[PEN-L:3806] End Iraq Sanctions NYT Signature Ad (fwd)

["John P. Lacny" <jplst15+@xxxxxxxx>]

	There's already an "editorial submission" for nationwide student
newspapers; now there's this New York Times ad campaign.  Read on;
naturally there's no "enclosed envelope" with this e-mail, so if you sign,
you'll have to send it in a real envelope, or I suppose you could just
contact these people at the e-mail listed below.

	John Lacny

---------- Forwarded message ----------
>>>Please sign on, distribute, post, announce:
>>>
>>>Available at http://www.endiraqsanctions.com
>>>
>>>Advisory Board
>>>
>>>Noam Chomsky
>>>MIT
>>>
>>>Howard Zinn
>>>Boston University
>>>
>>>Edward W. Said
>>>Columbia University
>>>
>>>Robert Jensen
>>>University of Texas at Austin
>>>
>>>William Keach
>>>Brown University
>>>
>>>Ad Coordinator:
>>>Sharon Smith
>>>
>>>
>>>February 3, 1999
>>>
>>>Dear Friend,
>>>
>>>A growing chorus of people, in this country and around the world, are
>>>demanding an end to the murderous sanctions against Iraq, which are a
>>>direct result of U.S. government policy. The sanctions have taken a
>>>staggering toll among Iraqi civilians-especially the sick, the elderly and,
>>>above all, children under the age of 5.
>>>
>>>Here in the U.S., the mainstream media is finally giving some attention to
>>>the deadly effects of the sanctions. But much more is needed. Most people
>>>in this country have little or no knowledge of the human suffering that is
>>>being inflicted by our government, in our name.
>>>
>>>We have initiated a campaign to place a full-page signature ad in the New
>>>York Times. We believe that such an ad can play an important part in giving
>>>voice to the growing opposition to the sanctions against the Iraqi people.
>>>
>>>The purpose of this letter is to ask you to sign on to the signature ad,
>>>which will appear in the New York Times within the next six weeks. We also
>>>ask that, if at all possible, you enclose a contibution to help finance it.
>>>As you may imagine, the ad will cost a great deal of money-$34,000. But it
>>>will allow us to reach the widest possible audience with the facts about
>>>the sanctions.
>>>
>>>We have enclosed the text of the ad as it will appear. Please fill out the
>>>form below and return it to us in the enclosed envelope at your earliest
>>>convenience. We are certain that you share our sense of urgency to place
>>>this ad as quickly as possible.
>>>
>>>If you add your name, we will contact you to let you know when to look for
>>>the signature ad.
>>>
>>>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>> _____  Yes, add my name to the New York Times signature ad:
>>>
>>>Name/Title _______________________________________
>>>Organization* _____________________________________
>>>Mailing Address____________________________________
>>>________________________________________________
>>>Telephone _________________ E-Mail _________________
>>>
>>>_____  I want to help finance the ad. Enclosed is a check for:
>>>
>>>$50____   $100____  $500____  $1,000____  Other_____
>>>
>>>Please make checks payable to the New York Times and mail to:
>>>
>>>End the Sanctions Against Iraq Signature Ad Campaign
>>>P.O. Box 16085
>>>Chicago IL 60616
>>>v 773-665-8695
>>>f 773-665-9651
>>>
>>>e endsanctions@xxxxxxxxxxx
>>>
>>>*Organizations are listed for identification purposes only.
>>>
>>>
>>>Sanctions ARE Weapons of Mass Destruction
>>>
>>>We the undersigned call upon the United States government to end all
>>>sanctions against the people of Iraq.
>>>
>>>        At the end of 1998, the United States once again rained bombs on
>>>the people of Iraq. But even when the bombs stop falling, the U.S. war
>>>against the people of Iraq continues-through the United Nations harsh
>>>sanctions on Iraq, which are the direct result of U.S. policy.
>>>        This month, U.S. policy will kill 4,500 Iraqi children under the
>>>age of 5, according to United Nations studies, just as it did last month
>>>and the month before that all the way back to 1991. Since the end of the
>>>Gulf War, more than a million Iraqis have died as a direct result of the UN
>>>sanctions on Iraq.
>>>To oppose the sanctions is not equivalent to supporting the regime of
>>>Saddam Hussein. To oppose the sanctions is to support the Iraqi people.
>>>Saddam Hussein is a murderous dictator, who promotes those who are loyal to
>>>him and kills all those who voice opposition to his regime. But throughout
>>>the 1980s, when it suited U.S. strategic interests in the Middle East, the
>>>U.S. government was more than willing to ignore Saddam Hussein's brutality.
>>>In fact, U.S. and European companies provided Iraq with materials used to
>>>produce Saddam Hussein's "weapons of mass destruction." Moreover, the
>>>sanctions have not affected the lifestyle of Saddam Hussein or his inner
>>>circle. Food and medicine are available for those who can afford it. The
>>>sanctions hurt only the Iraqi people.
>>>        The sanctions are weapons of mass destruction. When a UN
>>>inspections team visited Iraq to survey the damage from the Gulf War in
>>>March 1991, it concluded that the bombing has reduced Iraq to a
>>>"pre-industrial age." The team said at that time that if the sanctions were
>>>not lifted, the country faced "immediate catastrophe."  Yet the sanctions
>>>have continued for the last seven years, preventing Iraq from obtaining the
>>>hard currency to buy basic food stuffs and medicines-or to rebuild its
>>>infrastructure. The oil-for-food deal that allows Iraq to sell $5.2 billion
>>>of its oil every six months has had only marginal effects. The United
>>>Nations takes one-third of all oil revenues for war reparations and its own
>>>expenses. The oil-for-food program does not generate enough money to feed
>>>adequately a population of 22 million. Raising the ceiling would not help.
>>>The refineries were bombed during the war and need to be rebuilt-even now,
>>>Iraq is unable to produce all the oil it is allowed to. In October, Denis
>>>Halliday, the UN coordinator for humanitarian aid to Iraq, resigned in
>>>protest, arguing that the sanctions "are starving to death 6,000 Iraqi
>>>infants every month, ignoring the human rights of ordinary Iraqis and
>>>turning a whole generation against the West."
>>>        The sanctions also prevent Iraq from importing many basic
>>>necessities. Most pesticides and fertilizer are banned because of their
>>>potential military use. Raw sewage is pumped continuously into water that
>>>people end up drinking because Iraq's water treatment plants were blown up
>>>by US bombs in 1991-and most have never been repaired. Yet chlorine is
>>>banned under the sanctions because it also could be of military use.
>>>Typhoid, dysentery and cholera have reached epidemic proportions. Farid
>>>Zarif, deputy director of the UN humanitarian aid program in Baghdad,
>>>argued recently, "We are told that pencils are forbidden because carbon
>>>could be extracted from them that might be used to coat airplanes and make
>>>them invisible to radar. I am not a military expert, but I find it very
>>>disturbing that because of this objection, we cannot give pencils to Iraqi
>>>schoolchildren."
>>>        For the past several years, individuals and groups have been
>>>delivering medicine and other supplies to Iraq in defiance of the U.S.
>>>blockade. Now, members of one of those groups, Chicago-based Voices in the
>>>Wilderness, have been threatened with massive fines by the federal
>>>government for "exportation of donated goods, including medical supplies
>>>and toys, to Iraq absent specific prior authorization." Our government is
>>>harassing a peace group that takes medicine and toys to dying children: we
>>>owe these courageous activists our support.
>>>        This is not foreign policy-it is state-sanctioned mass murder. The
>>>Iraqi people are suffering because of the actions of both the Iraqi and
>>>U.S. governments, but our moral responsibility lies here in the United
>>>States. If we remain silent, we are condoning a genocide that is being
>>>perpetrated in the name of peace in the Middle East, a mass slaughter that
>>>is being perpetrated in our name.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>Anthony Arnove
>>>Editor
>>>South End Press
>>>7 Brookline Street #1
>>>Cambridge MA 02139-4146
>>>v 617-547-4002
>>>f 617-547-1333