10 May 2003

Dear Friends,

Experiences of Iraq Peace Team members during months leading up to Operation
"Shock and Awe" and throughout the US bombing, invasion and occupation confirm for us the simple adage: "Where you stand determines what you see." Today we read several reports of ongoing chaos, exchanges of gunfire, and outbreaks of water-borne diseases, such as cholera, which the World Health Organization warns could become epidemic. As we continue to focus a spotlight on Iraq, we agree with Mil Rai, of Voices in the Wilderness UK, who insists that in order to prevent a "next" war we must effectively counter the propaganda surrounding this current war and occupation.

We're indebted to Voices in the Wilderness members living in Iraq to help us gain
insights into experiences of ordinary Iraqi people as they try to cope with the aftermath of "Operation Iraqi Freedom." In the desperately poor Al Thawra district, three generations in one family spoke with Caiohme Butterly, a Voices delegate currently in Iraq, about the uncertainty and apprehension they now face:

"It is like waking up from an operation," said Dr. Karim. "The anaesthetic not quite worn off, one slowly trying to get a sense of things around oneself, trying to discern shapes, objects. There is pain, and fear, and apprehension dulled a little by the anaesthetic, but still there. It is pure, and complete confusion, we feel we are dreaming, waking up from one nightmare, the previous regime, perhaps to descend into another."

A neighbor, a young engineering student, explains, "Perhaps we have less to fear than others. We have little to lose. The services the municipal authorities once provided to others, we never received, because of this we don't miss them in their absence. We are used to surviving with little resources. The only thing the government ever brought us was suffering. Our people are our only resource. We are an oil state, but look at the poverty we live in."

His mother agrees, "Oil is our curse. It brought us nothing but tragedy under Saddam. It will bring us nothing under the Americans. They should not have subjected us to another war."

"But let me dream," says Karim's father. "Maybe they have changed."

Today the U.S. presents to the UN its resolution, calling for a lifting of sanctions and further the appropriation and authority of Iraqi oil sales to be dictated solely by the US and UK. To our dismay, and to further devastation for Iraqi people, their struggle to regain control of their resources and right to live in peace is once again dictated by a power that does not represent them. The United States has insisted on the implementation of sanctions for 13 years, sanctions that have killed innocents, among them children, the sick, the elderly, and now have the nerve to criticize anyone that questions their intentions, as made evident by comments made by Ari Fleicher this week: "There is no reason for the people of Iraq to suffer sanctions any longer."

There has not been a single, justifiable reason for Iraqi people to suffer for over 13 years. Economic sanctions are inherently criminal, as they fail time and time again to achieve any goal beyond the punishment of people. We stand for the lifting of economic sanctions, as their continuation will only prolong the desperately needed reconstruction of civilian infrastructure and transport of much needed medical aid and supplies. We support their removal and the commitment to realizing their abolition, and the recognition of economic sanctions as both a failed and genocidal policy. We continue to oppose the umbrella of military violence, occupation, corporate control, and foreign developed leadership that Iraqis have been told is their "liberation."

Like Karim, we too dream that things can change. We dream that Iraqis will at last be able to live without the fear of a brutal dictator or a corrupt U.S.-installed regime, without incessant threats from foreign invaders and the perpetual violence that has been waged against them for far too long, and without the sanctions that have robbed them of their ability to maintain their health, society, and economy. We also dream of a U.S. where our money is not concentrated in the militarization of our society, where we feel represented in our own communities and governments, and where all people are granted education and medical care.

There is much work to be done. Please continue to stay with us. We need each other now to continue the work more than ever.

Sincerely,

Kathy Kelly
Bitta Mostofi
Danny Muller
Ceylon Mooney

for Voices in the Wilderness

26 April 2003

“There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people."
Howard Zinn

Dear Friends,

Over the past seven years, Voices in the Wilderness has been a nonviolent campaign to end the economic sanctions against the people ofIraq.  Our focus has never been on
political interests or the balance of power in international politics. Our concern has
always been for the needs and interests of ordinary Iraqis, many of whom we have
come to know.

From our presence in Iraq, we have seen no evidence that the lives of ordinary Iraqis are considered in U.S. policy decisions. When sanctions were deemed expedient to fulfill U.S. foreign policy goals, they were touted by U.S. officials as indispensable.  Now U.S. administration officials have called for the lifting of economic sanctions.  U.S. corporations see a gold mine in Iraq, and the removal of sanctions will give this
administration and its corporate entities free access to Iraq’s potential wealth.   Iraq ’s
culture, economy, and resources belong to the Iraqis, not to any U.S. administration or
foreign power.

We have seen, however, that le gitimate third parties have the expertise and credibility to serve humanitarian needs. NGO’s such as UNICEF, WHO and UNDP have a history of responding to such. We hope that the U.N. General Assembly, in which no country has veto power, will assert its le gitimacy and act as a concerned third party to encourage the lifting of sanctions and emphasize that all countries should respect and abide by the UN charter.

It would be in the best interests of the suffering families of Iraq to lift the economic
sanctions now so that those who have legitimate claim to Iraq’s finances and resources can use them, free of the paralysis of international power struggles, to restore Iraq’s civilian infrastructure as quickly as possible.  It is important for the lives of families in Iraq that true security and stability emerge from the present chaos.

It will not serve the tremendous human need in Iraq for the U.S. military to immediately
withdraw without a legitimate international presence to take its place; from what we’ve
witnessed, this would create a power vacuum that could precipitate the implosion of Iraq’s civil society. The U.S. military should be pulled back from its role as a foreign
occupation power into a protective role sufficient to allow for Iraq’s social and political
concerns to be dictated by Iraqi parties.  

The shouts of “victory” by U.S. government officials and media personalities have nearly eclipsed this complex reality. The future looks less certain from the streets of Iraq than it does from mainstream newspapers and television in the United States . The last 38 days may have ended in a “victory” for the White House and the Pentagon, but not for countless Iraqis subject to the forces of power politics beyond their control.

But how do we define “victory?”  The end of a regime? The occupation of a foreign land
against the will of its people?  The capture of Iraq’s oil reserves? The more than 10,000
Gulf War veterans who survived the 1991 war but died upon their return?  The hundreds
of thousands of veterans exposed to depleted uranium and other hazardous contaminants, returning home to rapidly shrinking veteran’s health benefits?  The
hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children killed by economic sanctions? The masses of
Iraqi civilians living and dying with this “victory?”  A New American Century of rule by
force?

For whom is this  “victory?”

Yours,

Kathy Kelly
Ceylon Mooney
Bitta Mustofi
Amy Mooney
Angela Garcia
John Farrell
Laurie Hasbrook
Danny Muller
Karl Meyer
Bert Sacks
Simon Harak, S.J.

on behalf of Voices in the Wilderness