From: "C A Winter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Letter from Canada Date: Wed, 11 Dec 2002 22:13:48 +0000
Open Letter to the People of the United States of America. Dear Sisters, Brothers, Neighbours, Cousins, Friends: We are residents of Peterborough, Ontario, a medium-sized Canadian city. Like you, we are concerned about the threat of war which casts a huge shadow across the approaching season of peace and brotherhood. We worry about our young men and women who may be sent to serve in any conflict, and we feel premature grief for the families of those who will not return. We also grieve for the parents of little ones in Iraq who have lost precious children because of the sanctions which our countries continue to impose on that devastated land. We feel guilt that an epidemic of childhood cancers and terrible birth defects has been attributed to the l20 tons of Uranium-238 (D.U.) munitions used during the Gulf War,since most of that uranium originally came from Canada. It is never justified to punish the innocent. Certainly there can be no justification for killing 1/2 million helpless children because their country is dominated by a brutal dictator whom our nations supported in the past, even as he used weapons of mass destruction against Iranians and Kurds. Harper's Magazine, in its November 2002 issue, has called the sanctions "a weapon of mass destruction". They are crippling the middle class, which has always been the major stronghold of opposition to Hussein. People of Iraqi background in our community advise us that the most effective way to end the rule of Hussein (and any abusive leader who might succeed him) would be to end the sanctions, provide support to the Iraqi middle class and let the Iraqi people remove Hussein from power and determine their own future. At the beginning of the Gulf War, Prfesident Bush Sr. stated emphatically, "Our quarrel is not with the people of Iraq". Still we continue to cause the deaths of 3,000 children under five years of age a month. We invite you to join with us in asking our respective governments to bring an end to this slaughter of the innocent by lifting the sanctions and sending relief and medical supplies to save the lives of Iraq's dying children. Then we can begin the process of helping the inocent suffering civilians to rebuild their lives, reactivate the opposition which will topple the tyrant, and determine their own destiny by democratic means. We send you our best wishes for a New Year blessed with brotherhood and peace. Sincerely, Carol Winter and Members of Kawartha Ploughshares, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. Contacts: Carol Winter (705) 745-9l50 or Dr. Joyce Barrett (705) 743-024l.
