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> > Attached below is a resolution on Iraq recently passed 7-1 by the >Ann Arbor (MI) City Council. It differs from previous resolutions >(including one passed in Ann Arbor on 4/5/99) in making arguments related >to economics and military spending in general. If you would like to use >it, please feel free to cut and paste as you see fit for your local >situation. There is also attached an Op-Ed which expands on some of the >issues raised in the resolution, particularly related to defining the >sanctions issue as a LOCAL issue for American communities. > > There is also available a 10-page packet of background information, >outlining the situation in Iraq in a concise fashion, which was submitted >to Council in support of the resolution. It contains brief descriptions >and numerous quotes from those involved in the sanctions process. If you >would like a copy, please reply and say "Send background packet". > > To assist in modifying the resolution and the Op-Ed for your >community, you may wish to consult the following sources: > > 1) Economic output: ><www.usmayors.org/citiesdrivetheeconomy/report2000.pdf> (pp.23-33). The >economic output of Iraq is estimated to be $7.2 billion. You will be able >to find your local metropolitan area in this list. > > 2) Tax-related information: ><www.census.gov/prod/www/statistical-abstract-us.html> (on-line version of >the Statistical Abstract of the United States) and ><www.irs.gov/tax_stats/index.html>. To determine how much your local >community pays in income tax, you may wish to use an IRS document entitled >ZIP Code Area Data (for 1997), due out this summer of 2000 (NOTE: I spent 3 >hours Friday calling various IRS numbers trying to track down the '97 >edition--as far as I can tell, it doesn't yet exist, though it's on the IRS >website. Go figure...). A previous document using 1991 data can be found >at any official Government Document Library (your local library can tell >you where the closest one is). Often "State IRS" offices and local >Chambers of Commerce can also supply data on federal taxes paid by local >individuals and businesses. We have found that putting the amount spent >per local citizen for military activities to be a very powerful argument. > > 3) Percentage of income tax spent on military activities (47.27% >for fiscal 2001): War Resisters League <www.nonviolence.org/wrl>. > > 4) US leading the world: a) Statistical Abstract (above), b) >Entering the 21st Century--World Development Report 1999/2000, c) We're >Number One: Where America Stands--and Falls--in the New World Order by >Andrew L. Shapiro, Vintage NY, 1992. > > If you have any questions, or would like assistance in modifying >the information below for your local community, please contact me by email ><wthomson@umich.edu> or phone (734-662-2216). > >Peace, > Bill > >**************************************************************************** >************** >A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ANN ARBOR URGING IMMEDIATE >LIFTING OF ECONOMIC SANCTIONS AGAINST IRAQ > >Passed July 17, 2000 > >WHEREAS, August 6, 2000 marks the end of a decade of economic sanctions >against the people of Iraq, and > >WHEREAS, the United Nations reports that these sanctions have resulted in >the deaths of at least one million citizens of Iraq, including at least >500,000 children under the age of 5, and > >WHEREAS, these sanctions prevent Iraq from rebuilding its civilian >infrastructure and receiving much needed medical supplies and other >essential material, and > >WHEREAS, the economic output of Iraq, with a population of 24 million, has >been reduced through sanctions to less than one-half of the economic output >of metropolitan Ann Arbor, and > >WHEREAS, Richard Butler, former United Nations Chief Weapons Inspector, has >stated that "I deeply believe that sanctions as now applied to Iraq have >been utterly counterproductive for ...disarmament purpose[s]", and former >United Nations Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter has confirmed that "...Iraq >has been disarmed", and > >WHEREAS, Denis Halliday, former United Nations Assistant Secretary General >and initial Director of the Iraq Oil-for-Food Program, his successor as >Director, Hans Sponeck, and Jutta Burghardt, head of the United Nations >World Food Program in Iraq, have each resigned their positions in protest >over the effects of the sanctions on the population of Iraq, and > >WHEREAS, President Bill Clinton stated on March 21, 2000, "I think that the >targeting of innocent civilians is the worst thing about modern conflicts >today. And the extent to which more and more people seem to believe it is >legitimate to target innocent civilians to reach their larger political >goals, I think that's something that has to be resisted at every turn.", and > >WHEREAS, on April 5, 1999, the City Council of Ann Arbor unanimously >resolved that "We commend his [Bishop Thomas Gumbleton's] challenge to the >genocidal policy of sanctions and join him in urging the immediate end to >this policy", and notes that since that date over 70,000 additional Iraqi >children under the age of five have perished as a result of the sanctions, and > >WHEREAS, since December 20, 1998, more than 12,000 sorties have been flown >against Iraq in the US/UK self-declared "no fly zones", at a cost to >American taxpayers of one billion dollars annually (a sum sufficient to >place an additional teacher or social worker in every middle and high >school in the United States), and > >WHEREAS, the residents and businesses of Ann Arbor through income tax >payments contribute over $380,000,000 annually to the cost of present and >past military-related activities (over $3,500 per capita), an amount 25% >greater than the annual city and school budgets combined, and > >WHEREAS, on April 16, 1953, former President Dwight Eisenhower noted that >"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, >signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not >fed, those who are cold and not clothed." > >NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of Ann Arbor >that it again urges the immediate lifting of economic sanctions against >Iraq, the rebuilding of the Iraqi infrastructure (such as water >purification, sewage treatment facilities and agricultural irrigation), and >the allowing of free flow of medical and humanitarian aid into Iraq without >threat of prosecution by United States or international authorities. > >BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we implore the citizens of the United States >and candidates for local, state and national public office to place on the >public agenda a thorough discussion and evaluation of domestic priorities >and foreign military expenditures. > >BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that copies of this resolution and support materials >be sent to the President, the Vice-President, the Secretary of State, the >Governor of Texas, other presidential candidates, the Michigan >Congressional Delegation, the Governor of Michigan, and local members of >the Michigan House and Senate. > > Aye: Sheldon, Hanna-Davies, Hieftje, Herrell, Higgins, Daley, Kolb > Nay: Upton > >**************************************************************************** >********* > >SANCTIONS AGAINST IRAQ--A LOCAL ISSUE >Bill Thomson >July 19, 2000 > > > Sunday, August 6, 2000--Hiroshima Day--will mark the passing of > ten years >of economic sanctions against Iraq. By now, many of the citizens of the >Ann Arbor area are aware of the basic facts of the situation. Reliable UN >agencies put the figure for children's deaths in Iraq at 500,000 >(additional unofficial estimates go as high as 1,000,000). (For comparison >purposes, the total number of American battle deaths in the Civil War, the >Spanish-American War, WWI, WWII, the Korean War and the Vietnamese War were >566,000.) A child dies from malnutrition, diarrhea, leukemia or curable >infectious disease every ten minutes. Thirteen percent of Iraqi infants do >not live to see their first birthday. Iraqi physicians, once the medical >leaders of the Arab world, have not been able to access medical texts and >journals since 1990. > > Individuals as politically disparate as former UN Weapons > Inspector Scott >Ritter; former head of the UN Weapons Inspection Team Richard Butler; >former heads of the UN Oil-for-Food Program Denis Halliday and Hans von >Sponeck; former head of the United Nations World Food Program in Iraq, Dr. >Jutta Burghardt; former Attorney General Ramsey Clark; Former President >Jimmy Carter; presidential candidate Pat Buchanan; and former candidate >Jack Kemp have all spoken out against the sanctions, citing their overall >failure and counterproductivity in the stated objective of removing Saddam >Hussein from office. > > But the reality is, why should we citizens of the Ann Arbor area pay >particular attention to an event thousands of miles away? It's a moral and >ethical issue, yes, but there are lots of trouble spots in the world, and >we can't be expected to pay attention to them all.... > > I once heard that the values of a culture could be determined > simply by >looking at the purpose of the tallest buildings. To that I would add--look >at the public budget. By those measures, it is clear that the values of >America are economic and military...no surprise there. So let me point out >some economic/military realities. > > The sanctions against Iraq, prior to the Gulf War one of the most > advanced >societies in the Middle East, have reduced the economic output of Iraq, a >country of twenty-four million people, to less than one-half of the >economic output of metropolitan Ann Arbor. In 1989 the Iraqi education >budget was $2.1 billion (supporting free education through graduate school >for any Iraqi citizen); ten years later it had been reduced to $229 >million. Literacy has gone from 90% to 66%. Of the $20 billion (over >three years) that has been provided through the Oil-for-Food Program, $7 >billion has gone for UN expenses and reparations, leaving $13 billion for >use by the Iraqi public. This figures out to about $190 per person >annually, or about 50c a day. Even in Iraq, it is impossible to live on >that sum. > > We are bombing Iraq about every third day, at a cost of > approximately one >billion dollars per year. For that figure we could put an additional >teacher or social worker in every middle and high school in the United >States. Unfortunately for our culture, there are no skyscraper schools. > > But it's really much, much worse than that. The situation in Iraq is >simply the most recent, and currently most egregious example of resources >wasted in the cause of American military power. Did you know, for example, >that the citizens and businesses of the City of Ann Arbor remit annually in >the form of federal income tax $380,000,000 to pay for current and past >military expenditures, or about $3500 per citizen? That figure is 25% >greater than the sum of the budget of the City of Ann Arbor and the budget >of the Ann Arbor Public Schools. Now that seems to me to be a local issue, >par excellence. Is it worth $3500 per year to you to pay for the bombing >of Iraq and Kosovo, the maintenance of the sanctions, the failure of >Star-Wars tests, etc.? Or would you rather use those funds to provide >better education for your children, more parks, fewer potholes, a house >payment fund, the vacation of a lifetime, daily Zingermans, or whatever >else $10 a day would buy? To change slightly a comment by former Senator >Everett Dirksen, "$10 here, $10 there; pretty soon we're talking about real >money." > > With respect to violence, both physical and economic, the United > States >leads the industrialized world (in term of rates per capita) in >billionaires, children living in poverty, wealth, income inequality, >population without health care, infant mortality, death of children under 5 >years old, highest paid athletes, lowest paid teachers, homelessness, >shortest life expectancy, executive salaries, pay inequality between >executives and average workers, percentage of population who have been >victim of a crime, murder rate, murder of children, firearm deaths, >reported rapes, percent of population incarcerated and capital punishment. >These are all local issues--can they be unrelated to government-supported >violence? Militarily, we lead the entire world in military aid to >developing countries, and our military spending exceeds that of the next >four countries (Russia, China, Japan and France) combined. > > On April 16, 1953, President Dwight Eisenhower warned us of the > growing >menace of the military-industrial complex and said, "Every gun that is >made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies, in the final >sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold >and not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is >spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes >of its children....This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. >Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of >iron." > > Finally, what is the message that our priority of military and > economic >violence is giving to our children? Is it a wonder that the child on the >playground, the student in the classroom or the teenager in the trench coat >mirrors those ideals? Is that a local issue? -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a discussion list run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq For removal from list, email soc-casi-discuss-request@lists.cam.ac.uk Full details of CASI's various lists can be found on the CASI website: http://welcome.to/casi