1) MASS DIE-IN, FASLANE 6 AUG 2002
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British Defence Secreatary Geoff Hoon has issued nuclear threats against Iraq three times in recent months, saying that countries like Iraq 'can be absolutely confident that in the right conditions we would be willing to use our nuclear weapons'; 'in conditions of extreme self-defence, nuclear weapons would have to be used'. (Guardian, 6 June, p.18)

The British Government is threatening not only to make war on Iraq, but to fire a Trident nuclear missile at this suffering country.

Voices in the wilderness UK and Trident Ploughshares are responding with nonviolent civil disobedience.

At 8am on Tuesday 6 Aug.2002, 12 years after economic sanctions were imposed on Iraq, 57 years after Hiroshima, we are holding a 'die-in' at the Faslane Trident submarine base near Helensburgh in Scotland.

Please write to Geoff Hoon. Arrow briefing no.18 'Don't Nuke Iraq' is available from Voices or at www.justicenotvengance.org.

2) UN PASSES "SMART" SANCTIONS
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On 14 May, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1409, a watered-down version of Britishproposals circulated last year. The purpose of this reform of sanctions was made clear immediately, as Jack Straw announced that the new resolution had remove[d] Saddamís spurious excuses for the suffering he inflicts on the Iraqi peopleí.

The New York Times judged that Washington was ënow in a better position to lead the international debate on the future of the Iraqi regime without the distraction of accusations over humanitarian concerns.

CAFOD, a Catholic aid agency, on the other hand, described the new resolution as amounting to little more than cosmetic changes that will do little to help the plight of the ordinary people.

Missing the Point

With many Iraqi families living on as little as $6 a month, and a 600% increase in water contamination since 1990, poverty and the massive deterioration of Iraqís civilian infrastructure (sewage, watertreatment, electricity and so on) are currently the key obstacles to resolving the ongoing humanitarian crisis.

Neither of these fundamental problems is addressed by the new resolution. All the new resolution does is modify the procedures for exporting goods to Iraq, nothing else.

Before 1409, except for certain pre-approved items, all exports to Iraq required approval from the UN Sanctions Committee, an opaque body dominated by a US veto.

Under the new resolution only those items named on a new list of potentially suspect goods (the Goods Review List or GRL) will need such approval from the Sanctions Committee.

Contracts will be scrutinised by UN weapons experts to determine whether or not they contain items on the GRL (and therefore require Sanctions Committee approval.)

These new procedures may lead to a reduction in the number of goods placed on holdí by the US and Britain (currently over $5bn) - this remains to be seen.

Still Banned

Much more significant, however, is what the resolution does not permit.

As the Economist explained (24 May 2002), the resolution does not allow the foreign private investment that would enable Iraq to start rebuilding its shattered industry, agriculture and sanitation system (the cost of which has been estimated at $50-$100 billion). It also prohibits the spending of hard-currency earnings on local goods and services... perpetuat[ing] Iraq's dependence on state-rationed imports.

The Economist concluded, that the new resolution was little more than cosmetic surgery that will not greatly affect ordinary Iraqis.

Save the Children Fund UK (SCF) says similarly that the streamlined sanctions will not - in the absence of complementary initiatives (such as locally-available financial resources) - significantly improve the humanitarian situation.

For SCF, the new procedures will only marginally assist the rehabilitation of essential civilian infrastructure: and without such rehabilitation the high levels of preventable illnesses among children will continue, with a detrimental effect on child mortality.

3) SAME OLD STUPID SANCTIONS PLEDGE
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I pledge to take part in or to support nonviolent civil disobedience in the event of a major US/UK attack on Iraq or any other country in the course of the war on terrorism. 580 people have signed the Pledge of Resistance. Please sign online: ARROW / PLEDGE WEBSITE www.justicenotvengeance.org

Shower The Foreign Office With Foreign Exchange

1) Write to Jack Straw, Foreign Secretary, Foreign Office, Whitehall, London SW1
2) Use quotes from this article to argue that the new Security Council resolution cannot solve the humanitarian crisis and that these are not real targeted smart sanctions.
3) Point out that Iraq needs foreign investment, foreign loans, access to foreign markets for its goods (in addition to oil), and direct access to foreign exchange.
4) Enclose a coin with your letter - Iraq needs foreign exchange - and ask for it be used to benefit the people of Iraq.

4) 11TH VOICES UK DELEGATION RETURNS
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The latest voices uk sanctions-breaking delegation, Sue , Emma Sangster, Gareth Evans and Gabriel Carlyle, visited hospitals and families in Baghdad, Basra and Falluja, and garnered impressive press work

Emma: We met Umm Hyder on our visit to the Al Jumuriya district in Basra. She told us of the difficulties of life was after 12 years of sanctions. During this time her family has gone from having a comfortable lifestyle, with good material conditions and plenty to eat, to a situation where almost everything has been sold to buy the bare necessities of life.

As an English teacher, Umm Hyder had treasured her collection of books which sheís had to sell - clearly a great loss for her. In the coming year, she will have to find the money for a gynacological operation which will cost about 300,000 Iraqi dinars (about $175).

Although the house only has six rooms, there are now 24 people living in it, her family, her husband's brothers and their families. There is little work to be had - one brother works as a baker, 13 hours a day, for about the equivalent of 50 pence. Others work sporadically but all must provide for their families.

Umm Hyder showed us the contents of the fridge which had almost nothing in it - most days they only buy food for one day - vegetables to supplement the food ration, but hardly ever meat or fish.

She talked about how exhausting life has become, and explained how she had got up very early that morning to spend three hours siphoning in water as the supply had gone off in the night leaving the house with nothing for the day.

She regularly sees children in the school who only have one meal a day and are too fatigued to study.

US Missile Attack

In the kitchen we saw marks left on the walls and ceilings from the events of 25 Jan. 1999 when two US missiles hit the district, killing about a dozen people. Umm Hyder lost her eldest son, Hyder (Umm means mother) and her youngest Mustafa was badly injured. She recalled, with great pain, the noise and shattering of glass in the house, and running out into the chaos to look for her children:

'I saw Mustafa - he wake and call me - momma, momma. The dust and pieces of wood and iron and other things - rocks - cover them...

I saw my other son lying on the floor and a circle of blood under his head and he was sleeping. I talk to him, he didn't answer me and he didn't wake.

Then I take Mustafa, I ask my neighbour to carry him with me, to carry Hyder with me, I can't carry both of them.

Then I carry Mustafa and run quickly to the highway to take a car to the hospital. All of his body is full of blood, and injury and wounded. Even his eyes is full of blood.

Then I took him to the hospital, they immediately treat him and we stay there in the hospital for one month.

They cut his two fingers [off] and they open him because the piece of missile, piece of iron, went through his back and it destroy piece of his liver.

Now, from time to time I send him, and take X-ray of his body, full of pieces of missile. One of them is in the bone of his hip. When he walks it crushes the bone.' The Oxford office (0845 458 2564) is ordering copies of the voices us video 'Greetings from Missile Street', about the families who suffered from the 25 Jan. 1999 attack in Basra. Videos should be available in August for hire or purchase.

Tun Myat

Gabriel: The delegation was fortunate to be able to meet UN Humanitarian Co-ordinator Tun Myat - who wasted little time in rejecting the Foreign Office claim that smart sanctions have left Iraq 'free to meet all of its civilian needs without impediment.'

'Meaningful progress in the overall humanitarian situation can only come with the resumption of normal economic activity.

No matter how much you try and modify [oil-for-food] it is not designed for - and it will never be - a substitute for economic revival.'

Recent press reports of a 'booming' Baghdad were misleading he said. Until people can afford to buy the wider range of goods now available in shops 'everything else you see will only be superficial.'

Mr Myat said that Resolution 1409 was designed to make the import of goods into Iraq 'a little bit easier', but that it remained to be seen whether this would actually happen.

Myat also revealed that, despite a request from his office, he has never received any evidence from the US Government to support its allegations, made earlier this year, that Iraq has been diverting trucks purchased through the humanitarian programme to the military.

Mr Myat told the delegation, 'if by my resigning today sanctions would be lifted tomorrow, I would be very happy do so.'

5) WAR
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We are long past the 15 April deadline President Bush is said to have set for agreeing a unified war plan against Iraq. There is no sign of a consensus emerging from the Administration, and certainly no war plan.

There appears to be deadlock between the hard right grouping around Paul Wolfowitz, Deputy Defence Secretary, and most of the rest of the US Government - led by Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Wolfowitz and company favour repeating the strategy (and success) of Afghanistan, backing local rebels with overwhelming US airpower.

GI Joe Says No

The rest of the Administration has voiced qualms, including the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who went public with their concerns in late May.

The Washington Post reported, 'The uniformed leaders of the US military believe they have persuaded the Pentagonís civilian leadership to put off an invasion of Iraq until next year at the earliest, and perhaps not to do it at all, according to senior Pentagon officials.' (24 May 2002, p. A01)

One top general was quoted as saying that the 'Iraq hysteria' in some senior Bush officials had been diffused.

The military are concerned about the possible use of chemical and biological weapons against US troops, about the prospect of bloody, street by street urban warfare, and about some of the wider political issues.

The Post said, 'some of the chiefs' expressed misgivings about deposing Saddam Hussein: 'Their worry is that there is no evidence that there is a clear successor who is any better, and that there are significant risks that Iraq may wind up with a more hostile, activist regime.'

The Palestine Connection

From the other side of the divide, Richard Perle, a Reagan era hawk and now a senior Pentagon adviser, has said that he expects the war on Iraq to begin before Feb. 2003. (He added that Britain was the only ally he counted on to join the attack.) (Times, 14 June 2002, p.15)

Some have argued that war on Iraq should be delayed until the Middle East conflict simmered down. Thus the Democratic Senate leader, Thomas Daschle: 'The question is how do we do it, and when do we do it. I think the timing of this is very important.' (Guardian, 17 June, p. 15)

Former President Clinton weighed in: 'I think you have to ask yourself in what order do we have to do this. When Vice-President Dick Cheney toured Arab capitals, 'They thought the United States was on another planet, talking about attacking Saddam Hussein when we were not involved in the Middle East peace process.' (Washington Post, 18 June 2002, p. A02) On the other hand, Wolfowitz's boss and mentor, Donald Rumsfeld, apparently believes that 'currying favour in the Middle East is irrelevant to future operations in Iraq.' (Times, 19 June 2002, p. 13)

Assassination

John Major recently confirmed that during the 1991 Gulf War the US and Britain sought to bomb Saddam Hussein personally: 'of course we did, we were at war then.' (Times, 28 Sept.2001, p. 2) This was denied before.

In part this was because US law forbids the assassination of heads of state. Hence the odd mission now given to US Special Forces and the CIA - to capture Saddam Hussein, but to be prepared to use lethal force against him if 'acting in self-defence'. (Guardian, 17 June, p. 15)

Undermining Inspections

Supposedly at the heart of the debate are Iraq's 'weapons of mass destruction'. 'Senior German and French politicians argue that negotiations and a resumption of United Nations arms inspections are the way forward - a view that provokes exasperation in Washington.' (Telegraph, 17 June, p. 1)

Former UNSCOM weapons inspector Scott Ritter has recalled that when he was chief inspector in Iraq, there were dozens of extremely fit 'missile experts' and 'logistics specialists' in UNSCOM - men from US Special Forces, or from CIA paramilitary teams. 'Now that Bush has specifically authorized American covert-operations forces to remove Hussein, however, the Iraqis will never trust an inspection regime that has already shown itself susceptible to infiltration and manipulation by intelligence services hostile to Iraq, regardless of any assurances the U.N. secretary-general might give.' (Los Angeles Times, 19 June, 2002)

For Ritter, 'The leaked CIA covert operations plan effectively kills any chance of inspectors returning to Iraq'. It closes 'the last opportunity for shedding light on the true state of affairs regarding any threat in the form of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.'

6) IRAQ PEACE TEAM
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In 1990, an international group of peace activists set up a peace camp inside Iraq, known as the 'Gulf Peace Team', to oppose the coming war.

Now, as the people of Iraq face the threat of another major war, voices in the wilderness us has called for an 'Iraq Peace Team'.

Voices US envisions sending seasoned nonviolent activists into Iraq before and during a US attack, should such an assault occur.

The Government of Iraq has agreed to the proposal in principle. Voices us are now working on making the project a reality, while also campaigning to prevent the war.

For more details, and for an application form, please visit the IPT's excellent website at: http://www.iraqpeaceteam.org/

You can order a copy of the excellent history of the Gulf Peace Team from voices uk.

7) VOICES DELEGATE FINED $10,000
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On 17 May 2002, the US Treasury Dept. sent a letter to Bert Sacks, a retired engineer from Seattle, giving him 30 days to pay a $10,000 fine for breaking sanctions during a 1997 trip to Iraq with voices us.

Bert has refused to pay the fine. Bert and voices us have called on supporters in the US to donate $10,000 - not to pay the penalty, but to pay for medical supplies to be taken into Iraq by voices us.

Kathy Kelly, co-founder of voices us, said on Mon. 24 June, after the deadline expired, 'The response has been overwhelming. In just ten days, with less than 300 people responding, we raised over $10,000 for medicines for the July 2002 voices us delegation to Iraq.'

Another Seattle voices delegate has received a letter from the Treasury Dept. The net may be spreading wider, possibly to include voices us and Kathy herself.

From now on, the voices us appeal 'Declaration 2002' will ask people to respond to the fine(s) by helping to fund voices solidarity and campaigning work as well.

Kathy says, 'In an odd way, the Office of Foreign Assets Control have, in imposing the penalty, awakened a desire in people in the US and the UK to send in an equivalent sum of money not to pay the penalty, but to help meet the needs of people in Iraq, and to fund efforts in the US and the UK to prevent a new war.'

An Appeal For Donations

We have offered to raise funds here for Bert and others, but the US office has asked us instead to appeal for donations to voices uk.

If you would like to make a donation to voices uk in support of the stand being made by Bert and any other delegates who are targeted, we will use your contribution for anti-war and antisanctions campaigning, and for medical supplies for the next voices uk delegation. We will also notify the US Treasury Dept.

Please make cheques payable to voices in the wilderness uk (and mark them 'Declaration 2002'), and send them to us at 5 Caledonian Road, King's Cross, London N1 9DX.

Updates

For the latest on Bert's situation please check the voices us website at www.nonviolence.org/vitw

8) A VIEW FROM CALIFORNIA
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Last month voices uk were lucky enough to meet up with Patricia Daugherty, an anti-sanctions campaigner from Davis, California. Patricia, a nurse practitioner and formerly a midwife, told us how her anti-sanctions group, the 'Davis Coalition to End the Sanctions' has educated the community about the effects of the economic sanctions.

The group has made their 'Peace Table' a constant presence at farmers markets and grocery shops. The Table has a sample oil-for-food food ration - for one meal - and a display board showing colour photos of Iraqi children (taken on voices delegations) and a UNICEF graph showing how child death rates have soared under the economic sanctions.

Since 11 September, the group has encountered more hostility - and more interest and support. People who supported war on Afghanistan now feel unsure about a war on Iraq.