Purpose of Voices in the Wilderness:

Voices in the Wilderness was formed in 1996 to nonviolently challenge the economic warfare being waged by the US against the people of Iraq. Voices continues its work today, acting to end to the US occupation of Iraq. As US citizens, our key demands of our government include:

• An end to the US occupation of Iraq.
• The clean-up in Iraq of depleted uranium, cluster bombs and landmines and other unexploded weapons, with this clean-up fully funded by the US. A prohibition on any future use of such weapons.
• Respect for all human rights and worker rights in Iraq.
• Respect for Iraqi movement toward self-determination and renunciation of any effort to create a puppet government with strings attached to the US’ own national interest.
• Payment of restitution by the US government to Iraqis who suffered loss as a result of the past 14 years of economic and military warfare at the hands of the US.
• Reconstruction of Iraq funded by the US and its allies, but directed by and for the benefit of Iraqi citizens.
• Employment of Iraqis, not non-Iraqis, in the rebuilding of Iraq, with Iraqis being paid a living wage.
• Full health care for all, including US soldiers and Iraqis, who suffered physical or psychological injuries as a result of the US war against Iraq.
• Redirecting our country’s resources away from war-making and towards funding of the common good. The common good includes fully funded universal health care and education, including post-high school education. It also includes employment which pays a living wage.

History of Voices

In 1991, international peace and justice activists formed the Gulf Peace Team. They established a peace encampment along the Saudi Arabia-Iraq border in the weeks leading up to the US led invasion of Iraq that began on Martin Luther King Day in January 1991. The Team sought to intercede in the planned invasion and called for a peaceful resolution of the conflict.

In 1996, several members of the Gulf Peace Team formed Voices in the Wilderness. Voices was established in response to the devastation being levied against the people of Iraq through the global economic sanctions against Iraq. The economic sanctions contributed to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of children under the age of 5.

The economic sanctions did not merely cause widespread suffering amongst ordinary Iraqi citizens. The sanctions regime actually strengthened Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq. The sanctions devastated the professional and middle class of Iraq, from which dissent might have arisen. The sanctions allowed Saddam to assume the mantle of pan-Arab nationalism in opposition to the US.

Voices did not hold Saddam’s regime blameless in the plight of the Iraqi people. Voices addressed violations of human rights in Iraq in discussions with representatives of Saddam Hussein’s regime.

Voices sponsored over 70 delegations in Iraq to openly challenge the sanctions against Iraq. Each delegation brought medicine and other humanitarian supplies to Iraq. US law prohibited this simple humanitarian act. As a result of these acts of civil disobedience, the US government is seeking to impose a $20,000 fine against Voices, which we will refuse to pay.

As the US prepared to invade Iraq, Voices created the Iraq Peace Team (IPT). Activists from the US, Canada, Great Britain, Australia and elsewhere chose to live in solidarity with Iraqi people in the days leading up to the official start of the US invasion in 2003. IPT delegates sought to accompany Iraqi people before, during and after the US invasion-not as “human shields” but simply as people sharing our common humanity. IPT delegates returning home prior to the official start of the invasion organized nonviolent civil resistance to the invasion.

Today, Voices continues its work for justice in Iraq. Voices launched the “Life Under Occupation” campaign to keep the occupation of Iraq on the front burner of pubic discourse. We are actively organizing nonviolent civil resistance to the occupation of Iraq. We are engaged in public education and are available to speak with your local organization. We can assist you with nonviolence training and in researching the Iraq war connection in your home community. We continue to maintain our relationships with Iraqis who befriended us over the years.

See also; Voices in the Wilderness: A Brief History (1996-2005)

The Legacy of Economic Sanctions

Economic sanctions were originally levied in 1990 against Iraq as an attempt to reach a non-military resolution to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. However, the sanctions had no end date and were total in nature. The US had full veto power over any plan to end the sanctions and full veto power over any goods which Iraq sought to purchase when the sanctions regime was slightly modified in 1996, with the creation of the “Oil for Food” program. The US exercised this veto power mercilessly against the Iraqi people.

At various points in time, the US would not allow Iraq to import such goods as:

• Blood bags;
• Academic books and journals;
• Chlorine for water treatment plants;
• Software manuals to operate and repair a new water treatment plant.

The sanctions program prevented health care professionals and academics from traveling to conferences in other countries to maintain and improve their skills.

Prior to 1990, Iraq’s health care and educational systems were among the best in the region. Women enjoyed civil liberties denied women elsewhere in the region.

The ensuing 14 years of economic and military warfare meant that by 2003:

• Iraq’s child malnutrition rate had escalated to approximately 30%.
• Schools were in disrepair, with over 53% requiring significant repair work.
• Less than 92% (urban) and 46% (rural) of the country had access to safe, drinkable water. In 1990, over 95% (urban) and 75% (rural) had access to safe, drinkable water. During the first Gulf War in 2001, the US deliberately targeted and bombed Iraq’s water treatment plants.
• The infant death rate rose to 102.1 per 1000 live births (urban) and 116.4 per 1000 (rural). Before 1990, the overall rate was 40 per 1000.
• The cancer rate in Iraq escalated due to the use of depleted uranium by the US. Meanwhile, sanctions prevented Iraq’s doctors from obtaining adequate medication for cancer treatment.

The Legacy of Depleted Uranium & Cluster Bombs

During the first Persian Gulf War, the United States used over 350 tons of weapons tipped with depleted uranium. Between 1100 to 2200 tons were used in the 2003 invasion. The US made extensive use of cluster bombs in 1991, in the 2003 invasion, and during the current occupation.

Depleted uranium (DU) is a byproduct of the enrichment of uranium for use in nuclear power plants or nuclear weapons. It is extremely dense and hard and is used to tip weapons designed to pierce armor and bunkers.
When the weapon explodes, the depleted uranium becomes an aerosol. It is dispersed by the explosion of the weapon. Depleted uranium has a half life of 4.5 billion years.

DU gets into human beings when people breathe in dust particles or drink water or through a cut in the skin. In Iraq, DU caused increases in cancer rates and birth deformities. US veterans are also suffering health effects from being exposed to DU.

Cluster bombs are designed to maim, not kill. The idea is to force an “enemy” to use all their medical time picking shrapnel out of a person. A cluster bomb disperses bomblets in a given area. When these bomblets explode, shards of shrapnel are fired out in every direction.

Up to 16 percent of the bomblets don’t explode when dropped. Children often mistake the little unexploded bomblets as toys, start to play with them, and are killed or maimed when the bomblet explodes. Bomblets are also set off by changes in temperature.

Our country has a moral responsibility to fully fund the clean up of depleted uranium and cluster bombs in Iraq. This includes cleaning up environmental contamination and fully funding health care for those harmed by these weapons.

Life Under Occupation: Become Active

We must strengthen and deepen our nonviolent opposition to our country’s war against the people of Iraq. Voices in the Wilderness seeks to build this opposition through Life Under Occupation, a campaign of nonviolent opposition and resistance to the occupation. Our goal is to achieve justice in Iraq via the attainment of the demands outlined at the start of this brochure.