Contact: Tom Walsh
(w) 773.784.8065

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Chicago, IL. Friday, September 5, 2003)

Four members of Voices in the Wilderness (Cathy Breen-NY, John Farrell- IL, Kathy Kelly-IL, and Ed Kinane-NY) traveled to Basra, Iraq this week to assess the quality of life after 13 years of sanctions, war and ongoing military occupation. The quality of life they found for 1.5 million Iraqis who call Basra home was far from normal.

They visited with families befriended over the last eight years and found most people hopeless and shell shocked. They visited hospitals in Basra and found them overwhelmed and critically short of supplies. They also had the opportunity to interview doctors who treated Army Private Jessica Lynch before her rescue on April 1, 2003.

"What we found was a population with a lot of personal trauma with no were to get help, no doctors to treat them nor security personnel to improve the situation in the streets. It is worse in Basra today that at anytime since the Gulf war…which is a pretty amazing realization considering the death and destruction this city has seen over the last 13 years." - John Farrell