OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT CLINTON
February 22, 1996
Dear President Clinton.
A week ago I visited Auschwitz concen-tration camp, a monument to the unthink-able
horror that claimed millions of lives. There I wondered about those good
persons who failed to publicly denounce the torture and murder of their
sisters and brothers. As I walked amid the graphic displays of the camp,
I prayed to God that I would have the courage not to repeat their sin, despite
the consequences to myself.
At this moment another holocaust, one that you are able to end, is being
conducted in Iraq due to U.S./U.N. sanctions. "As many as 576,000 children
may have died since the end of the Persian Gulf War because of the economic
sanctions imposed by the Security Council, according to two scientists who
surveyed the country for the Food and Agriculture organization (FAO) of
the United Nations" (New York Times, Dec. 1, 1995). According to their
report, "about 70 percent of the total population is in precarious
conditions" due to malnutrition, disease, impure water, the lack of
medicines, and the general destruction of the infrastructure.
This general destruction was caused, as you know, by U.S. and Allied bombing
during the war. The sanctions have made it impossible to rebuild water and
sewage treatment facilities, hospitals, agriculture and food production
systems among others. The FAO report concludes that no amount of economic
aid is sufficient to alleviate the problem. "The solution," the
report continues, "can be fulfilled only if the economy can be put
back in proper shape enabling it to draw on its own resources, and that
clearly cannot occur as long as the embargo remains in force" (emphasis
in original).
These same authors of the report wrote elsewhere: "At this level of
malnutrition and excess mortality among children under the age of five,
Iraq is increasingly becoming like a concentration camp. The economic pressure
exerted on the country by the U.S. and the international community effectively
serves as the barbed wire. As members of the international community, we
are responsible for the suffering of Iraqi children. Our continued silence
results in genocide." (The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.
1/96)
The FAO report is one of many reports conducted by independent international
agencies throughout the last five years. Each one comes to the same conclusions:
the sanctions are killing the young, the old and the weak in greater and
greater numbers.
President Clinton, you would argue that the suffering and death is the result
of Saddam Hussein's failure to comply with U.N. demands to fully dismantle
his programs of weapons of mass destruction. Moreover, you might say that
under resolution 986, the U.N. has offered to allow Iraq to sell a limited
amount of oil, under very strict control, in order to purchase humanitarian
supplies.
In response, let me remind you that those Iraqis who are at risk have no
control over Saddam Hussein, especially because of their weakened condition.
Yet, it is they who are suffering. In fact, a senior member of the Saudi
royal family, Prince Khalid bin Sultan, recently called for ending sanctions
on Iraq "because they have only reinforced President Saddam Hussein's
hold on power while starving Iraqi people." (New York Times, 12/14/95)
You, Mr. President, do have control over the sanctions because of the enormous
influence the U.S. has in the U.N. Security Council. If the U.S. were to
call for an end to the sanctions, it is assured that the other members of
the Security Council would concur. A few members have already urged they
be ended.
With regards to Resolution 986, this offer will only partially alleviate
the suffering of the people because it will do nothing to restore the infrastructure.
Even worse, this resolution provides further rationalization for the indefinite
extension of the sanctions. Clearly, as the FAO report states, the total
lifting of the sanctions is the only means for fully alleviating this ongoing
torture and massacre of the innocent.
I am personally unable to comprehend the horror of 576,000 children dying
in five years. To begin doing so, I try to imagine over 100,000 children
in the Los Angeles football stadium being gassed. And doing this year after
year for five years. Such an action is unthinkable because no one can comprehend
such a diabolical act. But this is the equivalent of what is happening in
Iraq, and you, Mr. President, have it in your power to stop it.
You and I have the responsibility to defend these innocent children, the
old and the sick. I call upon you to end the sanctions. I realize that your
doing so will place you at serious political risk during this election year.
Still, you can do no other in the face of such suffering and death. On my
part, I have helped organize a campaign to openly and publicly violate the
sanctions. I realize that this puts me at risk of imprisonment for 12 years,
a $1 million fine, and $250,000 fine for each infraction of the sanctions.
Still I can do no other.
Some day, people will ask what we did to stop this massacre.
Respectfully,
(Rev.) Robert Bossie, SCJ
Office of Justice, Peace, and the Integrity of Creation, 201 West Monroe
Street - 2 West, Chicago, Illinois 60606-5033, (312) 641-5151, FAX (312)
641-1250, e-mail: eighthday@igc.apc.org
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