I really hate to burst your little bubble of world peace and American sin, but you might want to look at a fact or two.

A more reasoned and balanced analysis of the sanctions on Iraq can be found here.

The article states that "in the past four years of oil-for-food, Iraq has exported around 3 billion barrels of oil, generating $40 billion in revenue, which has resulted in the delivery of $18 billion of humanitarian and oil-equipment supplies, with another $16 billion in the pipeline. You tell me where this money is going.

This report mentions a few places the money is going, at least back in late 1999 when it was written.

Again, I would not make you read the whole thing, but the links on Misuse of Resources and Palaces are especially instructive.

To put it simply, Saddam and his forces are not missing any meals. Do they get any blame at all for sucking the nation dry? What about the fact that compliance with the U.N. resolutions would immediately end the sanctions? Isn't this refusal to comply a cause of the suffering?

For half a century or longer, totalitarian regimes have excelled at hauling in dewy-eyed liberals with hearts much larger than their brains, and showing them exactly what they wanted them to see. The Soviet Union, Cuba, Nicaragua, North Viet Nam, and many others have played well-intentioned humanitarians like a Stradivarius.

They would see no facility that was not intended for them to see, and would see nothing that would contradict the view they wanted them to go home with. Now I have no doubt that the woman who went to Iraq was received with genuine warmth by the poor people they visited, but by her own admission, none would speak to her on any political subject, like why they are still so poor.

So firm is the left's conviction that all pain on Earth originates in America, that there is no room for any other conclusions.

I salute people with the guts to go out and actually do something for the poor and sick in this world. It's a lot more honest than simply whining to the government to "fix it." But unless they realize the real causes of this pain, it's all going to be pointless in the long run.