----- Original Message ----- From: Rick Rozoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, August 15, 2000 6:50 AM Subject: [STOPNATO] Voices In The American Wilderness STOP NATO: �NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.COM http://www.ahram.org.eg/weekly/2000/494/re1.htm Al-Ahram Weekly (Egypt) 10 - 16 August 2000 Voices in the American wilderness By Salah Hameid Opponents of the UN sanctions against Iraq made their voices heard this week when they marked the 10th anniversary with demonstrations, hunger strikes and statements of condemnation. The US administration, which still insists that the embargo is a necessary strategy in its war against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, despite its devastating effects on the Iraqi people, was one of the main targets of the anti-sanctions protests. On Sunday, four Americans began a symbolic hunger strike outside the main UN office in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad to protest the continuation of sanctions. Kathy Kelly, from Voices in the Wilderness, a US-based anti-sanctions organisation, said the move was aimed at drawing international attention to the plight of millions of Iraqis who are suffering under the sanctions. "What we are doing is nothing compared to the sufferings of Iraqis," she said. Other capital cities of the world also witnessed symbolic actions and public events. In London, Dave Rolstone climbed part of the city's newly opened 450 feet high Millennium Wheel. In Washington, about 300 people led by the Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader ended a day of marches and rallying in Lafayette Park, opposite the White House, demanding an immediate end to the blockade, which they said only harms the Iraqi people and helps Saddam's regime. "This policy represents a massive injustice against Iraqi civilians and it must be ended now, not after Mr Clinton leaves office," Nader told the protesters. In the Jordanian capital Amman, some 200 activists from the opposition parties rallied Sunday at the UN offices urging their government to defy the sanctions. Reflecting increasing official frustration at the terrible impact of sanctions, Egypt's Foreign Minister Amr Moussa announced that the time had come to end the sanctions. The French government also criticised the blockade as having become "cruel, ineffective and dangerous." During talks in Moscow last week, the Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov told Iraq's Deputy Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz that his government firmly supports an early end to sanctions and is considering the resumption of flights with Iraq once other countries permit Russian planes to fly through their airspace. A child holds aloft a handmade placard and joins protest groups in Whitehall, central London, against the continued imposition of economic sanctions on Iraq (photo: AFP) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Internationally, the media have devoted column spaces and air time to detailing the crippling effects of the US-sponsored sanctions on ordinary Iraqis. Respectable world organisations, such as UNICEF and the World Food Organisation, have published scathing reports on the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Iraq as a result of the blockade. Yet, the Clinton administration is maintaining its hard-line stance, rebuffing all demands to end the 10-year embargo. Thomas Pickering, the State Department's under-secretary, repeated Washington's claim that President Hussein is responsible for the plight of his people. "This is not a UN problem; this is not a world community problem: this is an Iraqi government problem," he said. In a television interview broadcast internationally, Pickering said the UN supervised oil-for-food programme covers a wide range of goods, not just food and medicine. Without providing specific evidence, Pickering reiterated American charges that President Hussein was diverting income under the UN-sponsored oil-for food programme to his inner circle and storing supplies for his military. "If sanctions were lifted now it would open the floodgates for the rebuilding of President Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction. It would threaten the controls on the import of goods that could have a military use," he said. However, it is becoming clear after 10 years of tight sanctions the United States is losing support for its policy towards Iraq. Last year, France stopped its participation in the implementation of the no-fly zones over north and south Iraq -- a policy which many countries believe is not in line with UN resolutions. Nevertheless, US and British jets have continued to bomb daily what they describe as "military targets" but which are often innocent civilians. This week, France and Russia said they would seriously examine whether the air embargo imposed following Iraq's August 1990 invasion of Kuwait is part of the sanctions' resolutions. French and Italian non-governmental groups have announced they are considering chartering flights to Baghdad in defiance of the air embargo. Nevertheless, there is no prospect that the Clinton administration will soften its position on the embargo. The question is whether the mounting international pressure will make the next American president rethink US policy on Iraq. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! 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