CPTNET
IRAQ: Report from Baghdad
by Kathy Kelly, Voices in the Wilderness
February 23, 1998

There is, a sense of relief here in Baghdad upon the
announcement of an agreement. It would seem that the decision on the part
of Secretary General Kofi Annan and President Saddam Hussein here to sign
a document for a peaceful resolution means that there won't be an
immediate bombardment. But I have been surprised at the skepticism people
feel. There is great admiration for the desire to use diplomacy on the part
of Kofi Annan and for his words today.

We were there when Kofi Annan drove into and out of the conference and you
could tell by the looks on the faces of him and the entourage surrounding
him that people felt positive. On the streets, there was relief blended
with a sense of skepticism, because the US fleet is still poised and ready
to fire. People feel that they have gotten a stay of execution, but the
executioner's blow might still fall on one of their family members or
friends or any individual with whom we talk.

We hope that every effort that was made to oppose military strikes against
Iraq will now be harnessed and galvanized into a concerted campaign to
stop these sanctions. There is a weapon of mass destruction in this
country--assuredly--and it is the sanctions. You cannot say that President
Saddam Hussein of Iraq has killed a million people. But you can say that the
United Nations/United States economic sanctions have done so.

Last week I held a woman in your arms who was sobbing because her baby her
baby was breathing its dying gasp. This was my experience last week at the
Al Mansour Hospital. This experience has been repeated by members of our
teams who fanned out to Basra, to Mosul, to Faruja and here in Baghdad. This
is the
truth that people in the United States need desperately to know. If we are
to have any democracy we've got to have all of the information. And a
crucial part of information is that these sanctions are that these
sanctions are constantly relentlessly killing children.

We have set up a peace encampment here in Baghdad across the street from
the United Nations headquarters. We have an orange tent bordered by panels
that have pictures drawn by children in Iraq. Children across Iraq have
drawn pictures of their experiences of the war. A lot of these kids have
lived under the experience of sanctions and war their entire lives. Some
of the older kids drew extremely moving pictures of regular average every
day life but with bombs falling down on the traffic. Others drew flowers
and birds and people doing their gardening with bombs dropping in the
background as well.

We also have large banners which say "Over 600,000 children have died.
Operation successful?" Another says: "Desert Storm + Economic Sanctions +
Thunder in the Desert = Desert Slaughter." We also have a sign that says:
"We support Kofi Annan's effort. Use words not weapons." And we felt very
good about being able to display these signs and banners. It's quite a
busy road, so people honk all of the time.

We see this encampment as a way for people to constantly try to offer a
window to people in their own countries to the reality that here in Iraq,
a nation of 23 million people, there are people just like us, people who
want to live.

(CPT is a supporter of Voices in the Wilderness.)