UN Finally Lifts (Most) Iraq Sanctions

Nearly Eight Years Into US Occupation, Iraq Could Have Civilian Nuclear Program

Some 20 years after the sanctions were put in place, the UN Security Council has finally lifted most, but not all, of the anti-Iraq sanctions centering around the 1990 invasion of Kuwait. The US lauded the end to the sanction as proof of “better days ahead” for the nation, which has been occupied by the United States since 2003.

The sanctions have been a lingering annoyance for the Iraqi government, officially condemning Iraq for “possessing weapons of mass destruction” which were the nominal reason for the US invasion, but found never to have existed.

The lifting of the sanctions means the UN Security Council is no longer officially demanding that Iraq not have a civilian nuclear energy program. The legal basis for demanding that they not have such a program was dubious, at best, but now no longer matters.

On the other hand some of the sanctions will remain in place, nominally to punish Iraq for not having negotiated a border deal with Kuwait. The incoming Maliki government insists such a deal will be a top priority.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.