Yes. And the sanctions were just one part of all bad things that happened in the area. Also see my other comments here for more on the same subject (like what Madeleine Albright had to say about these dead children). And the "WMD story" was effectively invented as an excuse for the US to start the 2003 war. The war was planned even before G.W. became president (search about the "Project for the New American Century" or the goals of Saudi Arabia after 1991, who really wanted Saddam away but just didn't like the full war by the US). There was also no al-Qaeda in Iraq there then: only the effects of 2003 war brought them in. The 9/11 attackers were mostly Saudis (15 from 19), and only the US officials' propaganda made "assumed" connections with Saddam. And the UK even faked the report about WMD by doing a copy paste of the 13-years old work of some Californian student they have found on the Internet(!) Bush actually already wanted to attack Iraq right after 9/11, even before the propaganda started, according to the people who worked with him at the time, and Tony Blair jumped where Bush wanted. Anyway, the war was portrayed as the way to "bring the democracy" to Iraq. Back to the dam, the US effectively took the responsibility for the area since 2003, but they also haven't done anything to finish the second dam, which was cancelled earlier because of the sanctions. The US "aid" for the dam was $25m, a fourth of the price of just one F-35. And before the war, the "opportunity" for development was promoted as "using the profit of Iraqi oil to rebuild the infrastructure".