AS U.S. PROVOKES NEW CRISIS, SOLIDARITY GROUPS GATHER IN IRAQ

By Sarah Sloan of the International Action Center

Delegates from many nations, including a group from the United States led by former Attorney General Ramsey Clark, assembled in Iraq the second week in December to show solidarity with that besieged country. The occasion was the 50th anniversary of the signing of the United Nations' Universal Declaration on Human Rights.

It was just in time. The forces that are using sanctions to try to starve the Iraqi people into submission also recognized the significance of this date, and tried to grab the headlines.

First a top White House official voiced yet again the U.S. intention of overthrowing the Iraqi government. On the following day, Dec. 9, United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) weapons inspectors, who are very much under the control of U.S. and British imperialism, conducted a surprise visit to the Baghdad headquarters of the Baath Party, Iraq's ruling party.

When asked to present a list of items for which they were searching, they refused and left, but only after charging Iraq with obstructing their search for weapons of mass destruction.

The confrontation they created is now being used to further demonize Iraq. But it is U.S. weapons of mass destruction on ships and planes throughout the region that are poised to strike Iraq, and not vice versa.

A month ago, the U.S. pushed the level of tension with Baghdad to the limit, threatening to bomb at any time. International opposition stayed Washington's hand. This latest confrontation by UNSCOM not only paves the way for new bombing threats, but it diverts focus from the sanctions, the true weapon of mass destruction.

To refocus attention on the most vital issue of sanctions, the international solidarity conference on human rights was scheduled for Baghdad. On the evening of Dec. 6, 20 members of the second Iraq Sanctions Challenge boarded a plane in New York with $250,000 worth of life-saving medicine and headed to Amman, Jordan. They held a press conference and later left by bus for Baghdad, since all international flights are banned by the sanctions.

Led by Ramsey Clark and Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, the delegation includes representatives from the American Muslims for Global Peace and Justice and the International Action Center.

On Dec. 9, Clark was keynote speaker at the conference. He pointed out how "the governments of the rich nations, primarily the United States, England and France," dominated the wording of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which showed "little concern for economic, social and cultural rights."

But sanctions on countries like Cuba and Iraq, said Clark, violate even the political rights laid out in the Declaration. He called on the people of the U.S. to hold Washington accountable for its human rights violations. Bishop Gumbleton and Brian Becker of the International Action Center were also scheduled to speak.

Under U.S. law, the delegation's act of solidarity and compassion is considered a violation of the Trading with the Enemy Act. Delegates could face 12 years in prison and $1 million in fines, $250,000 of which could be imposed without a trial.

Voices in the Wilderness, another group that delivers medicine to Iraq in violation of the sanctions, was served with a U.S. Treasury Department notice on Dec. 8. The group is being fined $120,000, while four individuals are being fined between $10,000 and $12,000 each.

The Iraq Sanctions Challenge could have applied for a license to deliver the medicine, but chose not to. Brian Becker, coordinator of the Iraq Sanctions Challenge, explained why: "Sanctions are a genocidal and illegal policy that has killed over 1.6 million Iraqis. We refuse to be party to this genocide.

"This trip is a political act of international civil disobedience and of solidarity that defies U.S. imperialist policy. The medicine that we can deliver is only a drop in the bucket compared to the need. What we are really delivering is a message to the U.S. government that the sanctions must be lifted now."

The trip is a followup to the May 1998 Iraq Sanctions Challenge that took 84 people and $4 million worth of medicine to Iraq. That trip received extensive coverage in the Middle East and Europe, as well as within the U.S.

The book "Challenge to Genocide: Let Iraq Live" and the video "Let Iraq Live" both chronicle the May 1998 trip. They can be ordered from the International Action Center at (212) 633-6646.

Back to Iraq Sanctions Challenge December 1998

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