On 2 August 1990 the Iraqi army invaded its southern neighbour, Kuwait. Four days later the United Nations responded by imposing a complete trade embargo on Iraq.

In the ten years since Iraq has continued to be the subject of sanctions that affect almost every aspect of life for the average woman, man and child.

With imports of food and medicine severely restricted, malnutrition and disease is now endemic in what was once one of the healthiest countries in the world.

A 1999 Unicef report calculated that more than half a million children had died as a direct result of sanctions. On average 200 hundred Iraqi children are dying every day.

In September 1998, Denis Halliday head of the UN humanitarian programme in Iraq resigned claiming he could no longer administer 'an immoral and illegal' policy. His successor, Hans von Sponeck also later resigned, along with the head of the World Food Programme.

Meanwhile US and UK politicians insist that the sanctions regime is necessary to contain the threat of Saddam Hussein. When asked on US television whether the death of 500,000 Iraqi children as a result of sanctions was justified Madelaine Albright replied "I think this is a very hard choice, but the price - we think the price is worth it."

On 6 March 2000 the film 'Paying the Price: Killing the Children of Iraq' was broadcast on British television. It was written and presented by John Pilger and produced and directed by Alan Lowery.

This special site explores and expands the arguments presented in the film: that the double impact of sanctions and bombing has had an unacceptable effect on the country of Iraq and its people; that the motives behind the embargo are anything other than humanitarian; and that US and UK politicians have avoided and distorted the truth in their arguments that sanctions should be maintained.

Many subsequent articles by John Pilger bridge his reports on the suffering of the Iraqi people under sanctions to the build-up to the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq in 2003, and the present, bloody occupation.

Click here to read all John Pilger's articles on Iraq and related subjects