Same Sad Story, Different Country - The Futility of Sanctions

From 1991 - 2003, the US Navy (myself included, as a former boarding officer) spent considerable money, manpower, and energy conducting MIO to enforce UN sanctions against Iraq. Despite thousands of boardings, a relatively small percentage of contraband coming out of Iraq was diverted, while Iraq continued to supply its military machine (mostly through Chinese and Western European companies who ignored the sanctions). These sanctions did however make life difficult for the already oppressed Iraqi people and legitimate trade interest. Worse still, the Oil for Food fiasco enriched the very regime we opposed, along with a lot of other shady characters, including senior UN kleptocrats.

The UN has launched another sanctions regime in the same neighborhood, which will involve some of the same cast of characters as the failed Iraq sanctions.

You’re using pinpoint sanctions against the very entity that’s best positioned
to evade those sanctions,” says Matthew Levitt, a counterterrorism expert at the
Washington Institute for Near East Policy. An Iranian businessman in Dubai,
asking not to be named because of the subject’s sensitivity, puts it succinctly:
“You’re enriching the people the sanctions are trying to target.

Why should we expect different results this time?

The opinions and views expressed in this post are those of the author alone and are presented in his personal capacity. They do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Department of Defense or any of its agencies.