Violation of the rules would lead to the total
disallowance of international trade.
In reality, the sanctions hurt only the Iraqi
people, not Hussein or his regime. Hussein firmly
prioritized his military, such that the people suf-
fered for lack of provisions. For various reasons,
including Hussein’s control of the media, the
Iraqi people grew angry at the United Nations,
especially at member countries from the West
(and especially at the United States), instead of
being angry at Hussein’s regime for not taking
care of the people first and itself second.
Even with limited reliable information about
Iraq at the time, vocal critics of the sanctions
believed that they were only hurting the Iraqi
public. The critics further argued that the sanc-
tions did not seem to be having an effect on
Hussein’s regime, its military strength, or its will-
ingness to comply with inspections. Despite the
fact that the United Nations handled Iraq’s
money and purchased supplies to be delivered to
its borders, the regime was left in charge of dis-
tribution. Estimates in 2001 placed the number of
people dead because of the sanctions at between
500,000 and 1 million. David Cortright, writing in
theNation, called the sanctions a ‘‘humanitarian
disaster.’’ The health care system suffered tremen-
dously, spiking the mortality rates of infants and
children. Basic supplies like clean syringes and
water filtration systems were scant.
Saddam Hussein
In 1968, the powerful Baath Party ascended to
power in Iraq, destroying government officials
who disagreed with its politics. In 1979, Saddam
Hussein took control of the party. Harsher and
more dictatorial than his predecessor (who was
sent into exile), Hussein quickly established his
iron-fisted regime. He understood that anything
less than absolute power would render him vul-
nerable to the kind of overthrow that had typi-
fied politics in the Middle East. He himself had
been ruthless in his rise to the top, so he knew
how dangerous it was to be there. He had a
hunger for power, and he had a vision of Iraq
as a present-day Babylon. He wanted to make
Iraq a military stronghold as well as a modern-
ized, culturally energized nation.
In addition to having no tolerance for dis-
loyalty among those close to him in leadership,
Hussein put the People’s Army in place. The
People’s Army was a paramilitary group
known for brutality that included torture and
execution. Many who believed that they and
their families were or would soon be in serious
danger fled Iraq early in Hussein’s regime, while
they could still get out of the country.Free Verse Movement in Arabic Poetry
Traditionally, Arabic poetry was extremely dis-
ciplined and structured. Not only were the lines,
meter, and rhyme strictly governed by conven-
tion, but even the way the poems were collected
and grouped followed a system. In the mid-
twentieth century, a few new poets began trying
their hands at writing Arabic poetry in free verse
and in prose poems. A woman named Nazik al-
Malaika graduated from the College of Arts in
Baghdad in 1944 and then earned a master’s
degree from the University of Wisconsin. Her
first book of poetry was published in 1947. She
taught Arabic and literature in Iraq until fleeing
in 1970 under the oppressive Baath regime. Badr
Shakir al-Sayyab wrote free verse, too, but he set
out to write poetry that challenged traditional
verse in terms of both structure and content. He
wrote about humanity as a whole, social issues,
and personal feelings and experiences. At the
same time, he drew on classic myths and symbols
unique to his cultural background. These two
poets were on the cutting edge of the movement
to bring free verse to Arabic poetry, and they
were great influences on Youssef.Critical Overview.
Critical reception of Youssef’s Without an
Alphabet, Without a Facehas been overwhelm-
ingly positive. Critics and readers alike are
drawn to the poet’s unique perspective; after
residing in Iraq and enduring hardship because
of his beliefs, he then lived in exile all over the
world before settling in the West. In this collec-
tion, the poems are organized by location to
assist the reader in understanding the poet’s
changing perspective and subjects. InPublishers
Weekly, a reviewer of the collection remarks on
Youssef’s use of the many places he has lived in
his writing: ‘‘The poems work brilliantly through
their differing times and places, pushing
unflinching description through a steady deter-
mination to foment a more just world.’’ Khaled
Mattawa (the translator ofWithout an Alphabet,
Without a Face) notes in his introduction to the
collection that ‘‘as the poet continued to travelAmerica, America