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Breaking News from America's Progressive Community... Latest
Releases
The press releases posted here have been provided to NewsCenter by the one of the many progressive organizations we have selected to participate. If you would like more information about this press release, you should contact the organization directly. |
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| JANUARY
12, 1999 7:12 PM FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: International Action Center Deirdre Sinnott, Sarah Sloan 212-633-6646 |
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| Anti-War Activists On Alert For New U.S. Bombing Campaign Of Iraq | ||||
| NEW
YORK
- January 12 - "We condemn the plans by the Clinton Administration and the Pentagon
for a new massive sustained bombing campaign of Iraq which is likely to kill more than 10,000 people," stated Sara Flounders of the
International Action Center.
The plans for a new bombing campaign that would last several weeks have been made public in recent days by various U.S. wire services. "The Iraqi government has announced that thousands of civilians died in the bombing between December 16 and December 19. The Pentagon estimates that 2,000 Iraqi soldiers died and is silent about civilians casualties. But we know the Pentagon estimates in mid-November of likely Iraqi casualties from a U.S. bombing that was narrowly averted then was in the range of 10,000. The U.S. government has no right to bomb and kill Iraqi people," Flounders said. The International Action Center is alerting anti-war activists for the need to prepare demonstrations and rallies in opposition to any new acts of aggression. "The U.S. bombings of Iraq are a criminal act," stated Ramsey Clark, former U.S. Attorney General. "They are part of a larger pattern of criminal conduct against the people of Iraq. Even without bombing, the U.S.-imposed economic sanctions take the lives of 6,000 Iraqis each and every month, most of them children," Clark asserted. In recent days, the U.S. government has finally admitted that it has manipulated the UN weapons inspections to carry out intelligence gathering by the CIA that was then used to help Pentagon planners map bombing targets in the December 16-19 attack. More than 1,000 bombs and cruise missiles were dropped on Baghdad, Basra, and other Iraqi cities. According to a UN assessment, the U.S./British bombing in December destroyed or damaged 12 hospitals, a granary, a huge rice storage center in Baghdad, the principal oil-refining factory used for Iraq's domestic consumption, and other vital elements of Iraq's economic infrastructure necessary to sustain civilian life. "This shows a clear and intentional targeting of the civilian infrastructure of Iraq. The people of the world, especially the hundreds of millions in the Middle East, hold the U.S. government responsible for the mass suffering visited on the Iraqi people from sanctions and military bombings. A new bombing campaign, while it will inflict immense human suffering, will backfire in the face of those who carry out this criminal policy. Militant demonstrations and rebellions are the likely outcome throughout the region," Flounders said. --30-- |
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