Take the case of Iraq. Like all good sieges, the siege of Iraq has several key elements. The 1991 Gulf War bombing of Iraq laid the foundation. Imagine what happens to a modern country when electricity is removed. Premature babies and frail elderly people die, because incubators and life support machines shut down.
Sick people die, because medicines spoil in ruined refrigerators.
Always the weakest die first. And then irrigation systems fail. Clean water can't be provided, sewage systems break down. It means that Iraqi oil is off the market. Iraq got about 95 percent of its foreign exchange from the sale of oil.