BAGHDAD--Opposing any new attacks on Iraq and calling for
an immediate end to the lethal siege against Iraqi civilians,
members of the eleventh Voices in the Wilderness delegation
established a "peace camp" outside of the United Nations building
in Baghdad today. Delegation members, holding signs such as
"Use Words not weapons," plan to be joined by members
of the Italian organization Bridges to Baghdad. CPT is a member of
Voices in the Wilderness and has frequently sent participants
with delegations to Iraq.

Calling for a peaceful resolution to the current political
crisis over weapons inspections and an end to the economic
sanctions against Iraq, Kathy Kelly said "in the name of
the million Iraqi civilians who have already died
because of UN/US sanctions, we urge the US and the UN
to choose dialogue rather than more destruction." Kelly,
who has traveled to Iraq five times in in the past two years,
is a co-founder of Voices in the Wilderness, which
has sent eleven delegations to Iraq since January 1996
in public defiance of the US/UN sanctions, delivering
medicine and medical supplies to families and children in
Iraqi hospitals.

Intended to eliminate weapons of mass destruction in Iraq,
the sanctions have instead caused dramatic increases in malnutrition,
starvation and mortality rates by preventing importation
of adequate food and medicine and forbidding Iraqis the
equipment needed to repair their water, sanitation and medical
infrastructures. According to UNICEF, an estimated 4,500
children under the age of five die each month as a result
of the sanctions.

"The suffering endured by Iraqi civilians today would only be
worsened by another military attack," said delegation member Richard
McDowell "The situation in Iraqi hospitals, already critical,
would be unimaginable in the event of more bombing."

Participants in the "peace camp" plan to remain in place u
ntil a peaceful solution has been reached.