Are Sanctions Working?

French officials hear that many Iraqi factories are closed or working half time; the nation's largest textile plant is said to be operating only eight hours a week. Egyptian laborers returning from Iraq report that bakers are being forced to mix barley with scarce flour to make a tasteless bread. As if to confirm such reports of hardship, Saddam Hussein's government last week decreed the death penalty for hoarders of wheat, barley, rice, flour and maize.

So is the worldwide embargo against Iraq working? Depends partly on what is meant by working, an ill-defined concept. But if State Department spokeswoman Margaret...

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