For the first time in a decade, the United Nations has opened a window of opportunity for Iraq. Even though such an opportunity of lifting sanctions seems like a chance to be welcomed with open arms, instead, it is a decision both sides have approached with hesitation. The advantages and disadvantages of such a decision could possibly effect much of the known world. In that light, hesitation seems a bit more logical toward the idea of this sort of peace between many nations.
It was ten years ago that sanctions were places on Iraq. The causes of them being set in the first place were the actions by Saddam Hussein around the time of the Gulf War. The UN's intentions were to prevent Iraq from acquiring dangerous weapons of mass destruction, whether it be by lack of supplies or money. Although it seemed like a good idea at first, as time passed, things started falling apart.
One of the biggest problems that both sides of the decision face is the starvation that the Iraqi people, most of who are not supporters of Hussein, suffer from. Former United Nations" humanitarian coordinator, Dennis Halliday stated that "somewhere between 300,000 and a half-million Iraqi children have expired from the U.S.-led sanctions-(Stein 1). Surprisingly, in the face of starving babies and malnourished children, the U.N sanctions and Iraq have found many small things to fight about. An interesting argument would be that of pencils. As the Iraqi Embassy in Jordan stated, .
"Officials claim pencils were on a UN list of banned imports to Iraq, because the world body feared Saddam would use the graphite for military purposes (Getzlaff 1)." .
So what was the open window given to Iraq that was previously mentioned? It's called Resolution 1284, which would lift the economic sanctions placed on Iraq if Baghdad took in a new system of monitoring and inspection (Williams 1). As long as the Iraqi concerted with the inspectors of the UNMOVIC (United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection commission), the sanctions would be lifted.
