Dear Renaissance Network, 11 Nov. This time, it feels like there is very little time for us to act to prevent yet more ugly violence against Iraq. But we must try. Not only is it criminal to further punish Iraq's people, it is just plain stupid. How will the Arab world not come to hate "the West", if we continue to bring death and destruction to this part of the world? Please see the message from Voices in the Wilderness (below) to help inspire our resistance to this thuggery. Many thanks for your caring, Jan ********************************************************************* Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1998 20:37:20 -0600 Reply-To: "Boyle, Francis" <•••@••.•••> Sender: World Order Conference List <•••@••.•••> From: "Boyle, Francis" <•••@••.•••> Subject: FW: Ramsey Clark Letter to UN > ---------- > From: International Action Center[SMTP:•••@••.•••] > Reply To: •••@••.••• > Sent: Wednesday, November 11, 1998 7:52 PM > Subject: Ramsey Clark Letter to UN >> > International Action Center > 39 West 14th Street, #206, NY, NY 10011 > 212-633-6646 fax:212-633-2889 > email: •••@••.••• > web page: www.iacenter.org > > > H.E. Sir John Weston > Permanent Mission of UK to the UN > 885 2nd Avenue > New York, NY 10017 > > November 11, 1998 > Dear Ambassador Weston: > > President Clinton has chosen the anniversary of the > armistice ending World War I to further threaten Iraq with > another violent assault. He charges that failure to act > "would permanently damage the credibility of the U.N. > Security Council to act as a force for promoting > international peace." It is a phrase reminiscent of > Plato's unnamed Athenian Stranger who favored "seeking > peace by making war." He taunts the U.N. to act, > asserting "Failure to respond [will] embolden Saddam to > act recklessly." It is a threat by a weakened President > thinking only of his personal political standing. U.S. > contempt for U.N. authority is shown by its defiance of > the recent General Assembly vote of 157 nations versus 2 > nations protesting the U.S. criminal blockade of Cuba, its > refusal to pay dues to the U.N. year after year and its > selective defiance, and support for violations by other > nations of General Assembly, Security Council and > International Court of Justice resolutions and decisions. > > The Security Council should immediately admonish the U.S. > that it must not again attack Iraq. The Security Council > is already responsible for military attacks on Iraq, > albeit at the insistence of the U.S., including 110,000 > aerial sorties unleashing 88,500 tons of bombs across Iraq > by U.S. aircraft in January and February 1991 which > destroyed 80% of Iraq's military capacity according to the > Pentagon. Iraq has been further decimated by the most > severe Security Council sanctions in history since August > 6 (Hiroshima Day) 1990. More than a million and a half > people have died in Iraq as a direct result of those > sanctions, as U.N. agencies have reported. The great > majority of the victims were infants, children, elderly > and chronically ill persons. This is unquestionably a > violation of the Genocide Convention.* > > U.N. inspection teams over a period of seven years claim > to have destroyed 90% of the remaining Iraqi missile > capacity and designated military material. Iraq is not > capable of a serious threat against anyone. > > The notion that Iraq is a threat to the region is a false > fantasy created by the U.S. to justify its vast military > presence in the region, to dominate the oil resources and > to contain Islam. Iraq is no threat to its neighbors as > every Security Council member knows. It is barely able to > survive. Turkey regularly attacks the Kurdish people and > others living on northern Iraqi soil at will with U.S. > support and U.N. acquiescence. There are many nations on > earth that pose far greater threats of minor violence and > to world peace than Iraq. As the recently published > "Israel and the Bomb", Columbia University Press, again > demonstrates, Israel developed and has manufactured some > hundreds of nuclear bombs in violation of Security Council > resolutions and international law. > > Random assaults on Iraq at the whim of the United States > since 1991 include scores of Tomahawk cruise missile and > rocket assaults. The U.S. has used the cradle of > civilization as a shooting gallery, striking such > dangerous targets as the Al-Rashid Hotel in Baghdad, > killing two employees, the home of Layla al Attar, the > famous artist and museum director, killing her and others, > and a United Nations helicopter killing all its occupants. > > A new U.S. strike will target vital support systems for > the population of Iraq, just as its 1991 assault targeted > the infrastructure; water supply, electric power, > transportation, communications, food storage, processing > and distribution, fertilizer and insecticide manufacture. > It is a crueler form of corporal punishment imposed on the > entire population than public lashings and executions > favored by former colonial powers. > > The destruction of the El Shifa pharmaceutical plant in > Khartoum, Sudan on August 20, 1998 illustrates the U.S. > strategy. The plant produced 50% of the pharmaceutical > available in the Sudan. The cost of EL Shifa products was > 20% of the international market prices. It produced 90% > of the antibiotics used for malaria which is the leading > cause of death there. Major international pharmaceutical > companies do not produce drugs for malaria, or engage in > research to address the spread of new virulent types of > malaria which are reaching epidemic levels in part of > Africa and Asia. A single U.S. missile attack destroyed > the single most important health facility in the Sudan and > will cause thousands of deaths. Everyone in the Sudan, > including the entire diplomatic corps, knew of the El > Shifa plant and its importance to the health of the > people. > > U.N. inspections in Iraq over a period of seven years have > been manipulated by unproven U.S. claims time and time > again. Strategically placed agents of the U.S. and British > intelligence agencies in U.N. inspectors' positions have > had the single purpose of continuing the sanctions by > making false claims that Iraq is developing nuclear, > chemical and biological weapons with missiles and can > complete the task in weeks, or months without inspection. > > The United States spends more on arms annually, $275 > billion presently, than the rest of the Security Council > combined. U.S. arms expenditures are approximately 25 > times the gross national product of Iraq. The U.S. has in > its stockpiles more nuclear bombs, chemical and biological > weapons, more aircraft, rockets and delivery systems in > number and sophistication than the rest of the world > combined. Included are twenty commissioned Trident II > nuclear submarines any one of which could destroy Europe. > It is the U.S. that ought to be inspected. The U.S. is > today, far more than when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., > observed it in 1967, "the greatest purveyor of violence on > earth." > > It is imperative to world peace, the survival of the U.N. > as an organization of independent nations and to simple > justice that the Security Council immediately inform the > U.S. that it must not again attack Iraq, or any other > country. > > Sincerely, > > > Ramsey Clark > > * Genocide means any of the following acts committed with > intent to destroy in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, > racial or religious group, as such. > (b) Causing serious bodily, or mental harm to members > of the group; > (c) Deliberately inflicting on a group conditions of > life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in > whole or in part; > Art. II, Convention on the Prevention and Punishment > of the Crime of Genocide. > ************************************************************************** Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1998 14:24:42 -0800 (PST) From: Kathy Kelly <•••@••.•••> Subject: Your Help Is Needed to Save Lives Dear Friends, As I write this, the US government, in preparation of yet another massive military strike against the people of Iraq, is advising the media to station themselves in Baghdad and to be ready for the planned military attack. In the mean time, I've been trying furiously to contact various White House staff to find out if anyone can give a straight answer why we are bombing Iraq. Reports from Reuters and Associated Press talk about the most "opportune" moment to strike: "Modern air forces prefer to bomb in the darkness of a moonless night...to maximize the element of surprise...the Moslem holy fasting month of Ramadan -- a politically inopportune period for Western military action -- begins around December 19." It is as if we are planning a festival. As I made the round of phone calls, I wasn't surprised that no one at the White House could give me a clear justification. But I felt a piercing and intense pain in my gut when none of them had known that five to six thousand Iraqi children die every month according to the most recent report by UNICEF. No one is willing to admit that the imminent military strike is purely punitive, vengeful, and ultimately irrational. During the Gulf War our incredibly smart bombs killed tens of thousands of innocent civilians. Eight years of economic sanctions since have claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands. We urge you to consider immediate actions in your community. Help end the sanctions and use of military force, not lives. Several communities around the country are already planning fasts and vigils. We ask you to also hold vigils and demonstrations with banners, enlarged photos, and leaflets. Urge people to contact the White House at (202)456-1111, their elected officials, and media. Please contact Voices in the Wilderness for more ideas and material, such as enlarged photos, songs, and sample leaflets. "We are inevitably our brother's keeper because we are our brother's brother. Whatever affects one affects all indirectly." -- From "The World House" in _Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community_ by Martin Luther King, Jr. Thank you very much for your continued support and commitment. Sincerely, Soyun Kim for Voices in the Wilderness P.S. Kathy Kelly is leaving for Baghdad tomorrow Thursday, November 12. (See our press release following this message.) There will be several other members of Voices in the Wilderness, including myself, will be here to keep you updated. Please do not hesitate to contact us at the address and number below if we can assist you in any way we can in your outreach effort. Voices in the Wilderness - A Campaign to End the US/UN Economic Sanctions Against the People of Iraq 1460 West Carmen Ave. Chicago, IL 60640 ph:773-784-8065; fax: 773-784-8837 email: •••@••.••• website: http://www.nonviolence.org/vitw ************************************************************************** Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1998 08:36:32 EST From: Refuse & Resist <•••@••.•••> To: Multiple recipients of list <•••@••.•••> Subject: FWD from Anti-Intervention Network [the following is forwarded from Vietnam Veterans Against the War A-I and the Anti-Intervention Network.] Anti-Intervention Network and Friends, A number of cities across the country have emergency response actions in place should the U.S. attack Iraq in the near future. Please send info if you know of additional actions in your area. We ecourage EVERYONE to respond in some way, no matter how small. Your local action CAN have a significant impact as part of a larger national response. (One idea for a small group is holding or hanging banners from freeway bridges at rush hour.) The most recent action additions are Philadelphia, PA; Portland, OR, Ann Arbor, MI; Hartford, Conn; and Los Angeles, CA. There's also a change in the Burlington, VT action from the day of to the day after. Thanks for your quick responses about actions in your areas. Let's keep these plans in place far into the future and continue to popularize them so we'll be ready WHENEVER and WHEREVER the U.S. strikes--even if they choose to back off this time. Please send info if you know of additional actions in your area. PHILADELPHIA, PA Day after attack noon--nonviolence vigil Philadelphia City Hall (west side, 15th & Market 610-544-1818 Brandywine Peace Community ANN ARBOR, MI Demonstrate the "day after" a military attack, at 5 pm at the Liberty and 5th Federal Building, if the "day after" is a weekday, or at 12 noon, if the "day after" is a weekend. HARTORD, CONNECTICUT The day after attack 11:30-12:30 at the Federal Building 457 Main Street, Hartford Tim Craine, Committee to Oppose Gulf War II •••@••.••• LOS ANGELES, CA Day of attack 5pm Westwood Federal Bldg 213-487-2368 International Action Center SAN JOSE, CA Day after attack 5pm Federal Bldg (San Carlos & 2nd St) Coalition to Lift Iraq Sanctions 408-297-2299, 650-493-9044, 408-428-7379 SAN FRANCISCO, CA Day after attack 5pm at Market & Powell 415-821-6545 International Action Center BURLINGTON, VERMONT Day AFTER attack 12 noon Federal Bldg (Pearl St & Elmwood) Instant Anti-War Coalition If you live near UVM, meet at the Royall Tyler steps at 11:15 to walk to Fed Bldg. WASHINGTON DC Day of/Day after attack first 5pm after U.S. attack at the White House (16th St & Pennsylvania Ave NW--on the sidewalk) International Action Center 202-588-1205 TUCSON, ARIZONA Day of attack (Day after if news breaks after 12 noon) 4:30 pm Tucson Federal Bldg (also weekly vigils to end the sanctions every Thurs 4:30-5:30 at Fed Bldg) 520-323-8697 Nuclear Resister CHICAGO Day of attack 4:30 pm Federal Bldg, Adams & Dearborn 312-641-5151 8th Day Center for Justice NEW YORK organizing meeting Nov 16, 6:30 pm at A.J. Muste Institute 339 Lafayette, 3rd Floor (East Village at Bleeker & Lafayette) BOSTON Day after attack 4:30 pm at Park Street T-Stop The Campaign for the Iraqi People SEATTLE Day AFTER any U.S. attack on any country 5pm Federal Bldg (2nd & Marion) Citizens Concerned for the People of Iraq, Communities Against U.S. Military Aggression 206-789-5565 GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA Day of Attack 4:30 pm at 13th & University bring signs & black arm bands ORLANDO, FLORIDA emergency response meetings every Wed at 10pm front lawn of Rollins College (1000 Holt Ave) 407-987-6943 CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE Day of/Day after attack 6pm at State House Plaza (weekly vigils against the sanctions at same location every Wed at noon) 603-228-0559 PORTLAND, OREGON Demonstrate 4:00 pm-6:00 pm on the day of the attack (the next day if bombing begins after 4:00 p.m.) Federal Building, SW 3rd and Jefferson. Contact: Peace and Justice Works, (503) 236-3065. (503) 236-3065 (Office) •••@••.••• http://www.rdrop.com/~pjw/Iraq.html U.S. HANDS OFF IRAQ! END THE SANCTIONS NOW! NO FURTHER ATTACKS ON OUR IRAQI SISTERS AND BROTHERS! _________________________________ Refuse & Resist! - 305 Madison Avenue #1166 - New York, NY 10165 voice: 212-713-5657 - email: •••@••.••• - http://www.calyx.com/~refuse for subscribe/unsubscribe info about rnr_announce, send the email message INFO RNR_ANNOUNCE to: •••@••.•••
