Cheat Seeking Missiles: "I'll Have A Coke With That"

As we note the end of Saddam Hussein's 19-day hunger strike (beef and rice washed down with a Coke, presumably provided by the Great Satan himself), let us remember the UN's wonderful Oil-for-Food program.

Under that program, the beef-chompin', coke-swillin' Hussein scammed money that should have gone to food for his people and used it for his own evil purposes. He cared not a whit about the impact of his behavior on his citizens.

The global Left, whose acuity was in soft focus, as usual, blamed the U.S. for the Iranian people's starvation -- pointing to UN embargo resolutions (661, 666) that we apparently were solely guilty for. A book by Ramsey Clark and others included this:

In all parts of the country, critical shortages of clean drinking water have led to epidemic levels of gastroenteritis (infectious diarrhea). Thousands have died. Already at this early date over fifty cases of cholera have been confirmed by laboratory diagnosis. The true number could be one hundred times this figure since, in most parts of Iraq, hospital laboratories have been shut down due to lack of electricity and reagents-making diagnosis impossible. ...

It is the opinion of the health assessment team that most of the current civilian ill-health and suffering (mostly of children) is a direct result of both the war and especially the continued imposition of punitive sanctions against Iraq. These sanctions violate not only of the Geneva Conventions and Protocols but also the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and every other United Nations resolution and convention concerned with human rights. The situation with regards to foodstuffs is even more worrisome.

Not mentioned, of course, is that Saddam Hussein had it within his power to end the sanctions. Also not mentioned is that the man Clark is now so vigorously defending was never wanting for money. He continued to build palaces while his people starved. He continued to fund the military while his people starved.

And he continued his obstinant middle-fingering of the U.N., forcing continued illness and hunger on his people.

Little wonder then that Hussein's hunger strike did not ignite sympathy among the Iraqis. The NYT quotes Fauwzya al-Attiya, a sociologist at Baghdad University: