[R-G] Live, From Iraq

[DavidMcR at aol.com]

In a message dated 11/20/02 9:58:43 AM Eastern Standard Time, 
ipamedia at nationalpress.com writes:

<< 
 Institute for Public Accuracy
 915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
 (202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * ipa at accuracy.org
 ___________________________________________________
 
          Wednesday, November 20, 2002
 
          Live, From Iraq
 
     The following people are available for interviews. Note that Baghdad is 
 8 hours ahead of Eastern Time.
 
 JAMES JENNINGS
 President of the humanitarian aid organization Conscience International and 
 a longtime professor of Middle East and Islamic Studies, Jennings has 
 worked extensively in Iraq. He last traveled to Iraq with Congressman Nick 
 Rahall and former Senator James Abourezk in a trip sponsored by the 
 Institute for Public Accuracy in mid-September. Now in Baghdad until Friday 
 (Nov. 22), Jennings said today: "On his arrival here, chief weapons 
 inspector Hans Blix raised two important points. First, Blix talked about 
 the importance of the sanctions as an issue and how lifting them would move 
 Iraq forward and that we should move toward that. Secondly, he raised the 
 idea from one of the earlier UN resolutions, that in the Mideast there 
 should be a zone free of weapons of mass destruction." Jennings also noted: 
 "A war now would destroy the limited progress that Iraq has been able to 
 make in the wake of the war and sanctions, and so the issue is not just 
 about arsenals, but is also about the ordinary people of Iraq and their 
 welfare. Over the last three years, you can see an improvement here in 
 Baghdad. Simply put, there are more cars and fewer beggars."
 
 KATHY KELLY, CLIFF KINDY, CYNTHIA BANAS, info at vitw.org, 
 http://www.iraqpeaceteam.org
 Kelly is co-coordinator of Voices in the Wilderness, a group opposed to the 
 sanctions on Iraq. The organization has initiated the Iraq Peace Team, a 
 group of activists working to prevent war. They currently include Cliff 
 Kindy, a farmer from Indiana, and Cindy Banas, a retired librarian from New 
 York state. Kelly said: "Yesterday, CNN offered a 3-D rendition of a street 
 in Baghdad to illustrate how fighting in Baghdad might go. I realized that 
 the street they were showing was the street I'm on -- Abi Nawas Street. 
 There's the detail and the assurance of the war planning; but here in 
 Baghdad, there's the terrifying uncertainty of Iraqis not knowing what's 
 going to happen though it affects them greatly. There's even a reluctance 
 to follow the news as many Iraqis feel they owe it to their children to 
 maintain some equilibrium." Diaries of team members are available at the 
 above web page.
 
 BERT SACKS, bert at connectexpress.com, http://www.endiraqsanctions.org
 Now in Washington state, Sacks is a retired engineer. He said today: "In 
 late September, I traveled to Iraq with three U.S. Congressmen. We went to 
 Basra where the greatest threat ... comes from unsafe drinking water. We 
 visited a diarrhea clinic and saw dozens of babies weakened from bouts with 
 water-borne diseases. When we returned to Baghdad we saw the cause: the 
 largest sewage treatment plant for Baghdad is in severe disrepair. There is 
 a lack of electricity and spare parts -- a result of the Gulf War bombing 
 and economic sanctions."
 
 For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
 Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167
  >>