We carry below three short articles on the tragic situation in Iraq, which continues to bleed from the sanctions imposed upon it by the United Nations since August 1990. The first article is a press statement by an American group called Voices in the Wilderness Campaign which has been campaigning against the sanctions and providing humanitarian assistance to the victims of the sanctions. The second and third articles are reports on the devastating effects of the sanctions on the weak and vulnerable, especially the children of Iraq. They witnessed worsening conditions, diminished hopes, and the agony of children near death, their pain unrelieved, who waste away in gruesome hospital conditions, bereft of medicines, pain relievers or the most basic supplies. Shrill heartless voices trade blaming accusations, but common sense tells us that anyone who prevents these sanctions from being lifted is directly responsible for the nightmare they perpetuate.
Democracy is based on information.
Sadly, many US people don t want to be informed. They want to be entertained. Violent, explosive horror on films is entertaining, but the cold, harsh facts of our warfare against the most vulnerable people in Iraq, the very old, the very sick and the very young this reality is censored, obscured, lest people begin to care. Pockets of non-violent resistance to the sanctions are forming in various parts of the world, but as yet there are no actions commensurate to the crimes being committed against Iraqi people. We write today to seek your continued assistance to help lift the terrible state of siege being imposed on Iraqi civilians and to remove the shroud of silence that surrounds the sanctions.