Einhorn the Terrible

A local report that "Robert Einhorn, the new U.S. special advisor for nonproliferation and arms control, is to visit South Korea and other Asian countries in early August" — U.S. Sanctions Tsar to Visit Asia. "But sanctions are peaceful," some say. The non-denial heard round the world (but quickly flushed down the memory hole in America) comes to mind:

When asked by [CBS' 60 Minutes' Leslie] Stahl, "We have heard that half a million children have died [as a result of sanctions]. I mean, that's more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?" Albright replied: "I think this is a very hard choice, but the price — we think the price is worth it."

The American Conservative today takes on the "peaceniks [who] hailed the sanctions as a way of avoiding war with Iraq" by posting the great Andrew Cockburn noting that "the disastrous humanitarian consequences of the sanctions were overlooked" by the Americans who instead "blamed Saddam for the hundreds of thousands of innocent deaths" — The Other War on Iraq.