medicine. And it is noted that John Negroponte our ambassador to the UN did not mention that at the time of the passage of resolution 1409 in May 2002, the U.S. was blocking on the UN sanctions committee over 5 billion in Iraqi requests for vital civilian supplies. They have not been able to repair transportation systems to transport food or repair warehouses or get air-conditioned trucks to transport goods in the heat. Noam Chomsky points out how the Republicans in the 80's were authorising the shipments to Saddam of materials to build his WMD arsenal. And plenty of credits to buy agricultural produce: in december 1989 Bush Sr. announced a major increase. Iraq needed to import food because Saddam had ruined Iraq's northern breadbasket in the 80's. Bob Dole and other senators came to soothe him in the Kurdish city of Mosul in April 1990 about a few scattered negative reports in the American press about him. He points out that the U.S. helped Saddam crush the post-gulf war rebellions; Schwartzkopf allowed Iraqi aircraft to fly over U.S. lines to crush it. The U.S. preferred Saddam Hussein to stay in power and then maybe some pro-U.S. "iron fisted junta" as Chomsky quotes the New York Time's Thomas Friedman, could take his place and hold Iraq together as well as Saddam did back in the 80's to the approval Turkey, the Saudis and the U.S. Dr. Peter Pellet points out that the Kurdish North benefited during the sanctions era because it is the breadbasket of Iraq and it received more than 50 percent per capita oil for food aid than the Saddam controlled part of the country. NGO's also gave a lot more aid to it. Sharon Smith points out that this is a prime time for anti-war organizing. What with the obvious links of the Bush administration to the corporate knavery of the 90's and their accelleration of the attack on worker's rights. With regard to the latter she notes the Longshoreman were threatened and finally forced back to work by the invocation of Taft-Hartley in Oct. 2002. She points out that much of the promised food aid to starving Afghans has not materialized and the Northern Alliance judges have ruled that women running away from their husbands will only be jailed, not killed as under the Taliban. She points to some success in organizing: I like her reference to the disruption of the staged "town meeting" conducted by Clinton officials in February 1998 where that ruthless killer Miss Albright was flustered by a question about U.S. funding of Indonesia's occupation and genocide in East Timor. Barbara Nimri Aziz has an really moving and profound essay about this intellectual couple in Baghdad who were full of life in spite of being deprived of books and periodicals by the sanctions. The husband dropped dead of a heart attack, part of the enormous rise in heart problems caused by the deprivation of the sanctions. Iraqis before 1990, in spite of the Ba'ath regime had produced a vigorous society that was in many ways close to the first world. The U.S. dosen't like third world people who do well. The bombing and sanctions have crushed ordinary Iraqis as many people have suddenly discovered(while their leaders whom Americans were suddenly told to hate after 8/02/90 have prospered quite well). Dennis Halliday argues that the part of UN resolution 687 should be implented which calls for removing all WMD from the Middle East. He callslifting the sanctions from Iraq, once it fully complies with inspections and dropping the threat to overthrow the regime even if it does comply. It involves lifting the sanctions to empower the Iraqi people to overthrow Saddam. Not realistic anymore obviously but a good plan. It is noted in the endnotes to Halliday's and Phyllis Bennis's interview with David Barsamian that the U.S. is the biggest arms trader in the Middle east, selling at least a billion dollars worth to governments like Saudi Arabia, Israel and Turkey.
Rating:
Summary: An Organized, Articulate, Well-Referenced Book
Review: The book is written in 16 easy-to-read chapters organized under 5 Parts (or themes) and an Introduction which provides some background information as to the "roots of the crisis". With this type of organization the reader will never get lost in the sea of facts. All facts are referenced at the end of each corresponding chapter in order of appearance. This book is an excellent compilation of essays written by 18 different respected authors including Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, and John Pilger to name a few. Though the book is a compilation of essays, these essays read congruently, flowing from one to the other so that this book reads like...well, a book! Part I covers the roots of US/UK Policy in Iraq, Part II separates some of the commonly heard myths from the realities in regard to Iraq and Saddam (two words that are not synonymous with each other), Part III gives the reader some heart wrenching real-life stories (documentaries) of life under the sanctions, Part IV provides documentation recording the human, agricultural and some of other impacts of the sanctions as well as some shocking information on Depleted Uranium (DU) weapons, and Part V essentially provides the reader with pertinent information and guidelines for activist response, including how to research and where to go for information. There is a map of Iraq in the beginning of the book listing all the main Shiite towns, centers of Kurdish populations, oil fields, refineries, pipelines and more. There are also 12 quality black and white pictures of people and places which really tie everything together nicely. There is an alphabetical index in the back of the book as well as brief synopses of the authors. I guarantee you will know far more about what is going on in Iraq (and have better insight into why Washington is taking so long in removing Saddam) than most members of the media ever have.
Rating:
Summary: An Organized, Articulate, Well-Referenced Book
Review: The book is written in 16 easy-to-read chapters organized under 5 Parts (or themes) and an Introduction which provides some background information as to the "roots of the crisis". With this type of organization the reader will never get lost in the sea of facts. All facts are referenced at the end of each corresponding chapter in order of appearance. This book is an excellent compilation of essays written by 18 different respected authors including Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, and John Pilger to name a few. Though the book is a compilation of essays, these essays read congruently, flowing from one to the other so that this book reads like...well, a book! Part I covers the roots of US/UK Policy in Iraq, Part II separates some of the commonly heard myths from the realities in regard to Iraq and Saddam (two words that are not synonymous with each other), Part III gives the reader some heart wrenching real-life stories (documentaries) of life under the sanctions, Part IV provides documentation recording the human, agricultural and some of other impacts of the sanctions as well as some shocking information on Depleted Uranium (DU) weapons, and Part V essentially provides the reader with pertinent information and guidelines for activist response, including how to research and where to go for information. There is a map of Iraq in the beginning of the book listing all the main Shiite towns, centers of Kurdish populations, oil fields, refineries, pipelines and more. There are also 12 quality black and white pictures of people and places which really tie everything together nicely. There is an alphabetical index in the back of the book as well as brief synopses of the authors. I guarantee you will know far more about what is going on in Iraq (and have better insight into why Washington is taking so long in removing Saddam) than most members of the media ever have.
Rating: 
Summary: A Very Eye Opening Book
Review: The problem with any anti-rhetoric/hyperbole book is falling into rhetoric and hyperbole yourself. I find that most, if not all, anti-government and big business narratives do exactly that - at least to some degree. While this book does show some flashes of that, it does not turn into an anti-US diatribe so much as it presents the facts and allows the reader to come to his own anti-US stance with the help of the facts. This is a very good book. Anyone who is truly concerned with the fortune and situation of people around the world need to look no further than this book to get a better understanding of what the US policies truly are when it comes to Iraq. Entering this book, I tried to maintain an open mind in regards to the pro and anti-sanctions arguments. After this book, I cannot feel anything but disdain for the US government and it's policies in this particular situation. A collection of 16 articles or narratives, the book gives the reader a diverse perspective on the anti-sanctions viewpoint. While certainly not an objective analysis of the sanctions, there are first hand accounts of the suffering, countless statistics and quotes which denigrate the sanctions, and logical attacks on official US policy. The level of any particular narrative in the book ranges from somewhat sophomoric (I'm trying to be fair) to extremely well presented. With any collection of essays like this, there's going to be quite a diverse range of viewpoints. Of course, they do share one thing in common, and that is the anti-Iraq sanctions are directly responsible for many, many deaths and have not hurt the regime that official US policy states is the goal. After reading this book, you'll more than likely be able to debate anyone who argues that pro-sanction policy is the way to achieve the ends of ousting the current Iraqi government. It's not a very hard argument to win, really. But the collection of facts widely available are really put together in this book and certainly make you open your eyes to the horrors that the US government are perpetuating on a daily basis. The bottom line is that policy such as this is why we are objects of attacks such as that of September 11, 2002. Our government is fostering an anti-US hate in the world that comes to a head with tragic consequences like 9/11. While the misguided actions of a few zealots do not speak for the millions and millions of people who fall under the US umbrella of oppressive foreign policy, these are the actions that foster such hate. And as such, this book is a good exercise for the reader in understanding why a lot of that hate exists in the first place. If I had it my way, literature such as this would be required reading in schools across the nation. While there are some aspects of the book I would attempt to round out in an effort to make it more objective, the overall effect of this book is an excellent one - it opens your eyes to the suffering that people in Iraq endure at the hands of our government. Very much recommended.
Rating:
Summary: The Price of Sanctions
Review: The US imposed sanctions on Iraq have been in force for a decade. The consequences of US Iraq sanctions policy have been quite deadly. Yet the possibility of an end to sanctions is remote unless there is a popular movement to end it. This book, edited by Anthony Arnove, makes an analytical, yet impassioned, case for lifting the sanctions against Iraq. The price that the people of Iraq are paying for the sanctions is colossal. At least half a million children have died as a result of the increase in child mortality due to sanctions. Child mortality in Iraq has risen from a level that was comparable to standards in advanced industrialized world to that of least developed countries with chronic shortages of food or devastated by civil war, such as Sudan or Somalia. Approximately one million people have died due to the sanctions. Iraq's water supply facilities and waste disposal systems are in ruins because the sanctions prevent Iraq from importing spare parts required to operate them. The country's environment and agriculture are in shambles. Sanctions have strengthened the Iraqi ruling elite. Iraqi regime had long denied civil and political rights to its population, but economic and social quality of life for the majority was high before the Gulf War. With the imposition of the sanctions, the economic opportunities and social capabilities of Iraqis are being systematically downgraded and destroyed. This book is an informed indictment of the sanctions policy. It exposes the brutality of sanctions against Iraq and therefore deserves to be widely read. It should be of value to concerned citizens, activists, academics, journalists, students of actual international regions, and Middle East scholars.
Rating:
Summary: The war never ended
Review: The war against Iraq didn't end in 1991. Since then, US and UK forces have dropped almost 2000 bombs and hit almost 500 targets enforcing "no fly zones" in the north and the south. One US official boasts that "We're down to the last outhouse" when it comes to targets. The Los Angeles Times refers to the war on Iraq as "the longest sustained US air operation since the Vietnam War." In addition to the continued air strikes, economic sanctions have severely crippled Iraq's economy. The "collateral damage" caused by the sanctions are first and foremost children. UNICEF estimages that 5000 Iraqi kids under the age of 5 die each month because of "the prolonged measures imposed by the Security Council." When asked on "60 Minutes" in 1996 if the death of half a million children was worth the sanctions, then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright responded: "We think the price is worth it." Clearly the present administration concurs. *Iraq Under Siege* is a masterful collection of essays that speaks to the ongoing "hidden" war against Iraq and spells out in graphic detail, and with a wealth of statistical back-up, the costs of that war. This is stuff you won't get in the mainstream media. CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox, and CNN won't tell you, for example, that the US used nuclear weapons in the Persian Gulf War--weapons made from radioactive depleted uranium, which vaporized on impact and contaminated both civilians and US military personnel; that mortality from otherwise treatable illnesses have skyrocketed in Iraq because the sanctions reduce the availability of simple medications; or that 6000 Iraqi infants die of starvation each month (this from the UN coordinator for humanitarian aid to Iraq, Denis Halliday). Reading this book goes a long way toward explaining why the US is distrusted by the Middle East. It also goes a long way toward persuading any open-minded reader that this nation's foreign policy simply must change. How can any American with conscience sleep comfortably?
Rating: 
Summary: Good analysis -- but I am not sold
Review: This is a very useful book on the continuing US-British aggression against Iraq. Contributors include Denis Halliday, formerly the UN humanitarian coordinator in Iraq, Robert Fisk and John Pilger. It documents the ongoing war's human, social and environmental costs. Eleven years of bombing and sanctions have prevented Iraq from importing food, medicines and other necessities, claiming hundreds of thousands of lives, many of them children, while leaving the government unscathed. Anthony Arnove in his Introduction shows that the US-British policy towards Iraq is not about enforcing international law. In fact, the record shows that the US and British governments have broken international law time after time. Resolution 687 states that when Iraq destroys its weapons of mass destruction, sanctions `shall have no further force or effect'. Yet US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said, "We do not agree with the nations who argue that if Iraq complies with its obligations concerning weapons of mass destruction, sanctions should be lifted." And Scott Ritter, former chief inspector of the UN inspection team, said in October 1999, "Iraq has been disarmed. Iraq today possesses no meaningful weapons of mass destruction." He judges that Iraq does not have the ability to produce, or deploy, chemical, biological or nuclear weapons. The US government illegally perverted the UN inspection team's work by inserting CIA operatives who spied on Iraq and passed information to the Pentagon (which used it to pick targets). There is no UN mandate for the incessant US-British bombing of Iraq, or for the `no-fly zones'. In December 1998, the US and British governments launched their `Desert Fox' attack without even telling the UN, and before the Security Council had considered the inspection team's report. UN Resolution 687 did not give any UN member the right to use force. Resolution 1154 similarly empowered the Security Council, not just one member, to decide what to do in the event of non-compliance. Russia, China and France stated that they were not granting anybody the right to use force. Bush and Blair's planned war against Iraq is against Britain's interests: it is unnecessary, immoral and illegal.
Rating:
Summary: Solid critique of war + sanctions against Iraq
Review: This is a very useful book on the continuing US-British aggression against Iraq. Contributors include Denis Halliday, formerly the UN humanitarian coordinator in Iraq, Robert Fisk and John Pilger. It documents the ongoing war's human, social and environmental costs. Eleven years of bombing and sanctions have prevented Iraq from importing food, medicines and other necessities, claiming hundreds of thousands of lives, many of them children, while leaving the government unscathed. Anthony Arnove in his Introduction shows that the US-British policy towards Iraq is not about enforcing international law. In fact, the record shows that the US and British governments have broken international law time after time. Resolution 687 states that when Iraq destroys its weapons of mass destruction, sanctions 'shall have no further force or effect'. Yet US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said, "We do not agree with the nations who argue that if Iraq complies with its obligations concerning weapons of mass destruction, sanctions should be lifted." And Scott Ritter, former chief inspector of the UN inspection team, said in October 1999, "Iraq has been disarmed. Iraq today possesses no meaningful weapons of mass destruction." He judges that Iraq does not have the ability to produce, or deploy, chemical, biological or nuclear weapons. The US government illegally perverted the UN inspection team's work by inserting CIA operatives who spied on Iraq and passed information to the Pentagon (which used it to pick targets). There is no UN mandate for the incessant US-British bombing of Iraq, or for the 'no-fly zones'. In December 1998, the US and British governments launched their 'Desert Fox' attack without even telling the UN, and before the Security Council had considered the inspection team's report. UN Resolution 687 did not give any UN member the right to use force. Resolution 1154 similarly empowered the Security Council, not just one member, to decide what to do in the event of non-compliance. Russia, China and France stated that they were not granting anybody the right to use force. Bush and Blair's planned war against Iraq is against Britain's interests: it is unnecessary, immoral and illegal.
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