Abstract
Economic sanctions — as a ‘silent, deadly remedy’, a ‘very potent’ measure — represent the prosecution of war by nominally non-violent means. In public-relations terms, sanctions are more respectable than biological warfare, more ethically acceptable than bombing, unlikely to generate a heavy toll of fatalities. Instead, we are encouraged to believe, economic sanctions are relatively civilised, an undeniable method of coercion, when adequately enforced, but one that is unlikely to cause the vast suffering associated with a military onslaught.
… No, not war but something more tremendous than war. Apply this economic, peaceful, silent deadly remedy and there will be no need for force. The boycott is what is substituted for war. 1
President Woodrow Wilson
The great advantage of economic sanctions is that on the one hand they can be very potent, while on the other hand they do not involve that resort to force which is repugnant to our objective of peace. 2
John Foster Dulles
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Notes
Woodrow Wilson’s Case for the League of Nations, compiled with his approval by Hamilton Foley (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1932) pp. 67, 71, 72.
Evans Clark (ed.), Boycotts and Peace, a Report by the Committee of Economic Sanctions (New York and London: Harper and Brothers, 1923) p. 21.
Danforth Newcomb, ‘Old tools for a new job: US sanctions against Iraq’, in Barry R. Campbell and Danforth Newcomb (eds), The Impact of the Freeze of Kuwaiti and Iraqi Assets (London: Graham and Trotman, and International Bar Association, 1990) p. 27.
Charles Richards, ‘Jordan is “breaking embargo” say Iraqi officials’, The Independent, London, 13 August 1990.
Ibid.
Colin Hughes, ‘US insists Iraq cordon is not an act of war’, The Independent, London, 14 August 1990.
David Pallister, ‘Coarser bread a sign of things to come as Iraqis prepare for sanctions to bite’, The Guardian, London, 25 September 1990.
Bob Woodward, The Commanders (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1991) p. 229.
Leonard Doyle, ‘Iraq “will still face sanctions after crisis”’, The Independent, London, 18 January 1991.
Martin Walker and Hella Pick, ‘British and American aims include finishing Saddam’, The Guardian, London, 23 January 1991.
Middle East Economic Survey, 29 March 1993; Martin Walker, ‘US to stand firm on Iraqi sanctions’, The Guardian, London, 30 March 1993.
Ian Black, ‘Pressure grows for end to UN sanctions against Iraq’, The Guardian, London, 29 September 1994.
Ibid.
Kenneth R. Timmerman, ‘Saddam heads for final victory in the Gulf war’, The Sunday Times, London, 2 October 1994.
Ibid.
Robert Fisk, ‘Let’s not cry for Kuwait’, The Independent, London, 24 October 1994.
Ibid.
David Hirst and Ian Black, ‘Iraq recognises Kuwait’, The Guardian, London, 11 November 1994.
Jonathan Freedland and Ian Black, ‘US and Britain claim virtual no-go zone in southern Iraq’, The Guardian, London, 27 October 1994.
‘Iraq challenges Security Council’, Gulf Newsletter, Gulf Information Project, London, Number 11 (November/December 1994).
Suzanne Lowry, ‘France acts to bring Iraq out of isolation’, The Daily Telegraph, London, 7 January 1995; Marie Colvin, ‘France breaks rank on Iraq’, The Sunday Times, London, 8 January 1995.
Patrick Cockburn, ‘Iraq uses poison on political opponents’, The Independent, London, 1 February 1995; Ian Black, ‘UK treats poisoned Iraqi’, The Guardian, London, 1 February 1995.
Ibid.
ITAR-TASS news agency (World Service), Moscow, 31 January 1995.
Ian Black, ‘Losing out in the battle for Iraq’, The Guardian, London, 4 February 1995.
Ibid.
Patrick Cockburn, ‘Saddam is left weaker after crushing revolt’, The Independent, London, 16 June 1995; Marie Colvin, ‘Saddam shaken as his most loyal clan revolts’, The Sunday Times, London, 18 June 1995.
Karen Dabrowska, ‘Saddam gloats as foes fight each other’, The Guardian, London, 1 July 1995.
David Hirst, ‘Saddam’s top henchmen flee to Jordan’, The Guardian, London, 11 August 1995; Maryann Bird, ‘Family vows to topple Saddam’, The Independent on Sunday, London, 13 August 1995; David Hirst, ‘West probes top Saddam defectors’, The Guardian, London, 12 August 1995.
See, for example, Kenneth R. Timmerman, The Death Lobby: How the West Armed Iraq (London: Fourth Estate, 1992); ‘Terror Arsenal the West ignored’, The Independent, London, 12 September 1990; and the findings of the Scott enquiry, London, 1996.
See, for example, Seymour M. Hersh, The Samson Option: Israel, America and the Bomb (London: Faber and Faber, 1991); and William E. Burrows and Robert Windrem, Critical Mass (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1994).
Dr H. M. Al-Shaibani, ‘Destruction of 14 Tammuz reactor during the war against Iraq’, The International Scientific Symposium on Post-War Environmental Problems in Iraq, Iraqi Society for Environmental Protection and Improvement (ISEPI), Baghdad, 10–12 December 1994, p. 19.
Leonard Doyle, ‘Experts are certain Iraq has bomb technology’, The Independent, London, 16 July 1991.
Ibid.
Leonard Doyle and Tom Wilkie, ‘UN denies Iraq was close to making bomb’, The Independent, London, 5 October 1991.
Frank Barnaby, ‘Iraqi nuclear frisson’, The Guardian, London, 1 November 1991.
The Independent, London, 29 February 1992.
The Independent on Sunday, London, 1 March 1992.
The Sunday Times, London, 1 March 1992.
The Guardian, London, 12 March 1992.
Harvey Morris and Tom Wilkie, ‘Iraq’s bomb project back to square two’, The Independent, London, 21 March 1992.
Leonard Doyle, ‘UN may resort to force over Iraqi weapons’, The Independent, London, 21 July 1992.
Ibid.
The Guardian, London, 25 July 1992.
The Independent, London, 25 July 1992.
The Observer, London, 26 July 1992.
The Independent on Sunday, London, 26 July 1992.
Seth Faison, ‘Tracker of Iraqi arms: Rolf Ekeus’, The New York Times, 28 July 1992.
George F. Seib, ‘US gets ready for military conflict with Iraq over weapons inspections’, The Wall Street Journal, 17 August 1992.
The Guardian, London, 17 August 1992.
The Independent on Sunday, London, 23 August 1992.
Ian Katz, ‘Mission improbable’, The Guardian, London, 18 February 1993.
David Usborne, ‘Allies in new Saddam alert’, The Independent, London, 1 July 1993.
Report of the Secretary-General on the Status of the Implementation of the Plan for the Ongoing Monitoring and Verification of Iraq’s Compliance with Relevant Parts of Section C of Security Council Resolution 687 (1991), S/1994/489, United Nations, New York, 22 April 1994.
Thomas Sancton, ‘No longer fenced in’, Time, 22 May 1994, p. 31.
Ibid.
Report of the Secretary-General on the Status of the Implementation of the Special Commission’s Plan for the Ongoing Monitoring and Verification of Iraq’s Compliance with Relevant Parts of Section C of Security Council Resolution 687 (1991), S/1994/1138, United Nations, New York, 7 October 1994.
For example, S/1994/1422, United Nations, New York, 15 December 1994.
Robin Wright, ‘UN recovers Iraqi germ warfare plan’, The Guardian, London, 1 March 1995.
James Bone, ‘Iraq admits to germ warfare’, The Times, London, 24 August 1995.
Report by the Secretary-General pursuant to Paragraph 5 of Security Council Resolution 706 (1991), S/23006, United Nations, New York, 4 September 1991.
Evelyn Leopold, ‘UN set to let Iraq sell oil worth $2bn’, The Independent, London, 14 April 1995.
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© 1996 Geoff Simons
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Simons, G. (1996). The Chronology of Sanctions. In: The Scourging of Iraq. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-24921-3_2
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