Bagpuss,

As I pointed out in my post above, those sanctions could have been lifted at any time. All Saddam Hussein had to do was comply with UNSC Resolutions - so the cause of those deaths should probably have been better described as deaths due to Saddam Hussein's non-cooperation and not due solely to UN Sanctions.

Another factor, regarding water and food. When Saddam went on the rampage against the Shia muslems in southern Iraq after the end of "Desert Storm", he deliberately set about draining the marshlands of southern Iraq to drive the Ma'dan off their land. What water he could not drain, he poisoned. The drainage schemes and depopulation resulted in the loss to Iraq of a fishing industry (traditionally Ma'dan) that supplied 60,000 tons of fish a year.

Thank you Amos for reminding me that in the evolution of mankind, it was in the area of the Tigris and Euphrates basin that mankind took its first steps from being solely "hunter-gatherers" to developing "agrarian" society.