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COMPASSION IRAQ COALITION
PEACE WALK TO BAGHDAD
For Immediate Release—May 16, 2002
AMERICANS PLAN ‘WALK FOR PEACE’ ACROSS IRAQ DESERT
Sanctions-Defying Walk To Raise Funds For Cancer-Stricken Iraqi Children
“It’s Time To End The War Against The Iraqi People—Not Escalate It”
Atlanta—On May 22nd, sixteen Americans will journey to Iraq to begin a six
day walk across the desert to dramatize the need for the US and the
international community to ‘go the extra mile’ in averting the all-out war
threatened by the Bush Administration. “The 23 million people of Iraq have
suffered cruelly for a dozen years under US bombing and sanctions. It is
time to end this failed policy, not to start a new war,” says Dr. James. E.
Jennings of the Compassion Iraq Coalition, which is organizing the Walk for
Peace. “Washington readily spends millions on defense, but not one cent for
diplomacy. Why not talk?”
The Walk begins May 24th when the delegation will cross the desert into
Iraq at the Jordanian border carrying signs calling for an end to the
sanctions. For the next six days they will walk from the Euphrates River to
Baghdad, stopping to meet and talk with people in the towns of Rutba, Ramadi
and Falluja. Each walker has received pledges for every mile walked, with
proceeds going to the Pediatric Oncology ward at the Basra Children’s
Hospital. According to press reports, the Basra region has experienced a
242% increase in childhood cancers and leukemia that many experts link to
depleted uranium (DU) contamination resulting from US bombing during the
Gulf War.
-more-
page 2
PEACE WALK to Baghdad
The Compassion Iraq Coalition is comprised of volunteers from a dozen US
cities, including Seattle, Denver, Chicago, Atlanta, Washington,
Philadelphia, New York and Boston. The PEACE WALK is co-led by Jennings
and Kathy Kelly, a Coordinator of Voices in the Wilderness U.S. Jennings,
President of Conscience International, led the 2001 Baghdad Airlift, the
first American civilian delegation to fly to Iraq in defiance of the US/UK
imposed so-called “No-Fly Zone.” Kelly is widely known as a leader of the
anti-sanctions movement and has led several humanitarian missions to Iraq.
-end-
CONTACT: Compassion Iraq Coalition
After May 17th: Jennifer Horan, jenniferhoran22@hotmail.com
Cell 617-784-1785
OR
After May 22: Voices in the Wilderness Office: info@vitw.org
773-784-8065
For additional sanctions-related information go to:
http://www.nonviolence.org/vitw
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