[Peace] Fwd:[ANSWER]: Ramsey Clark in Iraq's Basra With Peace Delega

[jencart]

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Hear Ramsey Clark tomorrow live from Iraq on Pacifica Radio's Democracy Now! 

Tuesday Aug 27
At 9am! 

Listen in:
San Francisco at KPFA 94.1 FM 
Los Angeles at KPFK 90.7 FM
NY at WBAI 99.5 FM
Washington, DC at WPFW 89.3 FM
Houston, TX at KPFT 90.1 FM 

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Press Release Aug 26

RAMSEY CLARK LEADS PEACE DELEGATION TO IRAQ 
WILL GO TO SITE OF SUNDAY'S COALITION BOMBING THAT KILLED  SIX CIVILIANS--
Calls for Mass Anti-War Demonstrations in the U.S. on
October 26 to Say
"Stop the War Before It Starts"

While the U.S. prepares for war against Iraq, former U.S.  Attorney General Ramsey Clark has just arrived in Iraq  with a five-person fact-finding peace delegation.

The delegation is meeting with high government officials,  family members of people who were killed in the U.S. 
bombing of Basra August 26, and visiting hospitals and 
food distribution centers. The group is touring Basra at 
the site of yesterday's bombing raid that killed eight 
civilians.

The purpose of this trip is to report on the latest 
effects of U.S.-led UN sanctions against the Iraqi 
civilian population, and to show solidarity with the 
people of Iraq who are facing the prospect of an imminent  US war of aggression. Ramsey Clark is the founder and 
chairperson of the U.S.-based International Action Center,  which has campaigned against the devastating economic  sanctions on Iraq for the last decade.

The delegation also includes Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, an  attorney and co-founder of the Partnership for Civil 
Justice?LDEF; Johnnie Stevens, co-director of the People?s  Video Network; Kadouri al-Kaysi, coordinator of the 
Committee in Solidarity with the Iraqi People; and Brian 
Becker, co-director of the International Action Center.

"It is clear from our discussions with both officials and 
average Iraqis that the people of this country hope that  people of conscience in the U.S. and around the world will  join together in building a massive movement to stop the  war being planned by George Bush, Donald Rumsfeld and the  other warmongers in the White House and Pentagon," stated  Mara Verheyden-Hilliard.

"Iraq is still reeling from the impact of economic 
sanctions," Verheyden-Hilliard continued. "In our meetings  with officials from the health ministry today we have 
learned that mortality rates for children and the elderly  have actually increased in the last twelve months. More  than 8,000 people die needlessly this month from hunger  and water-borne diseases and the degrading of Iraq's 
health care system. According to the United Nations 
statistics more than a million Iraqis have perished from  sanctions. The so-called debate in the U.S. establishment  is over whether Iraq should be invaded today or tomorrow  or next year. That misses the point. The US has conducted  an illegal non-stop war against Iraq for more than ten 
years and it must end now. We are organizing against war  and sanctions."
  
Clark is the author of a recent letter (full text at 
www.iacenter.org) addressed to the UN Security Council and  copied to the UN General Assembly, denouncing new plans  for a U.S. war on Iraq -- plans that include the use of 
250,000 troops.  Since its dissemination at the UN, the 
letter has been translated into Arabic, French, German, 
Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Chinese.

"Twelve years ago when the U.S. organized the aerial 
slaughter it was able to build an international coalition 
against Iraq. Most governments in the coalition joined as  a result of US bullying and coercion. Today the US 
government is isolated. All the people of the world and 
all twenty two of the Arab