Anti-Sanctions Activists Counter Sue US Government
(Chicago)--Voices in the Wilderness (VITW) filed an Answer and Counter Claim in US District Court in Washington DC on Friday September 26, 2003, in response to the fines for bringing medicine and relief to Iraq. A $20,000 penalty was first threatened in December 1998 by the US Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), but was not actually imposed until November 2002, at the height of the Bush Administration's preparation to invade Iraq. At that time VITW was sponsoring a team of US civilians and other internationals in Baghdad; they remained there from October 2002 through April 2003 as witnesses against war and in sympathy with the ordinary people of Iraq.
VITW was founded in Chicago in 1996. For the next seven years, it campaigned for lifting the US/UN economic sanctions that caused hundreds of thousands of deaths in Iraq from malnutrition, disease, and inadequate medical care. As part of this campaign, VITW organized over 70 delegations to Iraq between 1996 and 2003. Delegation members carried donated medical supplies, toys, and educational materials to hospitals, schools, and families in Iraq. Some of the VITW activities were acts of civil disobedience, in direct violation of US laws, Executive Orders, and regulations that authorized economic sanctions.
However, in its response to the Justice Department filed September 26th in US District Court for the District of Columbia, VITW points out that the laws and Executive Orders cited by the Justice Department in its "Complaint" all specifically exempt donated medical supplies from the sanctions. The International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 United States Code, Section 1702 (a)), cited by the Justice Department as the authority for the penalty, specifically states as follows:
"The authority granted to the President by this section does not include the authority to regulate or prohibit, directly or indirectly ...donations... of articles, such as food, clothing, and medicine, intended to be used to relieve human suffering..."
The Justice Department "Complaint for Civil Penalties," originally filed on June 20, 2003 in U.S. court for the District of Columbia, accuses VITW of "exporting medical supplies from the United States to Iraq" in July 1998, and again in September 1998.
The VITW response, filed today, argues that these specific actions were not illegal under the law and Executive Orders cited by the Justice Department and, therefore the Justice Department claim against VITW needs to be dismissed. VITW challenges the right of the US government to punish anyone for bringing humanitarian aid to civilians in Iraq or elsewhere. VITW asks for a jury trial, for a declaration that the sanctions violated international law, for an injunction prohibiting the government from trying to punish anyone else for providing humanitarian aid, and for damages that will go to pay for medicines for the people of Iraq.
VITW also asks the Court to issue a permanent injunction prohibiting the US government from prosecuting or enforcing civil fines against people for donations of food, clothing, or medicine intended to be used to relieve human suffering. VITW continues to sponsor a team of US citizens residing in Baghdad to monitor the effects of the US occupation of Iraq, and to support Iraqi people in restoring their society. VITW will refuse to pay the fines, and instead will raise $20,000 for continued relief for people in Iraq.
To read our lawyers' answer to the US Justice Department in its entirety, visit:
http://www.nonviolence.org/vitw/answer.html .
We need your voices, now more than ever! As the court proceedings continue in the US Justice Department's lawsuit against VitW, please add your name to our petition to Attorney General John Ashcroft, available at the following web address: http://www.petitiononline.com/usvvitw/petition .
We are also asking the Court to issue a permanent injunction prohibiting the US government from prosecuting or enforcing civil fines against people for donations of food, clothing, or medicine intended to be used to relieve human suffering. We continue to sponsor a team of US citizens residing in Baghdad to monitor the effects of the US occupation of Iraq, and to support Iraqi people in restoring their society.
Cathy Breen and Ed Kinane, both members of that team in Baghdad, have recent writings posted on our website. In Cathy's most recent letter, she writes:
"I imagine that if we learn to die gracefully all of the little daily deaths,
then the final death will come more easily.
Last night Amal, her 3 children and sister-in-law with her young daughter were visiting with us around the kitchen table when shooting broke out on the street below. People began running and angry voices were heard, and we had out hands full trying to keep the boys, Omar and Ali, from sticking their heads out the window! The shopkeeperMohammed had said to Ed and I just an hour or so before that we should get a guard for the house, or "pay the police just a little bit" to look after us. And he cautioned us not to allow cars to park in front of
our place (because of bombs). Most of our Iraqi friends feel we're unwise for not having a gun in the house. A half-hour or so later we could hear car-horns honking, the sign of a cheerful wedding caravan, in the streets. We all laughed together which broke the tension somewhat. Soon it was high time for Amal and her clan to head home, about a 15 minute walk. We embraced and I wished them safe travel.
At about 7 am that morning Eva and I were talking in our room when a very loud explosion caused us to run out onto the roof. Our first thought was that the Sheraton or Palestine hotel had been hit, but there was no smoke coming from that direction. We found out later that a bomb had gone off at a hotel not too far away where the NBC staff is housed. And so began the day."
To continue reading Cathy's letter and to check out other writings by the Voices team in Baghdad, go to:
http://vitw.us/weblog/archives/000044.html#more .
As always, thank you for the support of our work.
In Peace,
Voices in the Wilderness: http://www.nonviolence.org/vitw/index.html
Movie: Kathy Kelly and John Farrell left for Iraq as part of a Voices delegation. September 08, 2003
View our most recent video clip. This is an update for the most recent Vitw Iraq delegation and background regarding the court summons...
http://www.nonviolence.org/vitw/pages/newPages/movie1.html
Who We Are: http://www.nonviolence.org/vitw/who_we_are.html
Iraqis Remain Food Insecure - Unemployed - Poor (FAO - WFP)
http://www.nonviolence.org/vitw/pages/newPages/spotlightupdate1.html
Please also visit the website of the Iraq Peace Team: http://www.iraqpeaceteam.org/
(Chicago)--Voices in the Wilderness (VITW) filed an Answer and Counter Claim in US District Court in Washington DC on Friday September 26, 2003, in response to the fines for bringing medicine and relief to Iraq. A $20,000 penalty was first threatened in December 1998 by the US Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), but was not actually imposed until November 2002, at the height of the Bush Administration's preparation to invade Iraq. At that time VITW was sponsoring a team of US civilians and other internationals in Baghdad; they remained there from October 2002 through April 2003 as witnesses against war and in sympathy with the ordinary people of Iraq.
VITW was founded in Chicago in 1996. For the next seven years, it campaigned for lifting the US/UN economic sanctions that caused hundreds of thousands of deaths in Iraq from malnutrition, disease, and inadequate medical care. As part of this campaign, VITW organized over 70 delegations to Iraq between 1996 and 2003. Delegation members carried donated medical supplies, toys, and educational materials to hospitals, schools, and families in Iraq. Some of the VITW activities were acts of civil disobedience, in direct violation of US laws, Executive Orders, and regulations that authorized economic sanctions.
However, in its response to the Justice Department filed September 26th in US District Court for the District of Columbia, VITW points out that the laws and Executive Orders cited by the Justice Department in its "Complaint" all specifically exempt donated medical supplies from the sanctions. The International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 United States Code, Section 1702 (a)), cited by the Justice Department as the authority for the penalty, specifically states as follows:
"The authority granted to the President by this section does not include the authority to regulate or prohibit, directly or indirectly ...donations... of articles, such as food, clothing, and medicine, intended to be used to relieve human suffering..."
The Justice Department "Complaint for Civil Penalties," originally filed on June 20, 2003 in U.S. court for the District of Columbia, accuses VITW of "exporting medical supplies from the United States to Iraq" in July 1998, and again in September 1998.
The VITW response, filed today, argues that these specific actions were not illegal under the law and Executive Orders cited by the Justice Department and, therefore the Justice Department claim against VITW needs to be dismissed. VITW challenges the right of the US government to punish anyone for bringing humanitarian aid to civilians in Iraq or elsewhere. VITW asks for a jury trial, for a declaration that the sanctions violated international law, for an injunction prohibiting the government from trying to punish anyone else for providing humanitarian aid, and for damages that will go to pay for medicines for the people of Iraq.
VITW also asks the Court to issue a permanent injunction prohibiting the US government from prosecuting or enforcing civil fines against people for donations of food, clothing, or medicine intended to be used to relieve human suffering. VITW continues to sponsor a team of US citizens residing in Baghdad to monitor the effects of the US occupation of Iraq, and to support Iraqi people in restoring their society. VITW will refuse to pay the fines, and instead will raise $20,000 for continued relief for people in Iraq.
To read our lawyers' answer to the US Justice Department in its entirety, visit:
http://www.nonviolence.org/vitw/answer.html .
We need your voices, now more than ever! As the court proceedings continue in the US Justice Department's lawsuit against VitW, please add your name to our petition to Attorney General John Ashcroft, available at the following web address: http://www.petitiononline.com/usvvitw/petition .
We are also asking the Court to issue a permanent injunction prohibiting the US government from prosecuting or enforcing civil fines against people for donations of food, clothing, or medicine intended to be used to relieve human suffering. We continue to sponsor a team of US citizens residing in Baghdad to monitor the effects of the US occupation of Iraq, and to support Iraqi people in restoring their society.
Cathy Breen and Ed Kinane, both members of that team in Baghdad, have recent writings posted on our website. In Cathy's most recent letter, she writes:
"I imagine that if we learn to die gracefully all of the little daily deaths,
then the final death will come more easily.
Last night Amal, her 3 children and sister-in-law with her young daughter were visiting with us around the kitchen table when shooting broke out on the street below. People began running and angry voices were heard, and we had out hands full trying to keep the boys, Omar and Ali, from sticking their heads out the window! The shopkeeperMohammed had said to Ed and I just an hour or so before that we should get a guard for the house, or "pay the police just a little bit" to look after us. And he cautioned us not to allow cars to park in front of
our place (because of bombs). Most of our Iraqi friends feel we're unwise for not having a gun in the house. A half-hour or so later we could hear car-horns honking, the sign of a cheerful wedding caravan, in the streets. We all laughed together which broke the tension somewhat. Soon it was high time for Amal and her clan to head home, about a 15 minute walk. We embraced and I wished them safe travel.
At about 7 am that morning Eva and I were talking in our room when a very loud explosion caused us to run out onto the roof. Our first thought was that the Sheraton or Palestine hotel had been hit, but there was no smoke coming from that direction. We found out later that a bomb had gone off at a hotel not too far away where the NBC staff is housed. And so began the day."
To continue reading Cathy's letter and to check out other writings by the Voices team in Baghdad, go to:
http://vitw.us/weblog/archives/000044.html#more .
As always, thank you for the support of our work.
In Peace,
Voices in the Wilderness: http://www.nonviolence.org/vitw/index.html
Movie: Kathy Kelly and John Farrell left for Iraq as part of a Voices delegation. September 08, 2003
View our most recent video clip. This is an update for the most recent Vitw Iraq delegation and background regarding the court summons...
http://www.nonviolence.org/vitw/pages/newPages/movie1.html
Who We Are: http://www.nonviolence.org/vitw/who_we_are.html
Iraqis Remain Food Insecure - Unemployed - Poor (FAO - WFP)
http://www.nonviolence.org/vitw/pages/newPages/spotlightupdate1.html
Please also visit the website of the Iraq Peace Team: http://www.iraqpeaceteam.org/