Modesto Bee

May 19, 2003, Monday, ALL EDITION
SECTION: LOCAL NEWS; Pg. B1
BYLINE: BY BLAIR CRADDOCK

A longtime peace activist who stayed in Baghdad during the U.S.-led war on Iraq brought her message to a small but receptive audience at California State University, Stanislaus, on Sunday.

“One of the best ways to prevent a next war is to tell the truth about this war,” said the speaker, Kathy Kelly, co-founder of Chicago-based activist organization Voices in the Wilderness.

For Kelly, the central issue is the impact that both the war and a dozen years of economic sanctions have had on the health of Iraqi children.
“Forty-six percent of the Iraqi population are children,” Kelly said. “They did not commit any crime. They never wanted to harm anyone in the United States.”