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Just to remind people about the following event: FROM GROUND ZERO TO BAGHDAD PUBLIC MEETING, TUESDAY 18TH DECEMBER, 7.30 PM, CONWAY HALL, RED LION SQUARE, LONDON (NEAREST TUBE HOLBORN) Earlier this month two members of voices in the wilderness uk travelled to Iraq on a sanctions-breaking trip. Prior to this they had joined a Walk for Healing and Peace in the US, from the Pentagon to Ground Zero in New York, which was also joined by relatives and friends of those who died in the September 11th atrocities. The delegates will be returning from Iraq tomorrow and will be reporting back on their trip at a public meeting this Tuesday (see details above). If you can't make it to this meeting but would like to invite one of the delegates to come and speak to your local anti-war group, union, church etc... please contact the voices office on 0845 458 2564 or e-mail us at voices@viwuk.freeserve.co.uk Below I've reproduced a letter from the two delegates to Tony Blair. Best wishes, Gabriel voices uk ************************************************ 17 December 2001 To: The Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Tony Blair MP We write to inform you that we have returned today from a sanctions-breaking delegation to Iraq. We were moved to travel to Iraq at this time by the mounting tension, and the increasing risk of a new US assault on that country. Having seen for ourselves the continuing suffering of the Iraqi people, and of the children of Iraq in particular, and been briefed on the precarious nature of the public health infrastructure, we urge you not to participate or to support any US-led military assault on Iraq. We urge you further to end your support for the economic sanctions which have contributed to the deaths of 500,000 children under the age of five, according to UNICEF, the UN children’s agency. We have broken the sanctions legislation in Britain by taking modest medical supplies, medical journals and medical CD-ROMs to Iraqi hospitals – without an export licence – and by purchasing goods in Iraq which we intend to publicly auction in Britain – without authorization from your Government or the UN. We realize that the penalty for these actions could be a prison term of up to five years incarceration. We do not undertake these actions lightly or thoughtlessly. We believe that our actions are legally and morally justified, and would defend ourselves vigorously if prosecuted by the relevant authorities. We hope to contribute to the bringing forward of the day when the economic sanctions will be lifted, and the people of Iraq can begin to rebuild their country in earnest. We would also like to inform you that our delegation was a joint US/UK project, and was preceded by a joint US/UK Walk for Healing and Peace from the Pentagon in Washington DC to Ground Zero in New York. The walk, which we participated in, was led by relatives of victims of 11 September. These family members spoke out eloquently against the war in Afghanistan, against the sanctions war on Iraq, and against the threat of a new assault on Iraq. We are humbled by their courage, and we urge you to hear their voices for peace. Some of their words can be found at http://www.nonviolence.org/vitw Yours sincerely Matt Barr Milan Rai -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a discussion list run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq For removal from list, email soc-casi-discuss-request@lists.cam.ac.uk CASI's website - www.casi.org.uk - includes an archive of all postings.