Voices in the Wilderness Ordered to Pay $20K for Bringing Aid to Iraq

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A federal judge has ordered the human rights group Voices in the Wilderness to pay $20,000 for violating the sanctions against Iraq. A decade ago, Voices in the Wilderness began openly violating the sanctions, bringing in symbolic amounts of medical, educational and humanitarian aid to Iraq on a regular basis. We speak with the group’s founder, Kathy Kelly. [includes rush transcript]

“Voices in the Wilderness Will Refuse to Comply with Order”

For Further Information: Jeff Leys or Kathy Kelly at 773-784-8065

Chicago-On August 12, 2005 U.S. Federal District Judge John Bates ordered payment of a $20,000 fine imposed against Voices in the Wilderness. Voices was fined for bringing medicine to Iraq in a classic campaign of open nonviolent civil disobedience to challenge the economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. and the U.N. against Iraq. The U.S. Treasury Department initially imposed the fine in 2002, days after Voices participated in international actions to oppose the U.S. buildup for war against Iraq.

Voices in the Wilderness issued the following statement:

“Today, the judiciary branch of the U.S. government completed a perfect trifecta of inhumanity in upholding a $20,000 fine against Voices in the Wilderness for bringing medicine to Iraqi citizens. Judge Bates agrees that it was lawful and proper for the U.S. government to deny needed drugs and medical supplies to Iraq’s most vulnerable citizens, despite the evidence that several hundred thousand innocent children were dying because of brutal economic sanctions.

“Voices will not pay a penny of this fine. The economic sanctions regime imposed brutal and lethal punishment on Iraqi people. The U.S. government would not allow Iraq to rebuild its water treatment system after the U.S. military deliberately destroyed it in 1991. The U.S. government denied Iraq the ability to purchase blood bags, medical needles and medicine in adequate supplies-destroying Iraq’s health care system.

“We chose to travel to Iraq in order to openly challenge our country’s war against the Iraqi people. We fully understood that our acts could result in criminal or civil charges. We acted because when our country’s government is committing a grievous, criminal act, it is incumbent upon each of us to challenge in every nonviolent manner possible the acts of the government.

“We continue to oppose the U.S. occupation of Iraq, which continues the devastation of the Iraqi people. Over the past two years of occupation, the health care and water systems in Iraq have not improved. Nearly 300,000 children under the age of 5 now suffer from acute child malnutrition. It’s likely that over 100,000 Iraqis have died because of the occupation-either killed outright by military action or died because of the lack of safe drinking water, adequate health care, lack of food. What has our country wrought in Iraq?

“We choose to continue our non-cooperation with the government’s war on the Iraqi people through the simple act of refusing to pay this fine. To pay the fine would be to collaborate with the U.S. government’s ongoing war against Iraq. We will not collaborate.

“We fully understand that the U.S. government may take other action against Voices in the Wilderness, or possibly us as individuals, for our continued refusal to collaborate with the government’s policies. But we invite representatives from the government to enter into dialogue with us about how best to correct the misguided, ill-conceived and criminal acts of our country towards the Iraqi people. We invite all U.S. citizens to pause and consider how we might bring about an end to the blood shed and the violence in Iraq-an end to the occupation and payment of reparations to Iraq for the devastation our country has wrought upon the Iraqi people these past 15 years.

“We pause to ponder the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who asked of himself and his co-conspirators in resistance to Hitler, whether they were yet of any use. We too live in times of unspeakable peril and violence. We too live in times when questioning and resisting our government is the one path remaining to act for justice. We too have struggled and seen untold numbers of innocent people die at our government’s hand. We too answer as Bonhoeffer did, that yes, indeed, our acts and fidelity to our brothers and sisters throughout the world are not only of use, but of absolute necessity. We invite all to join us in a conspiracy of life to end our country’s war against the Iraqi people.”

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The following Seattle Times article features Bert Sacks who traveled with Voices in the Wilderness to Iraq. It is a good overview of the court case. Following the article is a Letter to the Editor by Sacks correcting “one important error in the story.”

Sunday, July 12, 2005
Seattle Times
Local B5
BY MARCEL HONORE

Medill News Service

WASHINGTON - Whether at home in Washington state or away in Washington, D.C., Bert Sacks can’t seem to get the federal government to see things his way.

Sacks, an outspoken Seattle antiwar activist, took nine trips to deliver medicine to Iraqi children between 1996 and 2002 in defiance of U.N. sanctions. Last week, he faced new legal hurdles from the Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC), the Treasury Department agency that enforces economic and trade sanctions.

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.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 5, 2005

FURTHER INFORMATION:
Scott Blackburn at 773-784-8065
Jeff Leys at cell 773-573-5380 (on July 5th & 6th on site in Washington, D.C.)

PARTICIPANTS INCLUDE:
Kathy Kelly, co-founder of Voices in the Wilderness and 2 time nominee for Nobel Peace Prize
Bill Quigley, Attorney representing Voices in the Wilderness
Bert Sacks, Voices delegate fined by the U.S. government for travelling to Iraq

COURT HEARING:
9:00 A.M., July 6th
U.S. Federal District Court - Courtroom of Judge John Bates
3rd and Constitution NW, Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.-Representatives of Voices in the Wilderness will gather on the steps of the U.S. Federal District Court at 8:30 a.m. and again at 2:00 p.m., before and following a hearing in Judge Bates’s courtroom on July 6th as the U.S. government continues to pursue a 20,000 dollar fine against the organization. Judge Bates has requested additional oral argument. The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control alleges that a 1998 Voices delegation violated economic sanctions law against Iraq when it delivered medical supplies to Iraqis. Voices organized over 70 such delegations as part of this campaign of civil disobedience.

At 2:00 p.m., lawyers for Voices in the Wilderness will offer an update on the case. Voices members will then walk a short distance to the Treasury Department and there hold a rally, carrying signs that call the Treasury Department to accountability for enacting economic sanctions that directly contributed to sickness and death in Iraq over a 15 year period. The group notes that the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control paid almost no attention to U.S. oil companies that violated economic sanctions, and yet was swift to threaten and penalize groups that traveled to Iraq for humanitarian reasons.