MATT WELCH: Actually gets paid to write and does so well in Reason, explaining the events and figures behind the "1.5 million Iraqi children killed by sanctions" story. Here he is on why sanctions are a bad idea in general:

Yet the basic argument against all economic sanctions remains: namely, that they tend to punish civilians more than governments and to provide dictators with a gift-wrapped propaganda tool. Any visitor to Cuba can see within 24 hours the futility of slapping an embargo on a sheltered population that is otherwise inclined to detest its government and embrace its yanqui neighbors. Sanctions give anti-American enclaves, whether in Cairo or Berkeley or Peshawar, one of their few half-convincing arguments about evil U.S. policy since the end of the Cold War.

Reason also has some new Peter Bagge up.