VIDEO REVIEW: AN ORGANIZING TOOL AGAINST U.S. BOMBINGS
"Eyewitness Sudan," 28 minutes, People's Video Network, $20 individuals, $50 institutions. PVN, 39 W. 14 St., #206, N.Y., NY 10011. Add $4/tape S&H. To order this video, go to: People's Video Network (no credit cards). To order with a credit card go to
By John Parker
One day an episode of the game show Jeopardy will ask: Which president used children as military targets?
In Iraq about 5,000 children die monthly as a direct result of U.S. bombings and President Bill Clinton's refusal to lift the murderous sanctions. And now in Kosovo, Yugoslavia, residents are reporting that two elementary schools were just hit and burned to the ground by U.S. bombers.
And there was the cruise missile bombing of a pharmaceutical plant in Sudan last Aug. 20.
Even though members of his own administration admitted the deceit of U.S. claims that the Al Shifa plant was making chemical weapons, Clinton has yet to pay compensation or even make an apology. It is estimated that 10,000 African children will die from easily treatable diseases like malaria because of the bombing and U.S.-inspired sanctions on Sudan.
Over 16 Tomahawk cruise missiles destroyed that country's primary means for fighting malaria and other life- threatening diseases, while also directly killing and burning several people at the plant site.
Of course, the children don't have to die. If the U.S. government would simply pay to replace the medicine and rebuild the pharmaceutical plant that provided 90 percent of the most critical medicine in Sudan, the human crisis could be averted. But that's not what the banks and corporate interests put Clinton in office to do.
And once the smoke clears in Kosovo, the lies about U.S. humanitarian motives there will no longer be able to hide the real imperialist goals of domination and profit. But before that happens, thousands of people could be murdered.
That's why it's so important to expose these U.S. wars of aggression and build a movement among working people here to stop them.
The video "Eyewitness Sudan" helps do that. Footage taken by a fact-finding delegation led by Ramsey Clark shows the unmistakable reality: that the Al Shifa plant, known as the "pride of Africa," supplied the most basic medical and veterinary needs for Sudan and other African countries and was not a weapons factory.
The delegation meets with health officials who provide documents and other evidence about the nature of the plant. One sees a UN contract for medicine.
Recently, another delegation traveled to Sudan to gather evidence for a lawsuit against the U.S. The head of Boston University's chemistry department, accompanied by scientists and chemists, announced the group's conclusion that there was no chemical weapons production at Al Shifa. The group's charge that the administration lied is weighty since it comes from a law firm with close ties to the government.
The video also shows the Sudanese people's strength and determination despite U.S. attempts to degrade and demoralize them and discourage their government's independent path.
This video not only documents the cowardly and genocidal nature of the U.S. bombing; it also makes us realize that nothing can break the will of a people determined to live independent from U.S. and European domination. It is a good organizing tool against Washington's latest crusade for power, oil and domination.
To order this video, go to: People's Video Network (no credit cards). To order with a credit card go to
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