CPT Iraq - Human Rights Testimonies

The following is a transcription of a human rights questionnaire filled out by Mohamed Kamel Yahya (with the assistance of a translator) detailing his case. Some spelling and grammar errors have been noted to aid the reader.

June 16th to June 30th
Initiated by Jubilee Iraq* and Voices in the Wilderness**

International social justice activists (from Iraq, the U.S., the U.K. and elsewhere) will gather in Geneva, Switzerland from June 16th to June 30th to demand economic justice for Iraqi citizens. The continued economic exploitation of Iraq’s resources is a form of violence which must be resisted. Those of us who are citizens of the U.S. and U.K. bear a special responsibility as it is our respective countries which created and held firm to the economic sanctions regime which devastated Iraq’s health care, education, water and electrical infrastructure.

The fast, beginning June 15th, will precede and continue to the conclusion of the final meeting of the United Nations Compensation Commission (U.N.C.C.), which takes place from June 28th to 30th. The U.N.C.C. determines which claims for war reparations relating to the occupation of Kuwait in 1990-1 are to be paid by Iraq and at what amount.

The full Senate has begun debate on the supplemental spending bill to provide nearly $75 billion more to fund the war in Iraq. The debate resumes this Wednesday morning. Two preliminary amendments were voted on Tuesday evening. The vote on the full bill can happen at any time now. Call your Senators now to tell them to vote against the supplemental spending bill..

Contact information for your Senator can be found here
Illionois Residents can call
Richard Durbin, Minority Whip (D - IL), (202) 224-2152
Barack Obama (D - IL) (202) 224-2854.

In lightning quick speed, the Senate Appropriations Committee has approved the Emergency Supplemental Spending Bill which provides an additional $74.4 billion in funding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The bulk of this will be for the war in and occupation of Iraq. Even an anemic effort to amend the bill to establish a Congressional committee to oversee how the funds are spent was defeated in the Committee.

The full Senate is expected to vote on the bill April 11.

Tell your Senator today to vote against the Supplemental Spending Bill. Do not delay!

Contact information for your Senator can be found here.

Related Links

• 4 Arrested at Senator Durbin’s Chicago Office
• More Money for War - Urgent Action Required

Senate Appropriations Committee to “Mark Up” Funding Bill on April 6

On April 6 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time, the Senate Appropriations Committee will meet to “mark-up” the Emergency Supplemental Spending Bill which would provide upwards of $80 billion in additional funds for the U.S. war in Iraq. Contact members of the Committee as well as your own Senators to tell them to vote “No”.

Click here to contact members of the Appropriations Committee. Click here to contact your own Senators. Click here for a complete list of members of the Senate Appropriations Committee with their Washington, DC office phone numbers.

Following is a model letter which you could send to your Senator or from which you might derive talking points to include in your own letter.

We urge you to vote against the proposed Supplemental Spending Bill which is pending before the U.S. Senate. We urge you to publicly state your oppostion to this bill, both verbally and in writing. Now is the time to begin to end the U.S. war against and occupation of Iraq.

Our country has waged economic and military warfare against the people of Iraq for the past 15 years. It is time for this war to end. It is time to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq; to cancel the “odious debt” incurred by Saddam Hussein; to pay reparations to Iraqis injured by the U.S. war against Iraqi people; and to fully fund the reconstruction of Iraq as Iraqis exercise self-determination and rebuild their country in a manner which benefits the ordinary Iraqi and not the interests of the U.S., the World Bank, the IMF or other international forces.

Following are the Washington, D.C. office phone numbers of Senators who are members of the Senate Appropriations Committee. Click on “continue reading” for the complete list with Washington, D.C. office phone numbers.