PRESS RELEASE - August 29, 1999
EDUCATION for PEACE in IRAQ CENTER (EPIC)
747 10th Street, SE - Suite # 2, Washington, DC 20003
tel. (202) 543-6176 - fax (202) 543-0725 - www.leb.net/epic
Despite State Dept. Refusal to Validate Passports,
Delegation of Congressional Aides Departs for Iraq
Contact: Erik Gustafson or Shari Silberstein, (202) 543-6176;
Rick McDowell, (978) 544-9021
In the wake of recent concern in Congress over the lack of direction in
the Administration's Iraq policy, five congressional aides from the House
of Representatives left for Iraq today to independently investigate the
consequences of economic sanctions. This delegation represents the first
step towards greater congressional oversight on a policy that has
increasingly come under fire for causing hundreds of thousands of civilian
deaths. The delegation will also investigate the health effects of
depleted uranium (DU), an anti-armour weapon used extensively by the U.S.
during the Gulf War. DU has been attributed to Gulf War illnesses among
U.S. veterans and Iraqi civilians.
At an August 23 briefing, State Department Spokesman James Foley confirmed
that the State Department had refused to validate the passports of the
aides, and added that traveling to Iraq on a U.S. passport which has not
been validated "may constitute a violation" of U.S. law.
"The State Department's refusal to validate the passports at the request
of Members of Congress represents an unprecedented form of censorship,"
said Erik Gustafson, a Gulf War veteran and Executive Director of the
Education for Peace in Iraq Center. "The Administration has clearly tried
to block Congress from examining a policy which has been in place for nine
years. What are they afraid of? We applaud the decision of the
congressional offices to go ahead with the delegation."
This delegation will be the first direct investigation of the impact,
success, and limitations of the sanctions policy since 1991, either by
members of Congress or by congressional staff. The group will return on
September 5.
The trip also follows UNICEF's release of the first comprehensive survey
on child and maternal mortality since 1991 (released August 12, 1999).
The survey found that the majority of the country suffered a
more-than-two fold rise in under-5 infant mortality, a tragedy that
UNICEF's Executive Director, Carol Bellamy, blames partially on
UN-imposed economic sanctions.
"With almost no congressional oversight, the Administration's Iraq policy
has been a colossal failure," Gustafson continued. "Half a million
children are dead, international consensus is destroyed, the disarmament
process has collapsed, and American taxpayers and farmers are paying
billions in taxes and lost export revenues."
Despite the urgent humanitarian crisis and the lack of congressional
oversight in US Iraq policy thus far, the State Department attempted to
block the delegation, citing the grave danger of what they termed
"friendly fire." Their warning follows an escalation of air strikes by
US and British planes, including a recent attack outside of the "no-fly"
zone, which killed 19 civilians. The air strikes, which have continued
almost daily since December 1998, constitute the longest sustained US
bombing campaign since the Vietnam War. Recent initiatives in Congress
have begun to question the lack of direction in current policy.
The congressional offices participating in the delegation are:
Representatives Sam Gejdenson (CT) (ranking Democrat of the International
Relations Committee), Cynthia McKinney (GA) (ranking Democrat of the
International Operations & Human Rights Subcommittee), Danny Davis
(D-IL), Earl Hilliard (D-AL) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
The delegation is endorsed by over 40 organizations and leading
individuals, including the Arab American Institute, American Friends
Service Committee, Education for Peace in Iraq Center, the Washington
office of the Presbyterian Church (USA), the National Gulf War Resource
Center, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, and Physicians for
Social Responsibility, as well as a former Senator and Nobel Peace Prize
Laureates.
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