Contact: Tom Walsh: 773-784-8065
For Immediate Release

(Chicago, IL. Tuesday, August 12th….) On July 29th 2003 Voices in the Wilderness (ViTW) was presented with a summons by the United States Department of Justice, charging ViTW $20,000 in penalties, plus interest and late fees, for bringing medicine and school supplies to Iraq. ViTW has been given 20 days to respond or “judgment by default will be taken against you for the relief demanded in the complaint”.

Since 1996 ViTW has been a campaign to end the US/UN sanctions on Iraq, calling their effect on the Iraqi people inhumane, immoral and unjust. ViTW does not intend to pay these fines. We do not believe that we have acted illegally by bringing desperately needed relief to the Iraqi people. Rather, our response to this summons will be an extension of our effort to draw attention to the devastating condition of life in Iraq and to the direct role that US/UN imposed sanctions and US bombing campaigns have had on ordinary Iraqi families and the civilian infrastructure.

Bangor Daily News (Maine)
August 12, 2003 Tuesday All Editions
SECTION: B; Pg. 4
BYLINE: AMANDA DUMOND

International activist and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Kathy Kelly spoke on economic sanctions and the effects of war that she witnessed in Iraq at a press conference Monday morning. The event, sponsored by the Peace and Justice Center and the Bangor Chapter of Veterans for Peace, was held at the center.

Kelly, founder of Voices in the Wilderness, a national peace activists group, told Veterans for Peace members and local residents at the press conference that U.S. economic sanctions enabled the U.S. military to win the war easily over a weakened Iraqi populace.

“Democracy is based on information,” she said. “We lost crucial information on ordinary people like ourselves in Iraq” when the sanctions were enacted.

08 August 2003

On July 29, 2003 the US government served Voices in the Wilderness with a summons. This summons calls on Voices to respond in 20 days to civil charges, stating that we have not paid $20,000 in fines plus interest and late fees, for having traveled to Iraq with medicines and toys since 1996.

Read the Summons and VitW ’s responses

• A Call for 20,000 Voices
• What You Can Do to Raise Your Voice
• Summons Document
• Vitw Response to Complaint for Civil Penalties
• Vitw legal response
• VitW’s Press Release
• Letter to Attorney General Ashcroft
• Sign the petition to Ashcroft

International activist and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Kathy Kelly spoke on economic sanctions and the effects of war that she witnessed in Iraq at a press conference Monday morning.

The event, sponsored by the Peace and Justice Center and the Bangor Chapter of Veterans for Peace, was held at the center.

Kelly, founder of Voices in the Wilderness, a national peace activists group, told Veterans for Peace members and local residents at the press conference that U.S. economic sanctions enabled the U.S. military to win the war easily over a weakened Iraqi populace.

“Democracy is based on information,” she said. “We lost crucial information on ordinary people like ourselves in Iraq” when the sanctions were enacted.
Kelly explained the resentment Iraqi families felt against the U.S. military occupation and the state of children dying from waterborne diseases, pneumonia in the winter, and cancer. She expressed concerns not only for the Iraqi people but also for the U.S. soldiers she met who were confused about the war.
Kelly returned from her 21st visit to Iraq on April 19.