>On 14th September, Aeroflot Mezhdunarodnyye Linii [Aeroflot International >Lines], a Russian airline, announced its intention to open an office in >Baghdad and resume regular flights to Iraq as soon as the UN lifts the >sanctions against that country. > > >Iraq wants Saudi compensation for lack of pipeline access. >United Nations (Platt's)-18Sep2000/440 pm EDT/2040 GMT Iraq is demanding >that Saudi Arabia compensate it for the years it has been prevented from >using the Iraq-Saudi pipeline built prior to the Gulf War to carry crude >across Saudi Arabia to the Red Sea. In a letter from Iraq Ambassador Saeed >Hasan to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Iraq says it was prevented from >using the pipeline from Aug 13, 1990 based on Saudi claims there were high >inventories at Mu'jiz. Today, an estimated 11-mil bbl remain in the storage >tanks at Mu'jiz "and the entire pipeline system inside Saudi Arabia is also >full of oil," the letter says. It added: "It is clear from the foregoing >that Saudi Arabia is liable for the damage sustained by Iraq and for the >legal consequences of that damage..." Aug 13 was also less than two weeks >after Iraq invaded neighboring Kuwait. > >Russia says it had UN permission for Iraq flight. >Russia denied on Monday breaking UN sanctions by organizing a flight to >Iraq, saying it had only sent humanitarian aid with the advance permission >of the UN, the Russian news agency ITAR-TASS reported. > >A Foreign Ministry statement said claims that the aircraft made a direct >flight to Iraq in violation of international sanctions "did not correspond >to reality". > >"In fact, the Russian side informed the UN Security Council's Sanctions and >Verification Committee in advance about plans for a chartered flight of >humanitarian aid and received the necessary permission from the appropriate >authorities of those countries that lay in the flight path," the statement >said. > >But it added that it would resume passenger flights to Baghdad as soon as >possible. > >"As before we are proceeding from the fact that the relevant UN Security >Council resolutions contain no ban on regular passenger flights to Baghdad >and we are prepared to resume these as soon as it becomes possible. > >"As for charter flights connected with supplying humanitarian aid to Iraq, >the Sanctions Committee has merely to be informed of such flights on the >understanding that its formal permission is not required for them to go >ahead." >Allies Deliberately Poisoned Iraq Public Water Supply In Gulf War > > >The US-led allied forces deliberately destroyed Iraq's water supply during >the Gulf War - flagrantly breaking the Geneva Convention and causing >thousands of civilian deaths. Since the war ended in 1991 the allied >nations have made sure than any attempts to make contaminated water safe >have been thwarted. A respected American professor now intends to convene >expert hearings in a bid to pursue criminal indictments under international >law against those responsible. Professor Thomas J Nagy, Professor of Expert >Systems at George Washington University with a doctoral fellowship in public >health, told the Sunday Herald: "Those who saw nothing wrong in producing >[this plan], those who ordered its production and those who knew about it >and have remained silent for 10 years would seem to be in violation of >Federal Statute and perhaps have even conspired to commit genocide." >Professor Nagy obtained a minutely detailed seven-page document prepared by >the US Defence Intelligence Agency, issued the day after the war started, >entitled Iraq Water Treatment Vulnerabilities and circulated to all major >allied Commands. It states that Iraq had gone to considerable trouble to >provide a supply of pure water to its population. It had to depend on >importing specialised equipment and purification chemicals, since water is >"heavily mineralised and frequently brackish". The report stated: "Failing >to secure supplies will result in a shortage of pure drinking water for much >of the population. This could lead to increased incidents, if not epidemics, >of disease and certain pure-water dependent industries becoming >incapacitatedÉ" The report concludes: "Full degradation of the water >treatment system probably will take at least another six months." During >allied bombing campaigns on Iraq the country's eight multi-purpose dams had >been repeatedly hit, simultaneously wrecking flood control, municipal and >industrial water storage, irrigation and hydroelectric power. Four of seven >major pumping stations were destroyed, as were 31 municipal water and >sewerage facilities - 20 in Baghdad, resulting in sewage pouring into the >Tigris. Water purification plants were incapacitated throughout Iraq. >Article 54 of the Geneva Convention states: "It is prohibited to attack, >destroy or render useless objects indispensable to the survival of the >civilian population" and includes foodstuffs, livestock and "drinking water >supplies and irrigation works". The results of the allied bombing campaign >were obvious when Dr David Levenson visited Iraq immediately after the Gulf >War, on behalf of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear >War. He said: "For many weeks people in Baghdad - without television, >radio, or newspapers to warn them - brought their drinking water from the >Tigris, in buckets. "Dehydrated from nausea and diarrhoea, craving liquids, >they drank more of the water that made them sick in the first place." >Water-borne diseases in Iraq today are both endemic and epidemic. They >include typhoid, dysentery, hepatitis, cholera and polio (which had >previously been eradicated), along with a litany of others. A child with >dysentery in 1990 had a one in 600 chance of dying - in 1999 it was one in >50. The then US Navy Secretary John Lehman estimated that 200,000 Iraqis >died in the Gulf War. Dr Levenson estimates many thousands died from >polluted water. Chlorine and essential equipment parts needed to repair and >clear the water system have been banned from entering the country under the >UN "hold"system. Ohio Democrat Representative Tony Hall has written to >American Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, saying he shares concerns >expressed by Unicef about the "profound effects the deterioration of Iraq's >water supply and sanitation systems on children's health". Diarrhoeal >diseases he says are of "epidemic proportions" and are "the prime killer of >children under five". "Holds on contracts for water and sanitation are a >prime reason for the increase in sickness and death." Of 18 contracts, wrote >Hall, all but one on hold were placed by the government in the US. >Contracts were for purification chemicals, chlorinators, chemical dosing >pumps, water tankers and other water industry related items. "If water >remains undrinkable, diseases will continue and mortality rates will rise," >said the Iraqi trade minister Muhammed Mahdi Salah. The country's health >ministry said that more than 10,000 people died in July of embargo-related >causes - 7457 were children, with diarrhoeal diseases one of the prime >conditions. In July 1989, the figure was 378. Unicef does not dispute the >figures. The problem will not be helped by plans for the giant Ilisu Dam >project (to which the British government is to give £200 million in export >credit guarantees), which will give Turkey entire control of the water flow >to Iraq and Syria. Constructors Balfour Beatty write in their environmental >impact report, that for the three years of construction, water flow to Iraq >will be reduced by 40%. Iraq has also suffered a three year drought, with >the Tigris the lowest in living memory. (Sunday Herald 17/90 > > >MISCELLANY++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ > >TAKE ACTION! >Join us to plan nonviolent direct action >against the sanctions on Iraq > >Dear Friends, > >Following the very successful Die-in for the People of Iraq on August 7th, >voices is hoping to facilitate further nonviolent direct action against the >sanctions on Iraq. To this end, we are holding a planning day which will >combine a nonviolence workshop (material which - due to time constraints - >unfortunately got edged out of the planning meeting on the evening before >the die-in) with the opportunity for participants to formulate ideas and >plans for another mass action involving civil disobedience, on a date to be >decided at the meeting (the national week of action against sanctions on >Iraq, from November 20th - 26th may be one possible focus). We would very >much welcome your participation and input! > >Date : Sunday October 8th >Time : 11 am - 5pm >Venue : Kingsley Hall Community Centre, Powis Road, London E3 (nearest tube >Bromley-by-Bow). See map below. > >(We will provide drinks during the day, but please bring your own lunch). We >very much hope you will get involved in this important event, and look >forward to seeing you there. Please contact the office if you can't make >this meeting but would like to be kept informed of future meetings. > >In peace > >Andrea Needham >voices in the wilderness > >Dear friends, > >_________________________________________________ >Iraqi girl comes to region for leukemia treatment > >Monday, September 18, 2000 >By Steve Twedt, Post-Gazette Staff Writer > >Mariam Hamza, the 6-year-old Iraqi girl who has become an international >symbol for those who want to end sanctions against Iraq, will be calling >Western Pennsylvania home for the next several months. > >Mariam and her grandmother, Umhadiattah Burhan, 70, are here on a medical >visa while doctors continue to monitor the young girl for any recurrence of >her leukemia, now in remission for six months. They also will be examining >her eyes. Damage during her initial radiation treatments in Iraq left her >blind. > >Because of the sanctions, Iraqi doctors "don't have enough equipment to >control the radiation," causing serious injury to Mariam and other patients, >said Dr. Ali Aboosi, a Greensburg pediatrician who will be caring for Mariam >while she's here. > >Aboosi, who has volunteered his services, has relatives in Baghdad himself. >"They are still suffering from >the sanctions." Yesterday, Mariam and her grandmother were at the Muslim >Community Center >of Greater Pittsburgh in Monroeville for its annual community picnic.Later >they visited the Kaufmann's >store at Westmoreland Mall, which had offered to donate winter clothing to >the girl. > >For one who has suffered so much - her arms are pocked with puncture scars >from attempts to insert intravenous lines-- little Mariam is full of charm. >She rushes to strangers and hugs them, pressing her beautiful brown eyes and >curly, dark hair against their shoulders. She laughs easily, then bashfully >hides her face in her grandmother's scarf. Grandmother and granddaughter >traveled from their home in southern Iraq to Jordan, then flew to New York, >then to Pittsburgh last month, where they've been staying with Mark and >Krista Clement in the Bruderhof Communities in Farmington, Fayette County. > >The Clements, both 49, made two trips to Iraq last year and met Mariam >through their friendship with George Galloway, a member of British >Parliament who has lobbied strongly for ending the sanctions. It was >Galloway who first brought Mariam to international attention after he met >her in a Baghdad hospital while on a trip to spotlight the effects of United >Nations sanctions on ordinary Iraqi >citizens. Galloway later established the Mariam Appeal, which has its own >Web site (www.mariamappeal.com) meant to highlight the suffering of Iraqi >people under the sanctions. > >With Western Pennsylvania as home base, Mark Clement said Mariam will likely >travel to New York and Washington in coming months to tell her story to all >who will listen. Their hope is that she will become as well known in America >as she is in Europe. > >Clement says their cause is humanitarian, not political, but he's well aware >that critics have accused Galloway of using Mariam as a political pawn. >"What do they think we're using her for?" Clement asked. "My question for >them would be, 'Is it wrong to bring attention to the fact that our >country's policies are killing approximately 250 children every day in Iraq, >and already have killed over 1 million children?' Shouldn't the American >people be aware of this fact?" > >The U.S. State Department disputes those accusations, saying the sanctions >have never prohibited medicine or other humanitarian aid from Iraqis. The >sanctions, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has said, are in place >because Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has refused to comply with conditions >accepted at the end of the Gulf War, including the elimination of weapons >that can cause mass destruction. "Saddam Hussein is responsible for the >suffering of his people," Albright said. > >Clement calls that argument "bogus," saying Iraq's infrastructure is in >ruins and the country is incapable of making weapons of mass destruction. "I >think the real reason [for the sanctions] is so that Iraq can never become a >power in the Middle East again." > >He hopes Mariam can help drive that point home.Though only one little girl, >her irresistible smile may put a human face to international tragedy. She's >doing well, her grandmother said in Arabic, and she has learned a few >English words, such as "bread," and "chicken," and "come on, come on!" when >things are not happening quickly enough. > >But Mariam misses her two younger sisters and infant brother. Her father >calls weekly, Aboosi said, and though longing to see her, he understands >that both his daughter and his fellow Iraqis will benefit from her stay in >America. "He says, 'If they can't do anything for her eyes, let her stay >there as a symbol of what the sanctions have done.' " >__________________________________________ > >Some activists in the Muslim community are organzing a Day of Silence for >the Iraqi people on Nov. 11th. Participants & endorsees are welcome. The >website is still under construction, but has some >good info: > >http://www.dayofsilence.com > >Ramsey > >_____________________________________________ > >Mariam Appeal to launch Iraq International >Work Brigades > >The London based Mariam Appeal recently announced their plans to form >monthly international work brigades who will help build a friendship village >in Iraq beginning May 2001. Mr Stuart Halford the Director of the Mariam >Appeal told ISM that the monthly work brigades will under the supervision of >Iraqi tradesmen and engineers engage in "reconciliation through >reconstruction" in an original form of international solidarity. > >Brigadiers will be in Iraq for exactly one month at a time from May until >October 2001 and every year thereafter. They will have a programme of >construction work in the mornings, lectures and discussions in the >afternoons and social and cultural activities in the evenings. Participants >should be able to speak either English or Arabic (there will be a translator >always on hand) and should be aged 18 and over. And of course they will need >to be fit enough for light construction duties and the heat of the Iraqi >summer. Brigadiers will be asked to make a contribution towards travel to >Amman. All other costs will be met by the Mariam Appeal which will fundraise >for that purpose. > >For further information please contact Stuart Halford at the Mariam >Appeal on [EMAIL PROTECTED] or by telephone on (0044) 207 403 5200 >_________________________________________________________ >Dear friends, >I am sure this online petition to end the sanctions against our Iraqi kin >will interest many of you: > >http://www.PetitionOnline.com/s343/ > >Khaled Bayomi > >_________________________________________________________ > >ADVERTISEMENT > > >Position Four Brigade Coordinators Required (Full Time - with 3 >months per year on site in Iraq) For the MARIAM APPEAL "Iraq International >Work Brigades" > >Salary £ 20,000 per annum > >To Start January 2001 > >The Mariam Appeal, which campaigns for the lifting of sanctions on Iraq, is >sending a series of International Work Brigades to Iraq to build an >international friendship village that will be used as a centre for >international friendship and solidarity with the people of Iraq. > > >tel: +44 (0)20 7403 5200 >fax: +44 (0)20 7403 3823 >email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >web: www.mariamappeal.com > > > > > > >Knowledge is Power! >Elimination of the exploitation of man by man >http://www.egroups.com/group/pttp/ >POWER TO THE PEOPLE! > >Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Change Delivery Options: >http://www.egroups.com/mygroups > > _______________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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