According to U.S. News and World Report, January 15, 1998, the United Nations estimates that
nearly one million Iraqi children are chronically malnourished. Infant mortality and waterborne
illnesses are also up dramatically.(Omstad 42) These problems are a direct result of economic
sanctions imposed on Iraq by the United States. Thomas Omstad, a field reporter for U.S. News
and World Report describes the sanctions as, "a blunt instrument that can clearly take innocent
lives." It is because of this and a multitude of other reasons that the statement the use of
economic sanctions to achieve U.S. foreign policy goals is moral does not ring true.
In order to prove that economic sanctions are not morally right we must first understand
what an economic sanction is. Economic sanction is defined as the withholding of supplies from
countries that do not agree with, or follow the policies laid out for them by the United States.
This definition is given by the mission work organization "Pastors for Peace" based out of
Chicago Illinois. It is also the working definition for the sanctions that the United States has
Sanctions are immoral because they harm innocents. As I stated earlier, there is a
senseless harming of innocent people in the sanctions imposed against Iraq. Part of the reason for
this is the way the U.S. government classifies materials. The level of sanctions imposed against
Iraq still allows for some humanitarian aid to be sent there from the U.S., but it is very
limited.(Sirico15) For example, according to documents released by the state department, a chair
has the same military classification as a handgun.(Sirico15) What this means is that as Iraq tries
to set up schools, the cannot get chairs from aid groups, because the U.S. state department feels
that they can be used in militay efforts. This same analysis applies to many pharmaceuticals. Th
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