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

Iraqis living in the neighborhood of Jumhurriyah continue to languish in streets filled with water and sewage. Children are dying from water born diseases and inadequate emergency services with no signs of improvement, since troops arrived in March of this year. People are fearful and possess a clear desire for security, a security that is increasingly threatened by acts of violence by both military and factions in Iraq.

Cathy Breen, John Farrell, Kathy Kelly and Ed Kinane are available for interviews via cell phone from Baghdad.

To schedule interviews, please call Tom Walsh at 773.784.8065.

For further updates on our response to the summons and on our witness in Iraq please visit www.vitw.org and www.electroniciraq.net