Voices in the American wilderness
By Salah Hameid

Opponents of the UN sanctions against Iraq made their voices heard this
week when they marked the 10th anniversary with demonstrations, hunger
strikes and statements of condemnation. The US administration, which still
insists that the embargo is a necessary strategy in its war against Iraqi
President Saddam Hussein, despite its devastating effects on the Iraqi
people, was one of the main targets of the anti-sanctions protests.

On Sunday, four Americans began a symbolic hunger strike outside the main
UN office in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad to protest the continuation of
sanctions. Kathy Kelly, from Voices in the Wilderness, a US-based
anti-sanctions organisation, said the move was aimed at drawing
international attention to the plight of millions of Iraqis who are
suffering under the sanctions. "What we are doing is nothing compared to
the sufferings of Iraqis," she said.

Other capital cities of the world also witnessed symbolic actions and public
events. In London, Dave Rolstone climbed part of the city's newly opened 450
feet high Millennium Wheel. In Washington, about 300 people led by the Green
Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader ended a day of marches and rallying
in Lafayette Park, opposite the White House, demanding an immediate end to
the blockade, which they said only harms the Iraqi people and helps Saddam's
regime. "This policy represents a massive injustice against Iraqi civilians
and it must be ended now, not after Mr Clinton leaves office," Nader told
the protesters. In the Jordanian capital Amman, some 200 activists from the
opposition parties rallied Sunday at the UN offices urging their government
to defy the sanctions.

Reflecting increasing official frustration at the terrible impact of
sanctions, Egypt's Foreign Minister Amr Moussa announced that the time had
come to end the sanctions. The French government also criticised the
blockade as having become "cruel, ineffective and dangerous." During talks
in Moscow last week, the Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov told Iraq's
Deputy Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz that his government firmly supports an
early end to sanctions and is considering the resumption of flights with
Iraq once other countries permit Russian planes to fly through their
airspace.

Internationally, the media have devoted column spaces and air time to
detailing the crippling effects of the US-sponsored sanctions on ordinary
Iraqis. Respectable world organisations, such as UNICEF and the World Food
Organisation, have published scathing reports on the deteriorating
humanitarian situation in Iraq as a result of the blockade.

Yet, the Clinton administration is maintaining its hard-line stance,
rebuffing all demands to end the 10-year embargo. Thomas Pickering, the
State Department's under-secretary, repeated Washington's claim that
President Hussein is responsible for the plight of his people. "This is not
a UN problem; this is not a world community problem: this is an Iraqi
government problem," he said. In a television interview broadcast
internationally, Pickering said the UN supervised oil-for-food programme
covers a wide range of goods, not just food and medicine. Without providing
specific evidence, Pickering reiterated American charges that President
Hussein was diverting income under the UN-sponsored oil-for food programme
to his inner circle and storing supplies for his military. "If sanctions
were lifted now it would open the floodgates for the rebuilding of President
Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction. It would threaten the controls
on the import of goods that could have a military use," he said.

However, it is becoming clear after 10 years of tight sanctions the United
States is losing support for its policy towards Iraq. Last year, France
stopped its participation in the implementation of the no-fly zones over
north and south Iraq -- a policy which many countries believe is not in line
with UN resolutions. Nevertheless, US and British jets have continued to
bomb daily what they describe as "military targets" but which are often
innocent civilians.

This week, France and Russia said they would seriously examine whether the
air embargo imposed following Iraq's August 1990 invasion of Kuwait is part
of the sanctions' resolutions. French and Italian non-governmental groups
have announced they are considering chartering flights to Baghdad in
defiance of the air embargo. Nevertheless, there is no prospect that the
Clinton administration will soften its position on the embargo. The question
is whether the mounting international pressure will make the next American
president rethink US policy on Iraq.