Iraq's Tortured Children

Interesting article by John Sweeney of the BBC on Iraq's tortured children. Neocons who support the sanctions and military action against Hussein probably love it. This article is likely to get heaped onto the "why we need to attack Iraq" propaganda pile.

MediaLens, the British media-watch group modeled partially on FAIR, has written a response to Sweeney's reporting. The MediaLens editors cited this email fom Hans von Sponeck, former director of the UN's oil for food program, which assesses Sweeney's story:

Sweeney's article is exactly the kind of journalism that is Orwellian, double-speak. No doubt, the Iraq Government has manipulated data to suit its own purposes, everyone of the protagonists unfortunately does this. A journalist should not. UNICEF has used large numbers of international researchers and applied sophisticated methods to get these important figures. Yes, the Ministry of Health personnel cooperated with UNICEF but ultimately it was UNICEF and UNICEF alone which carried out the data analysis exactly because they did not want to politicize their work...This article is a very serious misrepresentation.

On a related note, the Nation has a good, brief editorial on why a War on Iraq Is Wrong.