Last week we wrote to encourage vigorous refutation of any notions that UN reports about suffering and death in Iraq were corrupt. Below is a 150 word letter to the editor. We ask that you take 5 to 10 minutes to send the follwing letter (or a modified version of it) to two or three papers in your area.

Thanks and sincerely,
Voices in the Wilderness

Bert Sacks has written an article about the corporate media’s “serious, non-benign fantasy” that is being portrayed to the public concerning the Oil-for-Food program and sanctions.

by Bert Sacks — December 2, 2004

The movie Polar Express takes viewers on a fantasy trip to the North Pole. The computer-generated virtual reality that the movie creates is amazing. I saw it Thanksgiving evening.

The next day a friend recorded a 2-minute segment on Fox News Channel about the “scandal” of the U.N.’s oil-for-food program. In its way, it too was an amazing fantasy trip into a virtual reality.

The finale of Polar Express is reaching the North Pole to meet Santa. Santa is important because he has a fantastic bag of toys. But Polar Express is pretty benign compared to the fantasy of Fox.

Fox News Channel’s report on the “scandal” of the oil-for-food program concludes that it was the willingness of critics of the US/UN economic sanctions program “before all the facts were in, that partially enabled Saddam Hussein to get away with killing so many of his own people.” This is serious, non-benign fantasy.

Vigil for Peace and Witness against War