15 Aug 2002 @ 17:20, by Martin Oliver
In early May this year, US war veterans made an important journey to Iraq to help repair four water treatment facilities in the southern province of Al-Basrah that had been devastated by bombing and sanctions.
One result of the UN sanctions that have been in place since 1991 is a lack of hard currency for Iraq to buy essential spare parts. Non-functioning water treatment facilities and resulting waterborne diseases have led to a high rate of infant mortality, and fatalities among the sick and elderly.
The veterans were carrying out a humanitarian project organised by Veterans for Peace, a US group founded in 1985 by ex-service members who are 'committed to sharing the horrors they had experienced'. Its key goals are to denounce war and 'wage peace'.
The Iraq Water Project is a joint initiative with another organisation called Life for Relief and Development. Both groups wanted to make a public demonstration of support for the Iraqi people, with participants risking fines and jail sentences for breaking the economic embargo. Citizens of the US, Canada and Japan worked in the hot sun alongside Iraqi labourers in an international show of solidarity.
The last visit saw the completion of 'Phase 1', giving a further 66,000 people access to clean drinking water. Since 2000, water treatment facilities to meet the needs of 100,000 people have been repaired through the group's efforts. The next to be rebuilt are in centre of the country, and donations are gratefully accepted. Veterans for Peace aims to continue rebuilding water treatment plants until the sanctions are lifted.
Candy Lovett, a Gulf veteran with Gulf War Syndrome, requires crutches or a wheelchair for mobility. She said about her visit to the country last year 'The trip changed my life. I will live each day and breathe each breath to see that justice is done in Iraq'.
The group is strongly opposed to George Bush's planned invasion of the country, and deliberately makes a distinction between the dictator Saddam Hussein and the human reality of a people in many ways very much like us, who would suffer greatly if a military action went ahead.
Contact:
Veterans for Peace, World Community Center, 438 No Skinker, St Louis, MO 63130,
USA
Ph: 1 314 725 6005
Email: vfp@igc.org
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