!!!US VETERANS TO GO TO IRAQ TO REBUILD WATER-TREATMENT FACILITIES!!!
United States military Veterans will go to Iraq to help rebuild water treatment facilities that were either destroyed by U.S. and British bombers, or rendered inoperable by the allies-led economic sanctions.
Veterans for Peace, Inc., a non-profit educational and humanitarian organization with a long record of accomplishments since its creation in 1985, is proud to launch The Iraq Water Project. Veterans for Peace,Inc. is an organization based in Washington, DC that holds 81 chapters nationwide as well as several international affiliations. It is an accredited NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) with the United Nations through their Department of Public Information. Waterborne diseases account for most of the child fatalities caused by sanctions (at least 4,000 per month under the age of 5 years old). Under The Iraq Water Project, Veterans for Peace (VFP) will restore water-cleansing capabilities and provide 10 years of maintenance to four water-treatment facilities located in a suburb of Basrah (a major city in the southeast) called Abul Khasib. This area has been ravaged by 2 wars, sanctions, and ongoing bombings. Furthermore, it has been virtually poisoned by the aftereffects of depleted uranium weapons and ammunition use. The population in the region that will be serviced by The Iraq Water Project totals between 65,000-70,000 people. Funds to be raised for renovation of these four water treatment plants are $125,000, total.
In an unprecedented effort to further expose the devastating effects of US-led sanctions on Iraq, two teams of former US service people-Viet Nam, Korean War, and WW II veterans, as well as many Gulf War veterans-will enter Iraq. They then will physically help rebuild these four water facilities. It is the intent of The Iraq Water Project for the public to see US service veterans working alongside Iraqi engineers. The first team of veterans is scheduled to depart the US on October 3rd. Team One will repair the facilities at Labanni. The team of 18 persons are ready to go with all arrangements in place. We will return October 18th. We are searching for volunteers for our 2nd Team, currently being planned for the Spring of 2001. Would you be interested in working in Basrah for two weeks next year? One does not need to be a veteran to go, all peace activists welcome.
The Iraq Water Project is a partnership with LIFE for Relief and Development, another non-profit organization. LIFE is the only relief organization to have dual permission from both the Iraqi government and the US Treasury Department, to do relief work in Iraq. It is LIFE who has worked out the details, and logistics inside Iraq.
The project is led by Co-Chairperson Fredy Champagne; VFP Board of Directors member and Viet Nam veteran, and Co-Chairperson Edilith Eckart, a noted longtime peace activist and a long-standing member of VFP's Board of Directors. The Project Coordinator for The Iraq Water Project is accomplished New York \City Playwright Michael John Carley, VFP's United Nations NGO Representative. since 1991. Michael John Carley mjcarley@aol.com Phone: 718.398.5839
For those that wish to support us in this endeavor, you may write for more information to the address below, or you may log onto: http://www.humboldt.net/~veterans/Chapter22/IraqWP.htm/ . Please consider helping us with a donation for this important cause. Send your tax-deductible checks payable to VFP Iraq Water Project, and mail to P O Box 532, Bayside, CA 95524. Thank you.
Contact: Fredy Champagne, Co-Chair, Iraq Water Project, P O Box 532, Bayside, CA. 95524 Ph/Fax 707.943.1874 Member, Veterans for Peace, Inc. Board of Directors http://www.veteransforpeace.org> Founder, Veterans - Viet Nam Restoration Project Sherry Champagne Co-Founder Veterans - Viet Nam Restoration Project ; member of VFP Ch. 022 Fredy and Sherry Champagne Founders of Vietnam Friends http://www.monitor.net/~jwtmls/v/
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