"Sanctions are the economic nuclear bomb." - Mairead Maguire, 1976 Nobel Peace Laureate, after a March 1999 visit to Iraq.
Dear Friends,
A local group of four of us will soon be heading to Iraq. At 12 noon on Monday, August 7th, we'll have a media send-off event at Steinbrueck Park (just north of Seattle's Pike Place Market). This is one day after Hiroshima Day --- which marks the deaths of over 125,000 Japanese civilians --- and it will be the first day of the 11th year of economic sanctions against Iraq --- marking the deaths of over 1,000,000 Iraqi civilians, half of them children under the age of five.
The following is a list of people who've agreed to be there to publicly violate U.S. sanctions law by giving us food and seeds, medical journals, pencils, and water purifiers to take to Iraq. They include a former governor, respected religious and political leaders, officers of a Nobel Laureate doctors organization, physicians, and other respected members of our community.
Joshua Donald Adam
Aldie Amundson
Dr. Bruce Amundson
Glen Anderson
Anthony Arnove, editor, South End Press
Ruth BellThomaz
Rosy Betz-Zall
The Rev. Bill Bichsel, Tacoma Catholic Worker
Betty Blakney
Dick Blakney, Interfaith Network of Concern for the People of Iraq
Sarah Blum
The Rev. John Boonstra, Executive Minister, Washington Association of Churches
Forrest Bouldry
Neil P. Boyd, DDS
Karen Brewer, Fairness Project, Washington State
Jean Buskin
Chris Caputo, Libertarian candidate for Washington State Auditor
Dr. Kevin Case
Dr. Mary Case
Eleanor Cho
Richard Clark
Brenda Collier
Janeen Cook
Judy E. Corcoran
Timothy Croll
Anna Crowley
Craig Crowley
Susan Crowley
Jonis Davis
Dr. Donna Denno
Bob DeWeese
Kris DeWeese
Stephanie Donich
Jim Douglass
Shelley Douglass
Ellen Eades, PA-C
The Rev. Dee Eisenhauer, Eagle Harbor Congregational United Church of Christ
Mary Evans
Dr. Roy Farrell
Martin Fleck
Nate Ford
Andrea Forster
Ken Freeland
Jamie Froyd
Andrew Fung
Michale Gabriel
Barbara G. Gallagher
Dr. Jim Gaudino
Glen Gersmehl, Exec. Dir., Lutheran Peace Fellowship
Joy Goldstein
Larry Gossett, King County Council
Joel Grus, Libertarian Party candidate for Congress, Washington District 7
Sara Guio
Erik Gustafson
Jeff Gustafson
Jim Hain
The Rev. Anne S. Hall, Co-Pastor, University Baptist Church
Ellen R. Hansen
Mary Hanson
Dr. Bob Haynes
Gerri Haynes, Vice Pres., Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility
Philip Heft
Dr. J. David Heywood
Percy Hilo
Wes Howard-Brook
Sister Jackie Hudson, OP, Dominican Peacemakers
Mary Hulse
The Rev. Peter Ilgenfritz, Minister, University Congregational United Church of Christ
Dr. Troy Jacobs
Dr. Evan Kanter, Pres., Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility
Al Kammerzell
D. Marian Karpoff
Fred Karpoff
Aaron Katz, Dir., Health Policy Analysis Program, University of Washington
Ilse Kluge
Dr. Wolfgang Kluge
Steven Kroon
Don Kunze
Dr. Tao Sheng Kwan-Gett
Andrea Langeland
Pat Lavelle
David Leisy
Linda Leisy
Jim Lindell
Joan Lindell
Paul Rogat Loeb, author, Soul of a Citizen
The Hon. Mike Lowry, former Governor of Washington State
Bev Ludwig
Karen Lutz
The Rev. Richard Lutz
Sister Katherine A. Markel
Kelly McCluskey, WWII DAV
Sister Louise McDonald
Charlotte B. McGrath, RN
Dr. James R. McGrath
Nan McMurry
Bernie Meyer, Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action
Dr. Charles Mock
Kathy Moore
Debra Morrison
Dr. Diane M. Morrison, Research Prof. of Social Welfare, University of Washington
Shirley Morrison
Terry Morrison
Marguerite Morrissey, CSJP
Jeff Moses
The Rev. Randall Mullins, Center for Contemplation and Nonviolence
Camilla Munson
John S. O'Connor
Willa O'Connor
John Ohta
Dr. Matt Oliva
Ryan Ollos
Linda Orlin, CSJP-A, Bishop Blanchet High School
Ann Pelo
The Rev. Tim Phillips, Co-Pastor, University Baptist Church
Dr. Thomas A. Preston
Marjorie Prince
Kathleen Pruitt, CSJP
Mary Margaret Pruitt
The Rev. Paul Pruitt, United Church of Christ
Raven
Donald Julian Read
Helen Wilpers Read
John M. Reinke
Jon Reinsch
Jan Richards, DVM
Dr. Beth Rivin, Co-Director, Northwest International Health Action Coalition
Barbara Z. Rofkar
Nichola M. Russell
Rosemary Russell
The Very Rev. Mike Ryan, Pastor, St. James Cathedral
Risa Sacks
Mary Savage
Tom Savage
Manu Saxena
Len Schreiner
Susan Segall, Dir., American Friends Service Committee PNW Region
Pam Shea
Bryan Shrader
The Rev. Dave Shull, Minister, University Congregational United Church of Christ
Leanne Skooglund-Hofford
Dr. David Sparling
Miriam Spencer, CSJP
Rabbi Scott Sperling, Temple De Hirsch Sinai
Tyrel Stendahl
Yve Susskind
Patrick J. Switzer
Joe Szwaja, Green Party candidate for Congress, Washington District 7
Dr. Kawsar Talaat
Mary Elynne Tappero
Christian Taylor
William J. Thomson, PhD
Constance Trowbridge
Pamela Tyler-Kroon
Charlotte Utting
Thomas Walker
Dr. Steve Wall, Asst. Prof. of Clinical Pediatrics, University of Chicago
Julie J. Wallace, Public Health - Seattle & King County
Brian E. Watson
The Rev. Ashlee Wiest-Laird, Seattle First Baptist Church
Davis Wilkins
Kathleen Williamson
Chris Yambor
Mike Yarrow, Organizer, Western Washington Fellowship of Reconciliation
Ruth Yarrow
Rita Zawaideh
The Rev. Greg Zimmer, United Methodist Church
Art Zoloth, PhD
(Organizations are listed for identification purposes only.)
Can you join the list? Whether or not you can be with us in person, adding your name is a public statement that you're willing to oppose and break an immoral law --- a law which withholds food, medicine, and safe drinking water from civilians in order to coerce a foreign government.
So far, over 30 Voices in the Wilderness delegations have traveled to Iraq, bringing medicine and other needed supplies in public violation of U.S. sanctions. We've been advised of the severe penalties, but so far only one delegation has received letters threatening fines, in December 1998, with no action since.
However, in response to the threats on us by our government, over 1200 people signed on as supporters of ours and as violators of U.S. sanctions law. You can read about the penalties and our responses at www.nonviolence.org/vitw/hearthevoices.html.
The more who’ll openly break this law --- and the more who can be there on Monday, August 7th to send us off --- the more likely we will reach the media and the general public, to awaken our conscience to what is happening in Iraq.
Philip Steger, who's traveling with us to Iraq, summed things up very simply in a front-page story of his local Lewis County newspaper. He said "To put somebody in jail for 12 years for feeding the hungry is essentially to call criminal anybody who obeys Christ."
Can you join us to help end these sanctions? To be added to the list, email or phone your name to us. For more information and an update of the list, please see our website.
In Peace,
Bert Sacks
(206)548-9566
Email: wwfor@connectexpress.com
Website: www.scn.org/ccpi
Last updated October 22, 2000.