- Former British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, to Manchester Guardian editor C.P. Scott, 1914
As quoted by Philip Knightly in his book
'The First Casualty: From the Crimea to Vietnam - Correspondent as Hero, Propagandist and Myth-maker.'

"The Pentagon recently justified its’ position on censorship by insisting:
‘If we let people see that kind of thing, there would never again be any war.’"

- from ‘Military Blunders’ – article by Geoffrey Regan in ‘Night and Day’ (Mail on Sunday supplement) 23rd January 2000

- Thomas Jefferson, US Declaration of Independence

- Hermann Goerring

"What land has not seen Britain's crimson flag, the meteor of murder, but justice the plea?"

- Song lyric, anonymous, circa. 1820

"We must become the owners, or at any rate the controllers at the source, of at least a proportion of the oil which we require."

- British Royal Commission, agreeing with Winston Churchill's policy towards Iraq, 1913 [quote unconfirmed]

"What we want to have in existence, what we ought to have been creating in this time is some administration with Arab institutions which we can safely leave while pulling the strings ourselves; something that won't cost very much, which the Labour government can swallow consistent with its' principles, but under which our economic and political interests will be secure. [.....] If the French remain in Syria we shall have to avoid giving them the excuse of setting up a protectorate. If they go, or if we appear to be reactionary in Mesopotamia, there is always the risk that [King] Faisal will encourage the Americans to take over both, and it should be borne in mind that the Standard Oil company is very anxious to take over Iraq."

- Sir Arthur Hirtzel, Head of the British government's 'India Office Political Department.' 1919 [quote unconfirmed]

"By no moral right may the ownership and control of the natural and material resources of a territory be regarded as the absolute monopoly of the people who happened to be settled there."

- Philip Snowden, Labour Party Chancellor, 1921 [quote unconfirmed]

"Give responsibility for the control of Iraq to the Royal Air Force, thus recognising the ability of air power to maintain effective control of a mandated territory with the maximum economy in the deployment of forces."

- Winston Churchill, Colonial Secretary of the British 'Middle East Department of the Colonial Office', speaking at the Cairo Conference, 1921

"Utter, boorish self-centred indifference to every living human struggle is the heart and soul of the imperialist psychology in the Labour [Party] aristocracy, looking on with contemptuous indifference to the curious, incomprehensible inferior races."

- R. Palme Dutt, Labour Monthly, March 1927 [quote unconfirmed]

- Extracts from Edward Bernays' 'Propaganda', first published 1928

"If war aims are stated which seem to be solely concerned with Anglo-American imperialism, they will offer little to people in the rest of the world. The interests of other peoples should be stressed. This would have a better propaganda effect."

- Private memo from The Council of Foreign Relations to the US State Department, 1941 [quote unconfirmed]

"The enemy aggressor is always pursuing a course of larceny, murder, rapine and barbarism. We are always moving forward with high mission, a destiny imposed by the Deity to regenerate our victims while incidentally capturing their markets, to civilise savage and senile and paranoid peoples while blundering accidentally into their oil wells."

"By hook or by crook the development of primary production of all sorts in the colonial territories and dependent areas in the Commonwealth and throughout the world is a life and death matter for the economy of this country."

- John Strachey, Labour Party minister for Food, 1947 [quote unconfirmed]

"Our strategic and security interests throughout the world will be best safeguarded by the establishment in suitable spots of 'Police Stations', fully equipped to deal with emergencies within a large radius. Kuwait is one such spot from which Iraq, South Persia, Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf could be controlled. It will be worthwhile to go to considerable trouble and expense to establish and man a 'Police Station' there."

- British Foreign Office, policy memo, 1947 [quote unconfirmed]

- George Kennan, former Head of the US State Department Policy Planning Staff, October 1947, echoing sentiments held by the majority of post war planners and elected officials

‘We have about 50% of the world’s wealth but only 6.3% of its’ population. This disparity is particularly great as between ourselves and the peoples of Asia.  In this situation we cannot fail to be the object of envy and resentment. Our real task in the coming period is to devise a pattern of relationships which will permit us to maintain this position of disparity without positive detriment to our national security.  To do so, we will have to dispense with all sentimentality and day-dreaming; and our attention will have to be concentrated everywhere on our immediate national objectives.  We need not deceive ourselves that we can afford today the luxury of altruism and world benefaction. [....]  We should cease to talk about such vague and - for the far East - unreal objectives as human rights, the raising of living standards and democratisation. The day is not far off when we are going to have to deal in straight power concepts. The less we are then hampered by idealistic slogans, the better." 

- George Kennan, former Head of the US State Department Policy Planning Staff, Document PPS23, 24^th February 1948, describing policy objectives as regards the Far East, though similar attitudes prevailed in most of the State Department as regards the rest of the world. Indeed Kennan, considered 'liberal' in his thinking was later fired

"I came to America because of the great, great freedom which I heard existed in this country. I made a mistake in selecting America as a land of freedom, a mistake I cannot repair in the balance of my lifetime."

-  Albert Einstein, 1947

"The target suffered a terminal illness before a firing squad in Baghdad."

- CIA officer testifying to US Senate hearing, after bloody CIA aided Ba'th Party coup overthrew Iraqi Prime Minister Abdel Kassem, 1963

"It was an operation where all the "t"s were really crossed. It was a great victory."

- James Critchfield, former head of the CIA's Middle East Desk, describing their involvement in the Ba'athist coup, 1963, quoted in 'Out of the Ashes' by Andrew and Patrick Cockburn

"Neither the foreign head of state (the Shah) nor the President nor Dr. Kissinger desired a victory for our clients (the Kurds). They merely hoped to ensure a level of hostilities high enough to sap the resources of the neighbouring state (Iraq). Even in the context of covert action, ours was a cynical enterprise."

- US Congressional Pike Report, describing President Nixon and US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger’s policy of arming the Kurds, 1972

"Covert operations should not be confused with missionary work."

- Kissinger describing why US withdrew aid to the Kurds, 1975

"Strikes at population targets (per se) are likely not only to create a counterproductive wave of revulsion abroad and at home, but greatly to increase the risk of enlarging the war with China and the Soviet Union. Destruction of locks and dams, however – if handled right – might offer promise. It should be studied. Such destruction does not kill or drown people. By shallow-flooding the rice, it leads after time to widespread starvation (more than a million) unless food is provided – which we could offer to do ‘at the conference table’."

- John McNaughton, US State Department Vietnam policy, as quoted in ‘The Mentality of the Backroom Boys.’ Article by Noam Chomsky, 1973

"The US must carry out some act somewhere in the world which shows its’ determination to continue to be a world power."

- Henry Kissinger, post-Vietnam blues, as quoted in The Washington Post, April 1975

"A US commitment to the defence of the oil resources of the gulf, and to political stability in the region constitutes one of the most vital and enduring interests of the United States."

- Conclusion of US Senator Henry Jackson's Energy and Natural Resources Committee, 1977

"You have a survivability of command in control, survivability of industrial potential, protection of a percentage of your citizens, and you have a capability that inflicts more damage on the opposition than it can inflict on you. That's the way you can have a winner."

- George Bush Sr., explaining how to win a nuclear war to Los Angeles Times reporter Robert Scheer, 1980

"To put it in terms of a Chinese dialectic, United States policy is exactly to squeeze Vietnam to rely on the Soviet Union: then Vietnam will find the Soviet Union can not meet all its' needs. [....] If Vietnam suffers economic hardships, I think that is just great."

- Roger Sullivan, US National Security Council, addressing a US delegation who had travelled to the White House with a petition requesting the US Government to allow humanitarian assistance to be sent to Vietnam, as quoted by Anthony Barrett, The New Statesman, August 22nd 1980

"It would not have been possible for a political party to be more committed to a national home for the Jews in Palestine than was Labour."

- Harold Wilson, former British Labour Party Prime Minister, 1981

"The American system is the most ingenious system of control in world history. With a country so rich in natural resources, talent and labour power the system can afford to distribute just enough wealth to just enough people to limit discontent to a troublesome minority. It is a country so powerful, so big, so pleasing to so many of its’ citizens that it can afford to give freedom of dissent to the small number who are not pleased. There is no system of control with more openings, apertures, flexibilities, rewards for the chosen. […] There is none that disperses its’ control more complexly through the voting system, the work situation, the church, the family, the school, the mass media – none more successful in mollifying opposition with reforms, isolating people from one another, creating patriotic loyalty."

- Howard Zinn,  from ‘A People’s History of the United States,’ first published 1981

"One hundred nations in the UN have not agreed with us on just about everything that's come before them, where we're involved, and it didn't upset my breakfast at all."

- Ronald Reagan, former US President, basking in the triumph that was the US invasion of Grenada, 1983

Q. "Mr. President, have you approved of covert activity to destablise the present government of Nicaragua?"

A. "Well, no, we're supporting them, the - oh, wait a minute, wait a minute, I'm sorry, I was thinking of El Salvador, because of the previous, when you said Nicaragua. Here again, this is something upon which the national security interests, I just - I will not comment."

- Ronald Reagan, former US President, Washington press conference, February 13th 1983, as quoted by John Pilger in 'Heroes'

"One of the things we would like to do is that we would like to become actively engaged in ending the [Iran/Iraq] war in such a way that it becomes very evident to everybody that the guy who is causing the problem is Saddam Hussein. If I were to talk to any other Muslim leader, they wouldn’t say Saddam Hussein is the problem. They’d say Iran is the problem……What we’re talking about is a process by which all of the rest of the Arab world comes quickly to realise that Iran is not a threat to them, Iran is not going to overrun Kuwait. Iran is not going to overthrow the government of Saudi Arabia. That the real problem in preventing peace in the region is Saddam Hussein. And we’ll have to take care of that".

- Colonel Oliver North, US Congressional Iran/Contra Hearings - 1987, North's personal tape of a conversation with Iran/Contra players Richard Secord, Albert Hakim and an Iranian government official in Frankfurt, 1985. North claimed in the hearings that he was lying to the Iranians.

"One of our few remaining hopes is that democrats and those who cherish values of justice, peace and freedom will voice their concern for the plight of the Kurds."

- Kurdish Leaders in a letter to Margaret Thatcher following the gassing of Kurds at Halabja, 16th August 1988. A British £340 million export credit deal with Iraq went through on September 5th 1988.

- ‘Iraqi Power and US Security in the Middle East’, a study issued in February 1990 by the Strategic Studies Institute of the US Army War College

"HANGED MAN WAS A ROBBER" - The Sun newspaper headline; story reportedly provided by Ml5

"WHEN INNOCENCE CAN EQUAL GUILT" - The Sunday Telegraph editorial

- March 1990, after Iraq arrested and later executed British journalist Farzad Bazoft, as he investigated explosions in a factory near Baghdad thought to be manufacturing missiles. As a student ten years earlier, Bazoft had stolen £500 from a building society, and served six months in jail.

"Aerosol DU (Depleted Uranium) exposures to soldiers on the battlefield could be significant with potential radiological and toxicological effects. [...] Under combat conditions, the most exposed individuals are probably ground troops that re-enter a battlefield following the exchange of armour-piercing munitions. [...] We are simply highlighting the potential for levels of DU exposure to military personnel during combat that would be unacceptable during peacetime operations. [...DU is..]... a low level alpha radiation emitter which is linked to cancer when exposures are internal, [and] chemical toxicity causing kidney damage. [...] Short term effects of high doses can result in death, while long term effects of low doses have been linked to cancer. [...] Our conclusion regarding the health and environmental acceptability of DU penetrators assume both controlled use and the presence of excellent health physics management practices. Combat conditions will lead to the uncontrolled release of DU. [...] The conditions of the battlefield, and the long term health risks to natives and combat veterans may become issues in the acceptability of the continued use of DU kinetic penetrators for military applications."

- excerpts from the July 1990 Science and Applications International Corporation report: ' Kinetic Energy Penetrator Environment and Health Considerations', as included in Appenix D - US Army Armaments, Munitions and Chemical Command report: 'Kinetic Energy Penetrator Long Term Strategy Study, July 1990'

These documents state clearly and equivocally that the US army was well aware of the radioactive and toxic dangers of Depleted Uranium ammunition long before the first shots of the war were fired.

"We do not have any defence treaties with Kuwait, and there are no special defence or security commitments to Kuwait."

- Margaret Tutweiller, US State Department spokeswoman, 24th July 1990, nine days before Iraq's invasion of Kuwait

"President Bush is an intelligent man. He is not going to declare an economic war against Iraq. […] I admire your extraordinary efforts to rebuild your country. I know you need funds. We understand that, and our opinion is that you should have the opportunity to rebuild your country. But we have no opinion on Arab-Arab conflicts like your border disagreement with Kuwait. James Baker [US Secretary of State] has directed our official spokesmen to emphasise this instruction […] when we see the Iraqi point of view that the measures taken by the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait are, in the final analysis, tantamount to military aggression against Iraq, then it is reasonable for me to be concerned."

- April Glaspie, US Ambassador to Iraq, in conversation with Saddam Hussein, US State Department transcripts, 25th July 1990, eight days before the invasion

HAMILTON: "Do we have a commitment to our friends in the Gulf in the event that they are engaged in oil or territorial disputes with their neighbours?"

KELLY: "As I said, Mr. Chairman, we have no defence treaty relationships with any of the countries. We have historically avoided taking a position on border disputes or on internal OPEC deliberations, but we certainly, as have all administrations, resoundingly called for the peaceful settlement of disputes and differences in the area."

HAMILTON: "If Iraq, for example, charged across the border into Kuwait, for whatever reason, what would be our position with regard to the use of US forces?"

KELLY: "That, Mr. Chairman, is a hypothetical or a contingency, the kind of which I can't get into. Suffice it to say, we would be extremely concerned, but I can not get into the realm of 'what if...' answers."

HAMILTON: "In that circumstance, is it correct to say, however, that we do not have a treaty commitment which would obligate us to engage US forces?"

KELLY: "That is correct."

- Question and answer session between US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs John Kelly and Representative Lee Hamilton, July 31st 1990, two days before the invasion. French researcher Pierre Salinger claimed in his 1991 book 'Secret Dossier - The Hidden Agenda behind the Gulf War' that this exchange was broadcast on the BBC World Service and heard in Iraq.

"Obviously, I didn't think, and nobody else did, that the Iraqis were going to take ALL of Kuwait."

- April Glaspie, accidentally revealing US compicity, interview with The New York Times, 20th September 1990, seven weeks after the invasion

"Just watch. Everything…everything."

- George Bush, in response to press enquiry if US enforcement of sanctions would include food and essentials, 14th August 1990

"We agreed with the American side that it was important to take advantage of the deteriorating economic situation in Iraq in order to put pressure on that country’s government to delineate our common border. The CIA gave us its' view of appropriate means of pressure, saying that broad co-operation should be initiated between us, on condition that such activities are co-ordinated at a high level."

- Memo submitted by Iraq to the UN in late August 1990, after their invasion of Kuwait. Dated 22nd November 1989, it was a record of a meeting between William Webster, Director of the CIA, and Kuwaiti officials. The CIA disputed the memo’s authenticity, but many experts have since vouched that it was genuine.

"That's a nice list of targets, but that's not enough. [...] [It is also important to target] ...what is unique about Iraqi culture, that they put very high value on, that psychologically would make an impact on the population and regime. [….] If push came to shove, the cutting edge would be downtown Baghdad. If I want to hurt you, it would be at home, not out in the woods someplace."

- General Michael Dugan, US Airforce Chief of Staff , as quoted in The Washington Post, 15th September 1990. He was removed from his post shortly afterwards by US Secretary of Defence Dick Cheney, describing Dugan's comments as '...inappropriate...'

"That was the most expensive ‘no’ vote you ever cast."

- US Ambassador Pickering to Yemeni Ambassador Abdallah Saleh al-Ashtol, after Yemen voted against Resolution 678, 29^th November 1990. The US $70 million aid package to Yemen was cancelled the following day. 900,000 Yemeni migrant workers were later expelled from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Yemen's economy was devastated as a result.

"We have only friendship for the people in Iraq."

- George Bush, November 1990

"Every Iraqi soldier bleeding from every orifice....."

- General Norman Schwarzkopf, describing his war aims, November 1990

"We didn’t see anything to indicate an Iraqi force in Kuwait of even 20% the size the administration claimed."

- Peter Zimmerman, formerly of the US Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, and an unidentified Defence Intelligence Agency analyst, examining Soviet Satellite photos of the allegedly huge Iraqi troop build up, article by Jean Heller 'Public doesn't get the picture with satellite photos', The St. Petersburg Times, 6th January 1991

- George Bush’s letter to Saddam Hussein, 9th January 1991

- Tariq Aziz, Iraqi Foreign minister, in conversation with US Secretary of State James Baker in Geneva, 9th January 1991. Baker announced at the press conference afterwards: "The conclusion is clear. Saddam Hussein continues to reject a diplomatic solution."

"[Bombing missions were a] turkey shoot…it’s almost like you flipped on the light in the kitchen at night and the cockroaches start scurrying, and we’re killing them."

- US Pilot Colonel Richard White, quoted in The Independent, 6th February 1991

- Lt. Col. M.V. Ziehmn, Los Alamos National Laboratory memorandum, 1st March 1991

"This is a new kind of war which understands and takes advantage of technological advances. The situation is deteriorating rapidly and it will get worse in the months ahead."

- Save The Children ‘Iraq Situation Report,’ March 1991

"You asked me to travel, as a matter of urgency, to Iraq. It should be said at once that nothing we had seen or read had quite prepared us for this particular form of devastation which has now befallen the country. [...] Most means of modern life have been destroyed. [...] The authorities are as yet scarcely able to measure the dimensions of the calamity, much less respond to its' consequences. The recent conflict has wrought near apocalyptic results; Iraq has been relegated to a pre-industrial age.

All electrically operated installations have ceased to function. Food can not be preserved, water can not be purified, sewage can not be pumped away. Nine thousand homes are destroyed or damaged beyond repair. The flow of food through the private sector has been reduced to a trickle; many food prices are already beyond the purchasing power of most Iraqi families. The mission recommends that sanctions in respect of food supplies should be immediately removed.

Drastic international measures are most urgent. The Iraqi people face further catastrophe, epidemic and famine, if massive life supporting needs are not met. The long summer is only weeks away. Time is short."

- Martti Ahtisaari, UN Under Secretary for Administration and Management, March 20th 1991. Ahtisaari was the first UN official to visit post-war Iraq.

- James Baker, US Secretary of State, addressing US Congress, March 1991

- General Colin Powell, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, on being asked his assessment of Iraqi military and civilian casualties, April 1991

- Adeeb Abed and Gavrielle Gemma, Independent Commission of Inquiry staff members, fact find finding trip to Iraq, April 3rd-14th 1991

"All possible sanctions will be maintained until Saddam Hussein is gone."

- Marlin Fitzwater, White House Press Spokesman, May 1991

"Iraqis will be made to pay the price while Saddam Hussein is in power. Any easing of sanctions will be considered only when there is a new government."

- Robert Gates, US National Security Advisor, Los Angeles Times, 9th May 1991

"[Britain will veto any UN attempt to weaken sanctions] for so long as Saddam Hussein remains in power."

- John Major, British Prime Minister, 10th May 1991

- George Bush, 29th May 1991

- from 'Allied Air War Struck Broadly in Iraq; Officials Acknowledge Strategy Went Beyond Purely Military Targets,' Article by Barton Gellman, The Washington Post, 23rd June 1991

- US Colonel John A. Warden III, as quoted in Gellman's artcicle, The Washington Post, 23rd June 1991

- Unidentified Pentagon planner, as quoted in Gellman's article, The Washington Post, 23rd June 1991

"There is a clear and undeniable humanitarian need in Iraq. It is absurd and indefensible for the UN to pay for these needs when numerous other urgent crises and disasters, from Bangladesh to the Horn of Africa, cry out for our attention. Iraq has considerable oil reserves and should pay to meet these needs itself."

- UN field study of water and sanitation, food, health and energy; submitted by the Secretary General to the Sanctions Committee, 22nd July 1991

"[Iraq is like a medieval city under siege]….cut off from outside assistance; its’ population deprived of adequate food, water, medical care and the means to produce for its’ subsistence, is condemned to perish. It is only a matter of time."

- Warren J. Hamerman, International Progress Organisation, in testimony before the UN Organisation on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities’ 43^rd session, 13th August 1991

"Unless sanctions are eased quickly, Iraq will face malnutrition, disease and a food emergency unprecedented in modern times."

- Michael Priestly, UN official, quoted in The Independent, 3rd September 1991

"Is it your aim to destroy Iraqi industry or implement resolution 687? If your aim is to carry out 687, then you have our approval. But if your objective is to annihilate Iraqi industry and deny Iraq the chance of becoming a prosperous industrial country, that would be a different matter."

- Tariq Aziz, Deputy Iraqi Prime Minster, statement published in Baghdad newspapers in response to continued US threats of new attacks if Iraq fails to comply with weapons disclosure, October 1991

"In the most lackadaisical and morally laid back way, we are killing people…..small, brown children beyond the reach of our shrivelled imaginations."

- Edward Pearce, Journalist, article in ‘The Guardian’ entitled ‘Death and Indecency in a time of Cholera,’ 25th October 1991

"Millions of innocent people are suffering and that is intolerable. They are the last in the nutcracker. They have not been able to influence events, but my God they are being squeezed. […] There is no way the infrastructural problems can be solved by the agencies alone."

- Lord Judd, director of OXFAM, 20th November 1991

"The US has always regarded international laws as an annoying encumbrance, unless they can be used to advantage against an enemy."

- Professor Noam Chomsky, Author, ‘Deterring Democracy’ 1991

"What has been destroyed is through the peaceful means of inspection. It is that way to destroy weapons, and not through bombing and attacks."

- Rolf Ekeus, UNSCOM Weapons Inspectors Chairman, March 1992

"[The need for the agreement of every member of the Committee]….makes the work much more difficult……you could not necessarily respond very efficiently to the needs of the population."

- Peter Hohenfeller, Former Chairman of the Sanctions Committee, May 20th 1992

"Unborn children of the region [are] being asked to pay the highest price, the integrity of their DNA.’

- Ross B. Mirkarimi, The Arms Control Research Centre, from his report: ‘The Environmental and Human Health Impacts of the Gulf Region with Special Reference to Iraq.’ May 1992

"The results of our study contradict this claim [that use of precision weapons had produced limited damage to the civilian population] and confirm that the casualties of war extend far beyond those caused directly by warfare."

- Dr. Eric Hoskins, Harvard University health specialist, in his report ‘Children, War and Sanctions,’ June 1992

- The New York Times, commenting on Madeleine Albright’s attempts to justify the latest Cruise missile attacks, June 27th 1993

"The stakes are too high to give Mr. Hussein the benefit of the doubt, or to let our policy be dictated by commercial interests or simple fatigue. [Compliance with UN resolutions is] a cynical tactic."

- Warren Christopher, US Secretary of State, 29th April 1994

- Dr. Harvey Marcovitch, British physician, in a letter to The Times: ‘Saddam’s atrocity…or ours?’ and quoting an Iraqi doctor, May 31st 1994

- Unidentified British official, September 13th 1994^, quoted in ‘The Scourging of Iraq’ by Geoff Simons after Rolf Ekeus of UNSCOM announces his intention to commence a six month weapons monitoring period, after a which a recommendation for lifting sanctions could be made.

- Unidentified French and Russian diplomats describe Resolution 986 (The Oil-For-Food Programme), quoted in The Independent, 14th April 1995

- King Hussein of Jordan, in response to US pressure to close his border with Iraq, 18th August 1995

- Rolf Ekeus, quoted in The Times, 24th August 1995

- Yves Bonnet, Deputy French Prime Minister, describing a recent visit to Iraq, 25th August 1995

- Dieter Hannusch, Chief Emergency Support Officer, World Food Programme, WFP news update 26th September 1995

- Mona Hamman, WFP Regional Manager, WFP news update, 26th September 1995

- Unidentified Washington spokesman describing a corroded ‘gadget’ that was fished out of the Tigris river, Baghdad, 11th October 1995, as quoted in ‘The Scourging of Iraq’ by Geoff Simons

- Article in The Guardian, 4th October 1995

- Unidentified Western diplomat, article in The Guardian, 18th October 1995, as quoted in ‘The Scourging of Iraq’ by Geoff Simons

- Excerpt from US Strategic Command report ' Essentials of Post Cold War Deterrence,' 1995, as reported by Associated Press and later cited in 'Rogue States', article by Noam Chomsky, 1999. The report resurrected former US President Richard Nixon's 'Mad-Man' theory of the 1970's, designed to prevent the Soviets from interfering in US policy.

"Depleted Uranium is more of a problem than we thought when it was developed. But it was developed according to standards and was thought through very carefully. It turned out perhaps to be wrong."

- John English, British Red Cross, 29th January 1996

- Interviewer Leslie Stahl questions Madeleine Albright, CBS Television ’60 Minutes’, 12th May 1996

- Malcolm Rifkind, British Foreign Secretary, quoted in The Guardian, 21st^t May 1996

- Article in The Observer, 9th June 1996

- Bill Clinton, justifying renewed US air strikes, 3rd September 1996

- Irene Himona, oil analyst with Societe Generale Strauss Turnbull, quoted in The Independent, 3rd September 1996

- Nizar Hamdoon, Iraqi Ambassador to the UN, addressing the Security Council, and quoting the UN Secretary General’s observation made in 1995, 29th September 1996

- Nizar Hamdoon, Iraqi Ambassador to the UN, addressing the Security Council, 29th September 1996

- UN Information Centre, 20th October 1996

- Kofi Annan, UN Secretary General, 10th March 1997

- Madeleine Albright, addressing a symposium on Iraq at Georgetown University, USA, 26th March 1997

- Iraqi Minister for Foreign Affairs Al-Sahaf describing Resolution 986 to the UN Sub-commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, 25th April 1997

"Saddam Hussein is the reason God created Cruise Missiles. Cruise Missiles are simply the only way to deal with him. [...] If and when Saddam pushes beyond the brink, and we get that one good shot, let's make sure it's a head shot."

- Thomas Friedman, New York Times columnist, from his article 'Head Shot,' 6th Novermber 1997

"Sanctions will be there until the end of time, or as long as he [Hussein] lasts."

- Former US President Bill Clinton, quoted in The New York Times, 23rd November 1997

"The Arab Monetary Fund has estimated the value of destroyed infrastructure and economic assets attributable to the 1991 Gulf war at $232 billion."

- Dr. Eric Hoskins, in his report ‘Political Gain and Civilian Pain’, December 1997

- Tony Blair, British Prime Minister, 1997

"The United States did want Saddam Hussein to go, they just didn't want the Iraqi people to take over."

- Peter Jennings, ABC News, 7th February 1998

-  Madeleine Albright, open meeting in Town Hall, Columbus, Ohio, 18th February 1998.  Over a million Iraqis had died from sanctions and bombing at the time of her statement.

- Madeleine Albright, NBC Televsion 'Today' show, 19th February 1998

"The new Oil-For-Food deal could solve the humanitarian crisis. It could pay for the food and medicines that the Iraqi people need so badly…could restore clean water and proper sanitation to hundreds and thousands of Iraqis, restore electricity to their homes and help the farmers increase their output."

- Robin Cook, British Foreign Secretary, article in The Guardian, entitled ‘Saddam is to Blame,’ 20th February 1998 (Cook does not mention the other 21.5 million strong population.)

"To say they [UNSCOM] have found enough weapons to kill the world several times over is equivalent to the statement that a man who produces a million sperm a day can thus produce a million babies a day. The problem in both cases is one of delivery systems."

- Dr. Julian Perry Robinson, Science Policy Research Unit, rebuffing British prime Minister Tony Blair’s assertions about the threat of Iraqi weapons, article in The Independent, 7th March 1998

"Gas masks are not required […] and are not distributed to Embassy staff. [The Embassy is]….not even interested in finding a source for gas masks… [due to UNSCOM’s presence in Iraq and]…the fact that biological and chemical warheads are very ineffective."

- Jim Larocco, US Ambassador to Kuwait, briefing US businessmen visiting Kuwait, as quoted in The Independent, 7th March 1998

"Saddam Hussein already has the resources to enable the Iraqi health service to function properly. The government shares your concerns about the humanitarian situation in Iraq and has sympathy for the people of Iraq. Sanctions are aimed at the Iraq regime and not at them."

- Middle East Department of the British Foreign Office, responding to a letter from an anti-sanctions campaigner, 18th May 1998

"The truth of the matter is that the government of Iraq has no role, however small, which allows it to respond to the allegations contained in claims. It is unable to give its’ legal and objective opinion on claims, even when those are exaggerated. The Compensation Commission decides which claims should be settled, who is authorised to submit a claim, what should be considered direct losses, and what constitutes sufficient proof. […] These measures create a legal screen which conceals the systematic subjugation of the Iraqi people. There are no reasonable grounds for this collective punishment of the Iraqi people. If this is not done [the verification of claims in accordance with international law and the rules of justice and equity] the compensation process will become simply an organised operation to strip the Iraqi people of their property, which they desperately need in order to rebuild their society and economy."

- Tariq Aziz, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister expressing concerns about reparations / compensations being paid to Kuwait from the proceeds of Resolution 986, in a letter to Secretary General Kofi Annan, 27th May 1998

"We are looking at ways now, together with the Americans, of the possibility of removing Saddam Hussein altogether."

- Tony Blair, addressing the House of Commons, July 1998

"It is important to note the order of magnitude of the weapons retained by Iraq; two thirds of the operational missile force [and] more than one half of the chemical weapons."

- Richard Butler, Chairman of UNSCOM, article in The Guardian quoting a comment made by him in June, 5th August 1998

"If this were a five lap race, we were halfway into the fifth lap. Why stop the race when you’re getting toward the finishing line? [I am]…mystified by Baghdad’s action when resolution of several issues was near. The inspectors were apparently close, in the areas of missiles and chemical weapons, to being able to declare Iraq had complied with UN resolutions.’"

- Richard Butler, in an extraordinary about-face, quoted in The Independent, 6th August 1998

"If Iraq does not honour its’ agreements then it would be profoundly wrong for the international community to reward its’ intransigence by lifting sanctions regardless."

- Robin Cook, article in The Times, 8th August 1998

"The discussions were certainly long winded, alternately chilling or tedious in their subject matter: exactly how many Iraqi warheads were filled with Anthrax spores before they were destroyed in 1992? Was a donkey, used in a biological experiment, tethered to a car or not? How many punctures were there in the tyres of an Iraqi convoy taking weapons to destruction pits seven years ago?"

- Article in The Independent describing the UNSCOM / Iraq negotiations, 9th August 1998

"Saddam Hussein has wrestled himself to the ground. He is stuck in a box and he has thrown away the key."

- Madeleine Albright, quoted in the Financial Times, 10th August 1998

"I’m somebody who doesn’t support the continuation of sanctions….I think they’re a horrible tool…..sanctions only punish the people of Iraq, they don’t punish this [Iraqi] regime."

- Scott Ritter, former team leader UNSCOM, who resigned in protest of the "…US and UK interference in my work…" BBC Radio 4, 29th September 1998

"We are in the process of destroying an entire society. It is as simple and as terrifying as that. It is illegal and immoral."

- Denis Halliday, former UN Humanitarian Aid Co-Ordinator, in his resignation speech, 30th September 1998

"4000 to 5000 children are dying every month due to the impact of sanctions because of the breakdown of water and sanitation, inadequate diet, and the bad internal health situation."

- Denis Halliday, 14th October 1998

"Sanctions are inhuman and what we are doing can not redress that inhumanity."

- Margaret Hassan, CARE International Baghdad, quoted in The Independent, 15th October 1998

"I personally believe, as I think a lot of security Council members believe with 100% certainty, that Iraq being fully disarmed is never going to be possible. At the end of the day the Security Council must decide whether Iraq is disarmed to the extent that it is not a threat to its’ neighbours, that it has no weapons of mass destruction, and that it has no capacity to make weapons of mass destruction."

- Kofi Annan, quoted in the International Herald Tribune, 19th October 1998

"[This figure would only have] …helped in preventing further deterioration of the humanitarian situation."

- Kofi Annan, report to the Security Council describing the lack of revenue available under the Oil-For-Food programme, 19th November 1998

"We have allowed Saddam to sell oil to buy as much food and medicine for the Iraqi people as necessary."

- Tony Blair, November 1998

"A strong, sustained series of air strikes [….] to attack Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs. Their purpose is to protect the national interest of the United States, and indeed the interests of people throughout the Middle East and around the world."

- Bill Clinton, describing ‘Operation Desert Fox’, 17th December 1998. Tony Blair, live on television, stood in front of a Christmas tree to make his statment that Britain was attacking Iraq

" [There is]…No question…[that ‘Desert Fox’ was unlawful] … It is illegal to attack with bombs targets in a sovereign country without direct authorisation from the Security Council."

- Lord Dennis Healey, Former British Foreign Secretary, quoted in the Daily Telegraph, 21st December 1998

"World-wide, poverty is the main determinant of malnutrition and child mortality. Hence it is not surprising that artificially induced poverty by economic embargo produces the same results. Deprivation and excess deaths are real in Iraq, and I can personally attest to the devastating effects of the embargo on ordinary life from having been a member of three UN food and nutrition missions. Sanctions are not the humane alternative to war that they are purported to be, and if there were justice in this world these actions promoted by the US and Britain in the name of the UN would be seen as the crime against humanity that they are."

- Dr. Peter Pellet, Professor of Nutrition at the University of Massachusetts, quoted in The Guardian Weekly, 10th January 1999

"[They were] surely intended and understood to be a message of contempt for the Security Council. This action is in fact a call for a lawless world in which the powerful will rule. The powerful happen to be the United States and Britain, which is by now a pathetic puppy dog that has abandoned any pretence of being an independent state."

- Professor Noam Chomsky, article in ‘Frontline’ magazine, 13th January 1999

"Since Iraq can not meet even the existing UN oil sales quotas because of the low price of crude, the practical effect would be small. But the political effect would be huge: Britain would be free of claims that it is punishing the Iraqi people."

- Article in The Times, describing the gesture of lifting the cap on Iraqi oil sales under Resolution 986, and Britain’s support for it, 14th January 1999

"To keep pumping and exporting its’ oil, Iraq must upgrade and update its’ entire production sector. But Washington has refused to entertain such a possibility, just as it has rejected efforts to bring new fields into production."

- Article in The Irish Times, describing US pressure on Iraq, 14th January 1999

"This month US policy will kill 4,500 children under the age of five in Iraq, according to UN studies. This is not foreign policy – it is state sanctioned mass murder that is nearing holocaust proportions."

- Professor Noam Chomsky, Edward Hermann, Edward Said and Howard Zinn, letter to The Independent, 21st January 1999

"The US regrets any civilian casualties, but has no independent evidence that any Iraqis were killed."

- Ken Bacon, US Pentagon spokesman describing US missiles that struck the al-Jumhuriya residential district of Basra, and ‘unidentified’ missiles hitting the village of Abu-Khasib, January 25th 1999. The UN reported that 17 people had been killed, approx. 100 injured and approx. 45 houses damaged or destroyed.

"We have to continue making these air strikes in order to carry on with our humanitarian work."

George Robertson, British Minister of Defence (later to become the head of NATO), BBC Television, 28th January 1999

"The continual TV images of the West’s high-technology systems causing death and destruction to people in the Third World will not be tolerated forever by civilised people."

- General Michael Rose, former UN Force Commander in Bosnia condemning ‘Desert Fox’ and the ongoing air offensive, January 1999

"We bought seven years and that’s not bad….the longer we can fool around in the [Security] Council and keep things static the better."

- Unidentified US official with ‘..responsibility for Iraq…’, as quoted in The Washington Post, 28th January 1999

"We simply can not let two [UN] member states continue to pervert the UN into a weapon of mass destruction."

- Denis Halliday, quoted in The Seattle Post Intelligencer, 12th February 1999

"The gravity of the situation is indisputable and can not be overstated. The magnitude of the humanitarian needs is such that they can not be met within the context of the parameters set forth in SCR 986 and succeeding SCR 1153…..nor was the programme intended to meet all the needs of the Iraqi people. [….] Given the present state of infrastructure, the revenue required for its’ rehabilitation is far above the funding level available under SCRs 986 and 1153. [….] Under current conditions the outlook will remain bleak and become more serious with time. The humanitarian situation will continue to be a dire one in the absence of a sustained revival of the Iraqi economy."

- Conclusion of the UN humanitarian panel set up in late January to additionally assess needs of the 986 program, March 1999