Bert Sacks speaking with the media

On July 6, 2005, VITW was back in federal court before US District Judge Bates in the continuing effort of the US Treasury and OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control) to force VITW to pay a $20,000 fine for bringing medicine to children in Iraq during one trip in the 1990s. VITW supporters, including many who travelled to Iraq filled most of the courtroom seats. Ultimately the judge said he was going to decide rather quickly if OFAC would be required to produce their whole file on VITW or not and then he would decide the case in the next few weeks.

We had hoped that the judge wanted to question the government about the May 2005 reports from the US Senate that hundreds of millions of barrels of oil were transported from Iraq to US oil companies in 2000-2002 in violation of the sanctions.

But the judge only wanted more discussion about whether the four plus year delay in seeking fines from VITW was “prompt” as required by the regulations. One of our attorneys Carl Messineo did an excellent job in repeatedly turning the technical discussion around to the fact that action against VITW was political retaliation taken only days after Voices members in Baghdad participated by live TV feed with world-wide protests against the impending war in Iraq.

Another of our lawyers, Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, brilliantly shattered the government’s official silence about the smuggling of hundreds of millions of barrels of oil allowed in open violation of the sanctions and contrasted that with the selective prosecution of VITW for bringing medicines. The judge argued that it was unfair to the government for VITW to compare oil companies and VITW, but Mara persisted in explaining why allowing oil companies to break the sanctions while penalizing humanitarian aid was unfair and illegal. The judge said VITW could make a written presentation to the court about this new evidence and why VITW thought it was relevant.

Bill Quigley then pointed out that it was unjust to talk about these issues in a technical way without understanding that 500,000 children had died because of the sanctions. The judge became visibly upset and stated that he did not want to be preached at and the courtroom was not the place to discuss moral issues. Bill insisted that the courtroom was exactly the place to discuss justice issues and this was a clear justice issue. The judge asked Bill to stop arguing because, as a judge, he had a limited role and it was up to Congress and the UN to make decisions about the sanctions and he was powerless to second-guess the law, his job was only to apply it. Bill then reminded the judge that lawyers and judges had returned slaves to slave holders and sentenced women to jail for voting and fined and jailed people for sitting at white-only lunch counters - actions where people applied the law in the course of their jobs that was later found to clearly be unjust. The judge again asked Bill to sit down saying that he was re-arguing issues that had already been decided. The judge said he would consider a written motion for reconsideration of his earlier rulings that international law, the Geneva Convention, and constitutional law did not apply in this case but would not hear any more oral argument about these issues. Bill thanked the judge and sat down.

In the end, the judge will decide whether he is going to order OFAC to produce the VITW file. VITW lawyers are planning to file additional papers with the court. Whether the court will grant VITW any right to question the government or to get copies of government documents about oil companies or any other issue is still unknown.

It is absolutely important to note that the many VITW supporters in the courtroom showed everyone involved the importance of the case. Thanks to the many who travelled to DC for this hearing.

The struggle for justice continues. Stay tuned!