Iraq Blasts "Aggressive" US PolicyIraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz on Tuesday chastised the "aggressive" US policy which has featured military strikes and economic sanctions on Iraq for the past years, the official Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported."The US, along with its ally Britain, have been persistent to continue their flagrant aggression and cruel sanctions for the sake of causing more harm to the Iraqi people, especially the children," Aziz was quoted as saying at the opening of a children's rights conference in Baghdad. Aziz denounced "the aggressive US policy which has targeted not only Iraq, but also countries which reject US submission," the INA said. After the 1991 Gulf War, the US has pursued a policy of economic sanctions and military strikes against Iraq to try to keep Iraqi President Saddam Hussein at bay. Iraq claimed last month that nearly 6,000 children under five die every month, a 10-fold increase since the sanctions were imposed on Iraq in 1990 for its invasion of Kuwait. Iraq said that more than 1.5 million people, mostly children and the elderly, had died because of the sanctions, while 2 million Iraqi children had various diseases caused by malnutrition. The UN oil-for-food program since 1996 allows Iraq to bypass the sanctions and buy food, medicine and other essentials for its people, but Iraq said that the deal could only meet 10 percent of Iraq's humanitarian needs. |
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