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The event will be a bannering and rally on Saturday August 14 starting at noon at the corner of Lagoon and Hennepin Avenues in the Uptown neighborhood of south Minneapolis.

In addition to IPAC, other organizations that have endorsed the August 14th event include the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, CISPES Anti-War Committee, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Friends for a Non-Violent World, Pax Christi, Progressive Student Organization, St. Joan of Arc WAMM / Peacemakers, Veterans for Peace, Women Against Military Madness, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, and Women's Political Alliance.

A statement issued by the IPAC says in part, “The people of Iraq have suffered under nine years of sanctions and war. The economic sanctions are responsible for the destruction of the infrastructure and the impoverishment of large sections of the population. UN reports estimate that 5,000 to 6,000 children die each month as a result of the sanctions.”

The statement goes on to say, “U.S. military forces are carrying out a nearly continuous bombing campaign against targets in Iraq to enforce the so-called 'no fly-zones' that the U.S. imposed after the Persian Gulf war. These 'zones' have been created by U.S. government and have no force under international law.”

Anh Pham, one of the protest organizers, noted, “U.S. policy towards Iraq has nothing to do with concern for the Iraqi people and everything to do with the desire of the U.S. to control the oil-rich Persian Gulf region in the interests of the large western oil companies. The people of Iraq are paying a high price in life for the control of profits at the pump.”

The IPAC statement concludes, “We must continue to speak out against the sanctions and low level war against Iraq. The Pentagon and the White House want the situation in Iraq to go on quietly, the anti-war and peace movements must continue to speak out in this country.”

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The protest is part of a month of nationally-coordinated actions initiated by Voices in the Wilderness, a grassroots campaign against the economic sanctions on Iraq. The series of events was launched January 15 with a 30 day fast by members of Voices in the Wilderness on the front steps of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, DC.

A statement issued by IPAC says, “The U.S. government continues to wage war against Iraq. This war has taken two forms: First, the U.S. continues to enforce the strangling economic sanctions, which have destroyed the economy and infrastructure of Iraq. Reports from the United Nations and other groups put the death toll resulting from these sanctions in the hundreds of thousands. The second front in this war is the continuing U.S. bombing of targets in Iraq.

New reports show that during 1999, there were bombings virtually every other day by the U.S. military against targets in Iraq. On January 9, 11, and 12, 2000, U.S. jets also dropped bombs on Iraq.

The IPAC statement says, “These attacks are being carried out to enforce the so-called 'no fly zone' imposed on Iraq after the end of the Persian Gulf War. These zones have no force under international law or UN resolutions, and are recognized only by the U.S. and Britain.”

Organizations supporting the protest include Women Against Military Madness, the Anti-War Committee, and Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

- The Iraq Peace Action Coalition (IPAC) has announced a picket line and bannering to show opposition to U.S. policy towards Iraq. The protest will be held on February 11, at 4:30 p.m., at the Federal Courts Building in downtown Minneapolis.

The protest is part of a month of nationally-coordinated actions initiated by Voices in the Wilderness, a grassroots campaign against the economic sanctions on Iraq. The series of events was launched January 15 with a 30 day fast by members of Voices in the Wilderness on the front steps of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, DC.

A statement issued by IPAC says, “The U.S. government continues to wage war against Iraq. This war has taken two forms: First, the U.S. continues to enforce the strangling economic sanctions, which have destroyed the economy and infrastructure of Iraq. Reports from the United Nations and other groups put the death toll resulting from these sanctions in the hundreds of thousands. The second front in this war is the continuing U.S. bombing of targets in Iraq.

New reports show that during 1999, there were bombings virtually every other day by the U.S. military against targets in Iraq. On January 9, 11, and 12, 2000, U.S. jets also dropped bombs on Iraq.

The IPAC statement says, “These attacks are being carried out to enforce the so-called 'no fly zone' imposed on Iraq after the end of the Persian Gulf War. These zones have no force under international law or UN resolutions, and are recognized only by the U.S. and Britain.”

Organizations supporting the protest include Women Against Military Madness, the Anti-War Committee, and Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

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Minneapolis, MN - In May, Trish Kanous, of the Minneapolis-St. Paul based Anti-War Committee, joined other passengers and got on an Iraqi airplane. For most of us, flying is no act of courage. This was different. The United States and British governments have decided that vast areas of Iraqi airspace, about half the country, are 'no fly zones,' where it's open season on Iraqi airplanes. The jetliner flew through the zone and landed safely.

Americans like Kanous have been ignoring laws that make travel to Iraq a crime. They are willing to take a chance and fly through areas where the U.S. has shot down planes before. They are responding to the humanitarian disaster caused by U.S.-led war on Iraq and the subsequent sanctions. They will not remain silent in the face of injustice.

As part of the Veterans for Peace delegation of the Iraq Water Project, Kanous was able to get insight into Iraqi daily life. Many families have lost someone to the sanctions. They want peace.

When the U.S. bombed Iraq in 1991, it blew out the electrical grid, which fried equipment in water and sewage plants. A team from the Harvard School of Public Health visited most of Iraq's 20 electric generating plants a few months after the war ended. It found that 17 of the plants had been damaged in bombing, with 11 deemed a total loss. Systemic power failures wrecked machinery and led to the breakdown of sewage, water treatment and hospital services.

“People need clean water to live. Diseases in dirty water are a leading cause of death for Iraqi children,” said Kanous. Water contamination diseases, such as diarrhea and dysentery, are the biggest killer of children under the age of 5. Half a million children have been killed because of the sanctions, many of treatable diseases.

Health care has been hit hard by the sanctions. A sanctions committee run by they U.S. and the UN – called the 661 Committee – makes the decision on what medicines are allowed in. Patient care is not their priority. “Speaking with medical professionals, we heard there are no consistent supplies of medications. One kind of antibiotic is allowed for a while and patients are treated with it. Then the supply of that antibiotic stops and perhaps another is available. Then again, maybe not. Chemotherapy supplies, along with some vaccines, are prevented from entering the country,” said Kanous.

U.S. officials on the 661 Committee have been quick to cite a so-called “dual-use” military potential in many civilian goods. So they hold up medical supplies and chemicals that are needed to treat water.

Iraq is hurting from the ongoing U.S. bombing campaign. In the longest air war since Vietnam, U.S. or British planes strike targets in Iraq every two or three days. Cluster bombs – like those that have been killing Afghan families – regularly fall on Iraqi towns and villages.

Members of the Vets for Peace delegation met a man with the dangerous job of clearing the unexploded ordinance. He used a stick. Though he had many friends who had been killed doing the same job, he kept it up. He felt it important that neighborhood kids didn't get killed picking up the brightly colored bomblets.

Because of the efforts of the Iraqi people and government, the situation is improving. However, Kanous points out, “The economy is still hurting because of the sanctions.” The sanctions prevent Iraq from rebuilding its infrastructure to meet people's needs. The spirit of the people is strong, but their well-being depends on an end to the sanctions, ending the bombing campaign, and beating back the plans of the Bush administration for a wider war.

Kanous encourages people here to look at Iraqis not as a people to be sorry for but as a people to stand in solidarity with. “They don't want sympathy, they want justice.”

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