The strength of such a smart sanctions strategy is that no single component of this package stands alone in wielding coercive clout. Rather, these singularly-focused mechanisms reinforce and complement each other. When linked together such controls provide a tightened sanctions regime with sharpened teeth. Some critics of smart sanctions claim that they amount to a reward to Saddam Hussein for defying and outlasting the existing sanctions. Others charge that smart sanctions constitute a weak policy compared with more pro-active measures, such as arming the Iraqi opposition.
Skeptics question the effectiveness or untested record of smart sanctions.
Each group is dangerously short-sighted. Whatever the individual fate of Saddam Hussein, or even the success of those who aim to overthrow him, constraining the government of Iraq's ability to buy or trade in goods that lead to weapons development is still the immediate objective. The incentive to Iraq to embrace this is the promise by the UN that such inspections will end the sanctions. But in the absence of any current Iraqi interest in meeting the dictates of Resolution 1284, the United States and other Council members are left with focusing on the immediate objective. This task does not at all depend on Saddam Hussein's actions.