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PRESS RELEASE For Immediate Release Contact:Kathy Kelly September 16, 1998 Voices in the Wilderness 773-784-8065 Voices in the Wilderness Members Depart for Iraq Chicago -- Eight years of U.S. supported U.N. economic sanctions against Iraq have prompted four members of the Voices in the Wilderness campaign to travel to Iraq in deliberate and public violation of U.S. law. The U.N. Security Council insists on weapons experts certifying that Iraq has destroyed its long-range missiles and biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons, before it would consider lifting the sanctions. However, many fail to see that the sanctions themselves have become a weapon of mass destruction, claiming the lives of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians. As U.N. officials, including Mary Robinson, UN High Commissioner of Human Rights, have declared, the sanctions are imposed in flagrant violation of many international laws and provisions and in violation of the economic, social and cultural rights of the people. The Security Council recently voted to indefinitely suspend its sanctions reviews, while hundreds of children die each month of treatable diseases and malnutrition. The fifteenth delegation of Voices in the Wilderness will travel in defiance of a U.S. State Department travel ban and Treasury Office regulations which prohibits Americans from engaging in any transactions related to travel to and within Iraq. They risk penalties of 12 years in prison and over $1 million in fines. However, deeply concerned for the human rights of the Iraqi people, the members feel it necessary to challenge the sanctions, to witness the terrible results of U.S. policies, and to raise awareness about the enormous suffering endured by innocent civilians in Iraq. The delegation will depart Chicago on Thursday, September 17, carrying several thousand dollars worth of medical supplies and medical journals, which will be delivered directly to Iraqi hospitals. Members of the campaign advocate nonviolence as a means for social change and oppose the development, storage and use - in any country - of weapons of mass destruction, be they nuclear, chemical, biological or economic. Delegation members are: Charles Brown, a student from Bellingham, WA; Nancy Gust, a marketing consultant from Arlington, MA; Ken Hannaford-Ricardi, a social worker from Worcester, MA; and delegation leader Chuck Quilty of Rock Island, IL, a co-founder of Voices in the Wilderness, who has traveled five times to Iraq. Flight Information: LV O'Hare 9pm Thu Sept 17 Royal Jordanian FL 264 AR Amman 6:30pm Fri Sept 18 AR O'Hare Airport 7pm Thu Oct 1 RJ FL 263 (LV Amman 12:30pm) The delegation members will be available at the gate for interviews prior to departure starting at 5:30p.m. In Amman, they can be reached at Al Monzer Hotel at 462-9469. Voices in the Wilderness A Campaign to End the US/UN Economic Sanctions Against the People of Iraq 1460 West Carmen Ave. Chicago, IL 60640 ph:773-784-8065; f: 773-784-8837 email: kkelly@igc.apc.org -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a discussion list run by Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To be removed/added, email soc-casi-discuss-request@lists.cam.ac.uk, NOT the whole list. Archived at http://linux.clare.cam.ac.uk/~saw27/casi/discuss.html