There are no deaths crueler than these. Sanctions are designed to kill. A doctor might as well call for the humane implementation of torture. In fact, not only have Muslims been responsible for only a tiny proportion of deaths caused by terrorism but in recent years it is they who have been the greatest sufferers from state terrorism. Another is the more immediate practical need to protect Saudi oil prices, and the Saudi economy, from the competition of cheaper Iraqi oil.
Sanctions do that job nicely.
But sanctions also strengthen Saddam Hussein, as the Kurds and Shiites, his bitter opponents, repeatedly point out. The thought that the State has lost its mind and is punishing so many innocent people is intolerable. And the evidence has to be internally denied. Sanctions should be lifted immediately. They are simply a crime against humanity.