>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >To: "International"<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > >Iraq Sanctions Challenge >39 West 14th St., #206 >New York, NY 10011 >Voice: 212-633-6646 >Fax: 212-633-2889 >Web page: www.iacenter.org >e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Contact: Deirdre Sinnott, > Kenneth MacLeish >(212) 633-6646 > >FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE > >IRAQI PEOPLE RESOLUTE AGAINST >ATTACKS ON THEIR SOVEREIGNTY > >January 19, 2000 � Delegates from the Iraq Sanctions >Challenge (ISC) report that the Iraqi people are firm in >their desire to resist further UN weapons inspections. >The UN Security Council has spent much of the past week >discussing Kofi Annan�s nomination of Swedish diplomat >and former UNSCOM chairman Rolf Ekeus to head up a new >inspection team in Iraq. > >Iraq�s Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz told members of >the ISC that Ekeus� nomination was �suggestive and >provocative.� > >�UNSCOM carried out spy operations on Iraq for the CIA in >the years after the Gulf War and used their �inspection� >mission as a cover for collecting target data for the >U.S. bombing campaign,� said Deirdre Sinnott of the >International Action Center. �The Security Council uses >Iraq�s supposed non-compliance with inspections as a >justification for continuing sanctions, but Ekeus� >appointment would be a blatant attack on Iraq�s >sovereignty.� > >Sara Flounders, co-director of the ISC said from Iraq >today, �While the U.S. tries to force the Security >Council to continue the sanctions, thousands of Iraqi >children die every week. We�ve seen it happening before >our very eyes.� > >The ISC delegates are in high spirits as they wrap up >their final day in Baghdad according to delegate Judi >Cheng. �We feel that the Challenge has been a success. It >is a wonderful expression of solidarity with the Iraqi >people, and it has encouraged all of us to redouble our >efforts in our side of the struggle against the sanctions >and the bombings,� she said. > >Delegates from the ISC visited an institute for the blind >in Baghdad today. Among the delegates was Ed Lewinson, >Professor Emeritus of History at Seton Hall University >and President of the Northern New Jersey chapter of the >National Federation of the Blind, who is making his third >trip to Iraq with the Sanctions Challenge. Professor >Lewinson said that since his first trip to Iraq it has >been one of his goals to meet with blind people in Iraq >and learn about conditions for them there. He intends to >continue traveling to Iraq until the sanctions are >lifted. �As Americans, we must not blind ourselves to the >effects of wrong-headed and destructive policies of the >U.S. government,� he wrote in his 1998 essay �A Blind >Person Goes to Iraq.� > >The ISC will return to New York, JFK Airport on January >21. > >To schedule an interview with the members of the >delegation, call the International Action Center at (212) >633-6646. > >For more information on the ISC and the UN sanctions, >please visit our Website at www.iacenter.orgs > --30-- > > >------- End of forwarded message ------- __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi ___________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________
