Activists on social media circulated videos criticizing statements made by Madeleine Albright - the first woman to take over the US State Department - in 1996 about the death of Iraqi children, after her death was announced Wednesday at the age of 84, after suffering from cancer.

Albright, the first female secretary of state in US history, made the remarks during an interview on the 60 Minutes programme.

Journalist Leslie Stahl discussed with Albright, then America's ambassador to the United Nations, how Iraq was suffering from the sanctions imposed on the country in the wake of the 1991 Gulf War and the invasion of Kuwait in August 1990.

"We heard that half a million Iraqi children died, and this is more children than those who died in Hiroshima. Is the price worth it?"

"I think that's a very difficult choice, but we think the price is worth it," Albright replied.

The death of 500,000 dead Iraqi children was "a very hard choice, but the price-we think the price is worth it" ~Madeleine Albright pic.twitter.com/gOA3KkZv44

— The Serfs (@theserfstv) March 23, 2022

The writer and presenter, Samar Jarrah, considered Albright's statements at the time the worst response to a question.

Worst response to a question: Madeleine Albright was asked: Is the death of half a million Iraqi children from economic sanctions worth what we did?

It was a tough choice, but yes it was worth it.

The former Secretary of State has passed away.

pic.twitter.com/ImnKBE4Xbn

— Samar D Jarrah (@SamarDJarrah) March 23, 2022

"It still makes my blood boil," Chris Doyle, director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding (CAPO) commented on Albright's answer.

Madeleine Albright on 500,000 dead Iraqi children – saying it was worth it.

Still makes my blood boil https://t.co/7E0dCK8BYz

— Chris Doyle (@Doylech) March 23, 2022

Writer Rania Khalek published an excerpt from the 60 Minutes program, and said that Albright's statements ring in my head.

Watching on loop https://t.co/x4H7q2YkX9

— Rania Khalek (@RaniaKhalek) March 23, 2022

While investigative journalist Ajit Singh wrote that Albright "intentionally helped impose sanctions against Iraq that killed more than half a million children in the 1990s, it is a shame that she and her fellow war criminals were not brought to justice."

"The price is worth it."#MadeleineAlbright intentionally helped enact sanctions against Iraq which killed over half a million children in the 1990s.

It is shameful that she and her fellow war criminals were never brought to justice.

pic.twitter.com/a3fSiGwXdu

— Ajit Singh (@ajitxsingh) March 23, 2022

Albright held the Foreign Ministry portfolio during the era of President Bill Clinton between 1997 and 2001, and was also her country's ambassador to the United Nations.

And her influence on the international level has been compared to the role of Margaret Thatcher in Britain in the eighties of the last century.

Albright, born in Czechoslovakia, knew she belonged to a new generation of women entering the public sector.

Albright once said, "The only way for a woman to express her views on foreign policy was to marry a diplomat and pour tea on the lap of an abusive ambassador."