Review Anthony Cordesman, and Ahmed Hashim, Iraq Sanctions and Beyond, Westview Press, 1997

  

Anthony Cordesman has been one of the longest tenured Iraq analysts in the United Sates. His Iraq Sanctions and Beyond with Ahmed Hashim is a perfect example of his thorough and detailed work. Written at the end of the 1990s it attempted to break down the major political, economic and military aspects of Iraq as a backgrounder to American policy makers. The two authors represented the conventional wisdom during this period that Saddam Hussein remained a threat to the Middle East but that the policy of containment and especially sanctions was faltering requiring adjustments.

 

The book’s main conclusions were widely held at the time. It argued that Iraq continued to be a threat to the Middle East. Saddam constantly sought to undermine United Nations’ sanctions against his country, made repeated threats against Kuwait, tried to hide his weapons of mass destruction and nuclear programs from U.N. inspectors, and threatened his own population. It noted that Iraq was not the same power it was before the Gulf War as its military and economy were devastated by that conflict and sanctions. Still, its armed forces were far larger than the Gulf States which were most concerned with Baghdad.

 

Cordesman and Hashim advocated for continued military containment of Iraq but a change in sanctions. The authors didn’t believe Saddam would be deposed and he would continue with his confrontational foreign policy. That was the reason why the U.S. and the Gulf States had to remain vigilant. At the same time the sanctions were hurting the Iraqi people far more than their leaders. There was also no reason for Iraq to change because the U.S. said they would remain as long as Saddam was in power. This led to many countries to turn against them. The authors argued that a relief from sanctions should be offered to Iraq as part of negotiations for things such as recognizing the sovereignty of its neighbors.

 

As for the information provided the book is a very thorough review of Iraq in the 1990s. It covers things like Saddam’s problems with tribes and coups, his conflict with the Kurds, the development of the economy, its dependence upon oil and more.

 

The book’s purpose of providing policy recommendations in the 1990s is obviously outdated but it is still a fine history of Iraq during that decade. It provides a huge amount of very detailed information about that period so it is still useful today. It also provides a snapshot into how Washington viewed Saddam at the time. With little hope of him losing power and sanctions going nowhere a large community developed advocating for regime change as the only solution. That would lead to the 2003 invasion.

 

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