The failure of comprehensive economic sanctions in Iraq during the 1990s

attracted the ire of a wide range of political actors: neo-conservatives in the

United States included this failure in their indictment of the United Nations and of multilateralism in international diplomacy, while humanitarian organi-

sations excoriated the United Nations and its Security Council for causing grievous harm to the people of Iraq. Yet there have also been impressive successes. Indeed, sanctions evidently did help end the nuclear-, biological-and

chemical-weapons programmes in Iraq. In South Africa, comprehensive eco-

nomic sanctions were apparently effective in bringing about the end of the

apartheid regime after many years of struggle. Libya did everything asked of it

in order to get out from under sanctions in 2004, including handing over its citi-

zens for trial by international tribunal in the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing case,

and giving up its nuclear-, chemical-and biological-weapons programme.