A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ANN ARBOR URGING IMMEDIATE LIFTING OF ECONOMIC SANCTIONS AGAINST IRAQ

    Passed July 1, 2000 by a margin of 7 to 1

    WHEREAS, August 6, 2000 marks the end of a decade of economic sanctions against the people of Iraq, and

    WHEREAS, the United Nations reports that these sanctions have resulted in the deaths of at least one million citizens of Iraq, including at least 500,000 children under the age of 5, and

    Scenes from the La Crosse vigil

    WHEREAS, these sanctions prevent Iraq from rebuilding its civilian infrastructure and receiving much needed medical supplies and other essential material, and

    WHEREAS, the economic output of Iraq, with a population of 24 million, has been reduced through sanctions to less than one-half of the economic output of metropolitan Ann Arbor, and

    WHEREAS, Richard Butler, former United Nations Chief Weapons Inspector, has stated that "I deeply believe that sanctions as now applied to Iraq have been utterly counterproductive for ...disarmament purpose[s]", and former United Nations Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter has confirmed that "...Iraq has been disarmed", and

    WHEREAS, Denis Halliday, former United Nations Assistant Secretary General and initial Director of the Iraq Oil-for-Food Program, his successor as Director, Hans Sponeck, and Jutta Burghardt, head of the United Nations World Food Program in Iraq, have each resigned their positions in protest over the effects of the sanctions on the population of Iraq, and

    WHEREAS, President Bill Clinton stated on March 21, 2000, "I think that the targeting of innocent civilians is the worst thing about modern conflicts today. And the extent to which more and more people seem to believe it is legitimate to target innocent civilians to reach their larger political goals, I think that's something that has to be resisted at every turn.", and

    WHEREAS, on April 5, 1999, the City Council of Ann Arbor unanimously resolved that "We commend his [Bishop Thomas Gumbleton's] challenge to the genocidal policy of sanctions and join him in urging the immediate end to this policy", and notes that since that date over 70,000 additional Iraqi children under the age of five have perished as a result of the sanctions, and

    WHEREAS, since December 20, 1998, more than 12,000 sorties have been flown against Iraq in the US/UK self-declared "no fly zones", at a cost to American taxpayers of one billion dollars annually (a sum sufficient to place an additional teacher or social worker in every middle and high school in the United States), and


    WHEREAS, the residents and businesses of Ann Arbor through income tax payments contribute over $380,000,000 annually to the cost of present and past military-related activities (over $3,500 per capita), an amount 25% greater than the annual city and school budgets combined, and

    WHEREAS, on April 16, 1953, former President Dwight Eisenhower noted that "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed."

    NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of Ann Arbor that it again urges the immediate lifting of economic sanctions against Iraq, the rebuilding of the Iraqi infrastructure (such as water purification, sewage treatment facilities and agricultural irrigation), and the allowing of free flow of medical and humanitarian aid into Iraq without threat of prosecution by United States or international authorities.

    BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we implore the citizens of the United States and candidates for local, state and national public office to place on the public agenda a thorough discussion and evaluation of domestic priorities and foreign military expenditures.

    BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that copies of this resolution and support materials be sent to the President, the Vice-President, the Secretary of State, the Governor of Texas, other presidential candidates, the Michigan Congressional Delegation, the Governor of Michigan, and local members of the Michigan House and Senate.

    Aye: Sheldon, Hanna-Davies, Hieftje, Herrell, Higgins, Daley, Kolb

    Nay: Upton

    VOICES asks: if Ann Arbor can care, why can't we care in La Crosse, too?