Throughout the 1990s, the United States led a devastating economic sanctions campaign against Iraq that led to the deaths of an estimated 500,000 Iraqi children. The sanctions were sold as a method of putting pressure on Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in order to force him to give up the weapons of mass destruction America was convinced he had, despite the fact that UN inspectors knew for a fact that Hussein’s weapons had been destroyed by 1995. However, instead of allowing the UN to officially certify Iraq as WMD-free and lift the sanctions that had killed an estimated 500,000 children, UN Ambassador and later Secretary of State under Bill Clinton Madeline Albright insisted that the sanctions remain as a tool to intentionally starve the people of Iraq to the point that they would rise up and overthrow Hussein to give the Americans the regime change they were so desperate for. She famously stated that the estimated 500,000 deaths was a price that was “worth it”.
She is a sociopath, like many others who believe that the lives of others are pawns in a grand chess game of power.
No doubt. This is the same woman who is now warning us all about the dangers of fascism. The thing about this clip that is especially disgusting is that when she’s been questioned about it, she has apologized for coming off as callous, but not for the actual policies she was responsible for that led to the ~500,000 deaths that she said were “worth it”. In other words, she regrets how she came off, but she doesn’t actually take back the content of what she said.
I have met some people that attacked this and said it was really 500,000 children but more around 200-300k. First off, that is still absolutely horrible to murder 200-300k children, but what I said also in response was that Albright doesn’t even try to downplay that number or refute it. She just says it was worth it… so sad.
Exactly, the precise number is almost beside the point. What’s notable is that Albright accepts the 500k figure and still says it was worth it. Do those who defend Albright by saying it was actually only 200-300k really believe that’s an acceptable number of deaths, but 500k isn’t? I guess it’s only once that 300,001st child dies that the policy of intentional starvation really becomes problematic, otherwise it’s okay, according to these people.