>> ________________________________________________
>> A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
>> http://www.ainfos.ca/
>> ________________________________________________
>>
>>We have been working on a call to action with Noam Chomsky, Edward Herman,
>>Edward Said, and Howard Zinn. Below is the final draft, which all four of
>>them have signed off on and given permission to distribute. Please publish,
>>broadcast, post or forward as widely as possible.
>>
>>Thanks, Bob Jensen
>>for the Austin, Texas, Campaign for a Just Peace in the Middle East
>>rjensen at uts.cc.utexas.edu
>>(512) 471-1990
>>-------------------------------------------------------
>>January 8, 1999
>>
>>A CALL TO ACTION ON SANCTIONS
>>AND THE U.S. WAR AGAINST THE PEOPLE OF IRAQ
>>
>>by Noam Chomsky, Edward Herman, Edward Said, and Howard Zinn
>>
>>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 harsh economic sanctions. This is a
>>call to action to end all the war.
>>
>>This month U.S. policy will kill 4,500 children under the age of 5 in Iraq,
>>according to UN 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, at least
>>hundreds of thousands -- maybe more than 1 million -- Iraqis have died as a
>>direct result of the UN sanctions on Iraq, which are a direct result of U.S.
>>policy.
>>
>>This is not foreign policy -- it is sanctioned mass-murder that is nearing
>>holocaust proportions. 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.
>>
>>The time has come for a call to action to people of conscience. We are past
>>the point where silence is passive consent -- when a crime reaches these
>>proportions, silence is complicity. There are several tasks ahead of us.
>>
>>First, we must organize and make this issue a priority, just as Americans
>>organized to stop the war in Vietnam, and to protest U.S. policies in
>>Central America and South Africa. We need a national campaign to lift the
>>sanctions.
>>
>>This kind of work has already begun, and those efforts need our help. 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, Voices in the Wilderness in Chicago, 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.
>>
>>Such a campaign is not equivalent to support for the regime of Saddam
>>Hussein. To oppose the sanctions is to support the Iraqi people. The 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, to counter the
>>hypocrisy and inhumanity of our leaders.
>>
>>Also, there has been a virtual embargo on news of the effects of the
>>sanctions in the mainstream media. For the most part, the American people do
>>not know what evil is being carried out in our name. We must continue to
>>apply pressure on journalists at all levels -- from our local papers to the
>>network news -- to cover this tragedy. We should overwhelm the major press
>>with letters to the editor and put pressure on journalists to cover the story.
>>
>>And we must realize this could be a long struggle. Preparations should begin
>>for all the possible strategies, including civil disobedience once a
>>sufficient number of people are committed. Direct action that forces a moral
>>accounting likely is going to be necessary.
>>
>>Whatever else we are doing, we should treat this as an emergency and put it
>>at the top of our agenda. Existing groups can work on the issue, new groups
>>may need to be formed, and national networks need to be built. A good
>>central source of information exists on the web at http://leb.net/IAC/.
>>
>>Without action by us, the horrors will go on, the children will continue to
>>die. We must appeal to the natural sympathies of the American people, who
>>will respond if they know what is happening. We must therefore bring this
>>issue, in every way we can, to national attention. The only way to avoid
>>complicity in this crime is to do everything we can, and much more than we
>>have been doing, to end the sanctions on Iraq. This issue must be discussed
>>in every household and every public forum across the country.
>>
>>===================================
>>
>>post this around (MichaelP)
>>
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