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Ramsey Kysia's letter to Rep. Frank Wolf re. Iraq sanctionsAugust 6th, 2001
The Hon. Frank Wolf
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515-4610Dear Representative Wolf,
I am writing to let you know that starting today, on the 11th
anniversary of the sanctions against Iraq, I am joining an action
called “Breaking Ranks: A Fast to End the Siege of Iraq.” This fast
is being sponsored by Voices in the Wilderness, the same
organization I illegally traveled to Iraq with two years ago, taking
medicine and toys to hospitals there in direct violation of U.S. law.
We will fast for the next 40 days, from August 6th until September
14th.I am so sick of this war, as I am sick of all the excuses made by
all of the people responsible for keeping it going. I am sick of
having to explain how a country two-thirds the size of Texas with a
GDP of roughly 6 billion dollars a year is not a threat to the United
States of America. In fact, quite the opposite – we have bombed
Iraq at will and with absolute impunity for over a decade. I am sick
of having to repeat over and over again the findings of reports
repeatedly issued by OIP, or UNICEF, or the FAO, or the WHO, or
the International Red Cross – all documenting the numerous ways
sanctions have ravaged the Iraqi people. I am sick of having to
explain, as if to a small child, that collective punishment is illegal and
immoral, and that the forcible impoverishment of an entire
nation, leading to the excess deaths of hundreds of thousands of
its citizens is itself a crime against humanity – and, more than
that, a crime against God.Most of all, I’m tired of the cynical way in which the Iraqi
government and the U.S. government continue to play one another
off against the other, and posture themselves for short-term political gain
to the total disregard, and at the total expense, of the Iraqi people. Such
as with this recent nonsense of “smart” sanctions. I
am disgusted by it. I expect nothing less from Saddam Hussein.
Am I so wrong to expect more from you?I begin fasting today in solidarity with the people of Iraq, who have
suffered so much in this war. I am fasting in atonement for my
failure to stop their slaughter, and for my sins as a citizen of the
nation that is killing them. Most of all I am fasting for you, Frank
Wolf: for your failure to recognize the spirit of God present in all the
peoples of Iraq. I am fasting for your failure to see that their
humanity is equal to your humanity. I am fasting for your failure to
feel the injustice of their suffering, or the offense of your role in
maintaining that suffering.In Arabic, when we see a table filled with sumptuous food, or an
exceptionally pretty face, we say “ma’shallah,” which means “what
God has willed.” We also say it when someone dies. It’s an
exclamation that God’s Will is bountiful, and that His Creation is
beautiful, even in death.As I begin this fast, I look at our country and wonder that we have
been granted so much wealth, so much material bounty and
privilege. I look at our country and wonder that we can create so
much pain, kill with such casual and cynical disregard, and remain
so seemingly untouched by it. And all I can think is, ma’shallah,
and wonder what it will take to make you see the bounty of God in
the children you’ll kill today by continuing to support this war. Is it
really so much to demand that the children of Iraq be allowed to
live?Sincerely,
Ramsey Kysia"When I visited Auschwitz I was horrified. And when I visited Iraq,
I thought to myself, 'What will we tell the children in fifty years
when they ask what we did when the people in Iraq were dying?'"
-Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
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