American Friends Service Committee
December 25, 1998

Because of U.S.-led economic sanctions:
•6,000 Iraq! civilians die each month.
•Infant mortality rates have more than doubled.
•Infant and toddler acute malnutrition rates have risen 200 percent.
•One million children under five are chronically malnourished.
•Tuberculosis rates have soared more than 500 percent.
(UNICEF, Situation Analysis of Children and Women in Iraq, 1998)

At the convergence of momentous religious occasions for three faiths, Judaism, Christianity, Islam-a time to cultivate peace-the United States has taken new actions of war. The United States says that Iraqi civilians are not the target of U.S. policy in Iraq. But Iraqi civilians continue to suffer the consequences. We must ask: to what end?

We call on the United Staes government and all member states of the United Nations to honor their humanitarian responsibility toward the people of Iraq.

American Friends Service Committee • Catholic Worker: Germantown, Guadalupe, St. Martin's Deporres Hartford, House of Grace, San Bruno, Redwood City, Sister Peter Claver House, Las Vegas, Los Angeles • The Bruderhof Communities • Fellowship of Reconciliation • Muslim Peace Fellowship • Mennonite Central Committee • Institute Leadership Team, Sisters of Mercy of the Americas • MAP, Franciscan Sisters, Redwood City, CA • Pace e Bene Nonviolence Center, Las Vegas • Justice and Peace Committee of the Baltimore Redemptorists • Islamic Society of North America • Episcopal Peace Fellowship • General Board of Global Ministries, The United Methodist Church • Maryknoll Fathers, Brothers, Sisters and Lay Missioner's Office for Global Concerns • MADRE • Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP) • Middle East Children's Alliance • National Association of Arab Americans (NAAA) • PAX Christi USA • American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) • Southern Christian Leadership Conference • Jewish Peace Fellowship • Methodist Peace Fellowship • Church of the Brethren, Washington Office • Unitarian Universalist Peace Fellowship • Villanova University, Center for Peace & Justice Education • Voices in the Wilderness • Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, U.S. Section • Institute for Policy Studies, Middle East Program • Sector North America Assembly, Medical Mission Sisters Saint Vincent depaul Church • War Resisters League • Cesar Jerez Catholic Worker • Augustinian Peace & Justice • Redemptorist Use Ministries • Iraq Action Coalition • International Action Center National Arab American Medical Association • Veterans for Peace • Individuals: Thomas Gumbleton, Auxiliary Bishop, Archdiocese of Detroit • Daniel Berrigan, Plowshares • Ramsey Clark, former Afforney General • Rev. Lucius Walker, Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization/Pastor's for Peace.