| WASHINGTON
- December 17 - BISHOP THOMAS
GUMBLETON, http://www.nonviolence.org/for
A Catholic Bishop from Detroit, Gumbleton has just returned from Iraq.
ERIK GUSTAFSON, epicenter@igc.org
A U.S. soldier during the Gulf War and now the executive director of the Education for Peace in Iraq Center, Gustafson
said: "The people of Iraq are not their government. Dictators are answerable to no one. And yet, it is the blood of innocent Iraqi
civilians that has already begun to flow."
KATHY BERGEN, kbergen@afsc.org
, http://www.afsc.org
A specialist on the Middle East for the American Friends Service Committee, Bergen said: "On the eve of momentous
religious holidays for all three Abrahamic faiths, the U.S. has taken actions that could, by the Clinton Administration's own
admission, result in the deaths of 10,000 Iraqi civilians, even in a `medium case scenario.' (Washington Post, Nov. 16)"
RANIA MASRI, rmasri@ncsu.edu
, http://www.leb.net/iac
Coordinator of the Iraq Action Coalition, Masri noted: "Bill Clinton last night claimed that without the sanctions, there
would be `less food for [the Iraqi] people.' In fact, the sanctions have been responsible for the deaths of hundreds of
thousands of Iraqis."
JON STRANGE, jonstrange@hotmail.com
At the historic "town hall" meeting in Columbus, Ohio, last February, Strange asked Secretary of State Albright about double
standards. She publicly promised that she would explain U.S. policy to him for "50 minutes" -- but to this day has declined to
do so. Strange said: "The administration bombed without any public debate."
JOHN QUIGLEY, quigley.2@osu.edu
Professor of Law at Ohio State University, Quigley said: "The U.S. bombing campaign against Iraq is a grave violation of
the U.N. Charter."
HUSSEIN IBISH, hibish@adc.org
, http://www.adc.org
The media director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Hussein said: "Contrary to U.S. official claims, Arab
governments have not backed these bombings. They know Iraq is not a military threat to the region and the Iraqi people have
suffered enough."
PHYLLIS BENNIS, pbennis@compuserve.com
,
http://www.foreignpolicy-infocus.org/ifmide.html
Author of "Calling the Shots: How Washington Dominates Today's U.N.," Bennis said: "For the U.S. to bomb without even
the appearance of Security Council discussion is unacceptable. Richard Butler made the decision to evacuate U.N. inspectors
without consulting the Security Council or the Secretary General. The U.S. wants the U.N. out of the way."
For a Washington Post profile of Denis Halliday, who recently
resigned as the head of the U.N.'s "oil-for-food" program, see:
http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-12/17/226l-1-21798-idx.html
For a time-line of U.S. statements about the sanctions on Iraq,
see: http://www.accuracy.org/iraq
###
|
