[q]Huh, if you believe the loss of trade Saddam incurred by the sanctions against him would have gone to the starving masses you need a lesson in reality mate.[/q]
I don't believe it - i know it, it happened pre-Gulf War!
[q]It is true that the aid from the oil-for-food programs, as well as the revenues from oil smuggling went straight into Saddams pockets.[/q]
It would have been the smuggling and black market that funded his circle. The oil for food programme was a farce - most of it went on reparations to Kuwait, and what little buying power the Iraqis had was blocked at the UN by the UK and US every time. Everything from ambulances (deemed dual use because they had vacuum flasks inside) to wheel barrows (wtf?) were blocked or "put on hold" by our governments.
We helped make Saddam into the tyrant yet we cry foul when he turns on us - well aren't we smart.
