A Different Kind of War: The Un Sanctions Regime in Iraq

By Hans C. von Sponeck

"Crucial lessons for the immediate future"-Noam Chomsky

At a time when the international community is imposing sanctions and discussing no-fly zones, A Different Kind of War delivers a frightening parallel and a heart-rending accounting of suffering in Iraq among locals who bore the brunt of the 13-year sanctions from 1990 until 2003.

H. C. von Sponeck, the former "UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq," explores the UN's sanction policies against Iraq, their consequences, and the domestic conditions during this period. His extensive research is based on previously unpublished internal UN documents and discussions with UN decision makers (such as General Secretary Kofi Annan), Iraqi officials and politicians (including Saddam Hussein), and ordinary Iraqis. The author's findings question who really benefited from the program, what role the UN Security Council and its various member states played, and whether there were then and are today alternatives to the UN's Iraq policies.

Chapter 1. The Oil for Food Programme: An Adequate Humanitarian Exemption? Chapter 2. The UN Compensation Commission: Benefit for Some, Deprivation for Others Chapter 3. The No-Fly Zones: Zones of Protection and Zones of Confrontation? Chapter 4. The United Nations Special Commission and the UN Office of the Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq: Two Units of the Same Organisation? Chapter 5. The Government of Iraq, its People and their Rights Chapter 6. The UN Sanctions Structure: Confrontation, Fragmentation, Conclusions

What customers are saying:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent expose
Reviewed in the United States
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excellent expose from someone who knew all the details how the US government uses sanctions to wage war

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom
Verified Purchase
This is an excellent book, so well written and the amount of detailed research that has gone in is amazing to say the least - hard work to write I'm sure but so easy to read - it flows beautifly. I left Iraq as a child a few months after the first Gulf war - it has been emotionally challenging to read this at times at the same time it is written in such a logical way as to keep the reader engaged.

• Format: Library Binding
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1845452224
• ISBN13: 9781845452223
• Release Date: October 2006
• Publisher: Berghahn Books
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

A real look at what went wrong

Hans Von Sponeck was the last UN Humanitarian Assistance Coordinator in Iraq under the Oil for Food Program before the US invasion. the job of coordinator is, under any circumstances, a thankless one and Von Sponeck ultimately resigned. Written by a competent career development assistance adminsistrator for the UN Development Programme, A Different Kind of War is a highly thoughtful appraisal of what Von Sponeck saw and, more importantly, what he learned. He describes the management problems of a poltical program with multiple and, ironically, uncoordinated parts. but more importantly, he questions the efficacy (and the morality) of using sanctions as a means for enforcing political decisions in the complex multilateral environment of the 21st century. The book should be required reading for anyone concerned with the future role of the UN -- as both the Security Council as the intergovernmental decision-maker and the international public sector as the implementor of those pollicies.