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Iraq Under Siege | Excerpt
from Raising Voices: The Children of Iraq 1990-1999 by Kathy Kelly
It is January 8, 1997. I am in a car driving from Baltimore to Washington, DC, at 6:15 a.m. With me are Simon Harak, a Jesuit priest and theology professor, and Ardeth Platte and Carol Gilbert, Dominican sisters from Baltimore. We will later meet Aft Laffin, a Catholic lay worker, at the Senate Hart Office Building. Our plan is to enter the Senate confirmation hearings of Madeleine Albright for Secretary of State. Leslie Stahl went to Iraq for 60 Minutes. On the program that aired May 12, 1996, she asked Albright, who was then the US ambassador to the United Nations, to explain US policy in the context of the devastation she had seen among the children of Iraq. Albright responded: "It’s a hard decision, Leslie, but we think the price…is worth it."
We arrive two hours before the hearing. Already thirty people are in line. Tucked inside our coats are folded enlargements of pictures of Iraqi children I visited in August 1996, children whose sunken eyes plead for relief from starvation and disease.
The hearings begin and we hear mutterings that there is no room inside for members of the public. I feel disappointed and a bit silly, having raced from Chicago to Washington on a moment’s notice, apparently for naught. Much to our relief, after then-Secretary of State Warren Christopher is escorted out, the security guards allow the people in line to enter in groups of ten as the hearings proceed.
We are among the first forty admitted. We have agreed beforehand that immediately after Albright concludes her remarks, we’ll stand, one by one, to raise our pictures of the children and express our urgent concerns.
Albright stresses her commitment to universal human rights, but as regards Iraq she only affirms readiness to maintain a tough policy. As the applause subsides, I stand up.
"Albright," I call out, "over one-half million Iraqi children have died because of US/UN sanctions. In May 1996, you told 60 Minutes that this was an acceptable price to pay in order to maintain US interests in the region. Are you prepared to withdraw that statement?"
A security guard, Officer Goodine, is at my elbow. Senator Jesse Helms motions to him to remove me, but the young officer raises his hand politely as if to indicate "just a moment, let her finish," and he gently taps my arm.
"These children are helpless victims," I call out again, moving into the aisle. " Albright, please, you could do so much good."
The officer leads me out as though he were ushering at the opera. Simon Harak is already on his feet, asking Albright if she would impose the same punishment on every other country that fails to comply with US demands.
Ardeth, Carole, and Art rise, in turn, to speak. After we are all escorted out, Albright addresses the committee: "I am as concerned about the children of Iraq as any person in this room. . . . Saddam Hussein is the one who has the fate of his country in his hands, and he is the one who is responsible for starving children, not the United States of America."
On January 10, 1997, Voices in the Wilderness sent out a statement of our response, saying in part:
Iraqi children are totally innocent of oil power politics. All those who prevent the lifting of sanctions, including Madeleine Albright, are not. One line disclaimers of responsibility may appear suavely diplomatic, but the children are dead and we have seen them dying. According to the UN itself, they died as a direct result of the embargo on commerce with Iraq. Many United Nations members favored significantly easing these sanctions. The US government and Madeleine Albright as its spokesperson prevented that from happening. This economic embargo continues warfare against Iraq, a silent war in which only the weakest, most vulnerable and innocent non-combatant civilians—women, children and families—continue to suffer.
One year earlier, in a modest act of nonviolence, we wrote to US Attorney General Janet Reno declaring our intent to deliberately violate the UN and US sanctions against the people of Iraq. We said we realized the possible penalties we faced, but that we hoped she would join us in demanding that the US government lift the embargo against Iraq.
Four Voices delegations traveled to Iraq in 1996 and thirty more have gone as of the end of 1999. Each group openly defies the sanctions by taking medical relief supplies directly to Iraqi children and families. Our trips create a drama that we hope will gain attention for the plight of the Iraqi people, especially the children. Upon return, we "hit the ground running," with presentations in classrooms and community groups. We contact our legislators, send out mailings, and try very hard to push the issue into the mainstream media.
In the meantime, 150 Iraqi children die every day.
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