Following the 1991 Gulf War, the United Nations imposed sanctions restricting trade with Iraq. Although the initial blockade has been eased somewhat, an estimated 420,000 children have died due to inadequate medical care or supplies. Following a background report, four experts debate whether it is time to lift the sanctions.

PHIL PONCE: The Iraq sanctions story. We start with a background report from Charles Krause.

CHARLES KRAUSE: At the end of the Gulf War in 1991, the United Nations imposed sanctions on Iraq preventing it from selling its oil on the world market.

These sanctions were part of a sweeping trade embargo which was first imposed in August 1990, after the invasion of Kuwait. The sanctions bar Iraq from importing anything other than food, medicine, and health supplies. By many accounts, it has reduced a once-wealthy economy to shambles.

The sanctions were to have been lifted after U.N. weapons inspectors certified that Iraq's nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons had been destroyed. But the certification process has not been completed, at least in part because the Iraqis have not allowed the inspectors to do their work.

Meanwhile, Iraq says the sanctions, beyond devastating the economy, are responsible for the deaths of 1.2 million people, including many children.

Every week, pro-government demonstrators parade through Baghdad's streets protesting the sanctions. A U.N. report estimated that 420,000 children, 5,000 every month since 1991, have died because of inadequate medical care and insufficient food supplies.

The report also said that one third of all Iraqi children are malnourished and many suffer from infections.

The source of many of the illnesses and deaths is poor drinking water. Sewage treatment plants and electric power plants that keep the going were bombed during the Gulf War. According to the Iraqi government, the trade embargo and a shortage of money have prevented repairs.

But the United States has said that the Iraq government has spent what money it has on palaces and on the military instead of caring for its own citizens. At a raucous town meeting at Ohio State University last month, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright laid the blame squarely on Iraq's president.

SEC. MADELEINE ALBRIGHT: I am willing to make a bet to anyone here that we care more about the Iraqi people than Saddam Hussein does. (Applause)

For the last seven years, since the Gulf War, he has starved his people. We have provided food. There is no limit on the amount of humanitarian assistance that can go in. And I personally wrote the resolution that allows there to be oil sold for food.

CHARLES KRAUSE: That resolution was an oil for food deal approved by the U.N. in 1995. It allowed Iraq to sell $2 billion worth of oil every six months in order to buy food and medicine. There is now enough food available for many Iraqis to meet minimal nutritional requirements.

Iraq has 100 billion barrels of oil reserves, more than any nation except Saudi Arabia. But the Gulf War also destroyed many of Iraq's oil production facilities.

Last month, the U.N. Security Council agreed to increase the amount of oil Iraq can sell to $5.2 billion and allowed Iraq to increase its import of more medical supplies and medicines.

But Iraq says that isn't likely to alleviate the current situation because it claims it can't produce that much oil anyway, and falling oil prices have further reduced the amount of money Iraq is receiving from the oil it is able to produce and to sell.