In response to the March 4 letter to the editor by Jonathan Baugh on affairs in the Mideast ("Hatred of America Created Not by Envy But by Unjust Actions"): Baugh states that "All independent analysts agree that the sanctions against the Iraqi people ... have led to the deaths of at least 500,000 children." Really? In northern Iraq, beyond Hussein's reach and under Kurdish control since 1991 thanks to the American and British-led no-fly zone, conditions are vastly better than in the south: infant mortality is down from before the gulf war, consumer goods and food are available, people enjoy political freedom and hold local elections, new schools and health care facilities are under construction. All this in a region "suffering" under the same economic sanctions imposed on southern Iraq (these facts are cribbed from an article in The New Republic magazine by Michael Rubin that can be read at www.tnr.com). For Hussein, sanctions are merely an excuse.
The fact that Saddam Hussein has been starving his own people for a decade in a cynical attempt to win international sympathy (while spending billions on arms and palaces) is horrifying enough - equally grim is the fact that some (including Baugh, apparently) actually believe him.
Noah Hoffman
Graduate Student
Microbiology and Immunology
