Group forms peace team
to help Iraqis
\foices In The Wilderness
began the Iraq Peace Team
to live among Iraqi civilians
and provide food and aid
War hits home
Aimee Rudin
City/State Politics Reporter
During the last several months,
many civilians throughout the West
ern world have voiced their opposi
tion to the war in Iraq.
In the United States, advocates for
peace have overtaken the streets in
organized marches for peace, sent
thousands of letters to senators and
representatives asking them to end
the war and formed boycotts of prod
ucts and people directly supporting
the Bush administration. Although
most major battles in Iraq have been
fought, the war has not ended.
Iraqi and coalition forces and
civilians of many different nationali
ties have died in the war. Coalition
leaders have maintained that the
war is necessary to ensure the safety
of the world.
“The safety of the American peo
ple depends on ending this direct and
growing threat,” President George W.
Bush said in a press conference at the
end of February. “Acting against the
danger will also contribute gready to
the long-term safety and stability of
our world. The current Iraqi regime
has shown the power of tyranny to
spread discord and violence in the
Middle East.”
A handful of organizations have
dedicated their efforts to showing
the people of Iraq, and the world
community, that not everyone be
lieves in or wants the war.
Voices In The Wilderness was es
tablished in 1996 as a joint U.S. and
U.K. campaign to end the economic
sanctions and military warfare
against the people of Iraq. Since its
inception, more than 60 VITW dele
gations have traveled to Iraq in viola
tion of U.S.-opposed sanctions.
VITW advocates nonviolence as a
means for social change. The group
opposes “the development, storage
and use by any country of weapons of
mass destruction, be they nuclear,
biological, chemical or economic.”
In September, VITW initiated the
Iraq Peace Team, a group of revolving
members who travel to Iraq to live
among civilians and join in a stance of
solidarity with the Iraqi people. Mem
bers of the group bring aid and food to
civilians in war tom areas.
Kathy Kelly, co-founder of VITW
and a two-time Nobel Peace Prize
nominee, has been in Iraq with the
peace team for the majority of the
last four months. She was on the
ground when the U.S.-led bombing
began in March.
Kelly has been working with other
Peace Team members to show soli
darity with the Iraqi people. She re
cently encountered several U.S. sol
diers who questioned her and other
members’ reasons for being in Iraq
and explained their own.
“Each of them has assured us they
didn’t want to kill anyone,” Kelly said.
“One young man said he was desper
ate for financial aid to care for his wife
and young child while struggling to
complete college studies and work
full-time. He felt he could gain some
respect in this world and also help his
family by joining the Marines.”
The soldier told Kelly he hadn’t shot
anyone, but he saw a U.S. soldier shoot
at a civilian car carrying two adults and
a child. Both adults were killed imme
diately. The child survived.
“They could have shot the tires,”
the soldier said. “Some just want to
kill.”
Kelly said the majority of the sol
diers have been respectful toward
the Iraqi civilians and the Peace
Team. She said many are already
tired of the war and ready for the
fighting to be over.
“Looting and burning continue,
here in Baghdad,” Kelly said in an e
mailed letter back to VITW head
quarters in Chicago. “I’m sick of war
—disgusted to the point of nausea. I
think all of us at this intersection,
residents of A1 Fanar, journalists in
the Palestine Hotel next door and
soldiers on patrol, share the same
queasy ill feeling. The line ‘War is the
health of the state’ makes no sense
whatsoever here.”
According to VITW speaking coor
dinator Laurie Hasbrook, there are still
four members, including Kelly, in Iraq.
A few groups have traveled to Iraq
with the hope of placing their own
bodies between the fighting and
buildings like hospitals and food stor
age facilities. These people, called
human shields, operate on the hope
that armed forces will see a Western
face among a planned target and
make the decision not to fire. Iraqi
leaders often station the human
shields in front of areas that could be
considered military targets.
“Our strategy is potentially danger
ous, but that is a risk we must take in
standing beside our brothers and sis
ters in Iraq,” Organizer of the Human
Shield Project Ken Nichols O’Keefe
said. “There are literally billions of
people around the world who are op
posed to this war, yet our so-called
‘democracies’ in the U.S. and Britain
are plunging us into it. We can, and we
must, stop this war, and all we need to
achieve this is a few thousand volun
teers to migrate to Iraq.”
Human Rights Watch Executive
Director Kenneth Roth said the use
of human shields by either side of
the war was a criminal act.
“If Iraq uses people as human
shields, that is a war crime,” he said.
“If the United States attacks targets
that are shielded by civilians with
Andrew Cutraro St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Human shield Yukiko Muragishi of Japan passes a plate of food to U.S. Marines at a
water treatment project in northern Baghdad on April 12. Seven human shields have
been working to protect the plant from destruction.
out demonstrating an overwhelming
military necessity to do so, that
would be a war crime, too.”
Military forces have already killed
several civilians acting as human
shields. Many of the shields have
been asked to leave the country, or
have been deported to Jordan and
other surrounding countries.
Peter Bergel, executive director of
Oregon PeaceWorks, said aid groups
such as VITW are very different from
the human shield movement, but
both are forms of civil disobedience.
“People are beginning to see that if
they can risk their lives as soldiers
than they can also risk their lives as
peace advocates,” Bergel said. “We
are primarily saying we want a dif
ferent way of dealing with conflict.”
For more information on aid
groups, visit the Voices In The Wilder
ness Web site at www.vitw.org.
Contact the senior reporter
at aimeerudin@dailyemerald.com.
Review
continued from page 1
ject matter. Ranging from bright, ex
cited activity to serene landscapes,
three photographs in particular stand
out. “SamulNori” captures a man spin
ning in midair while playing a percus
sion instrument. The long white ribbon
on his hat looks like a kite tail gracefully
snapping with the motion of his body.
“Jwibul nore” shows a curious
night scene, which illustrates a tradi
tional folk game where field embank
ments are set on fire. Players twirl
sticks like batons, creating large or
ange circles of fire that sparkle in the
night. Other photographs showcase
bold masks and dance performances
that signify the harvests and customs
of a once agrarian society.
The most notable photograph is
simply called “Landscape,” a view
near the Seonunsa Temple in
Gochang, which is in the Jeollabuk-do
Province. Photographed from behind,
a hooded walker retreats down a path
lined with old trees enshrouded in fog.
The scene conjures this philo
sophical passage from “On the
Road,” a travelogue by writer Joo
young Kim: “While on the road, I
discovered that the things with the
most global appeal were those that
are the most Korean in nature. I also
discovered that underlying the tra
ditional ways of Korean relations is
certain humility based on integrity
and restraint. And because of this,
the true beauty of Korea is subtle
and free of artifice.”
In addition to photographs, “Im
ages of Korea” includes a glass case
containing a sample of Korean crafts
and traditional costumes. Of special
interest are two elegant pipes that
are approximately two feet long, a
decorative painted screen and a
lovely robe. Lastly, an impressive
scholar’s desk connotes the sort of
serious contemplation and careful
writing to which many of us aspire.
Sohn’s professionalism, drawing on
her expertise as a program officer for
the Korean Foundation in Seoul, Ko
rea, shines in the exhibit, with prom
ises of other intriguing Korean arts,
film and scholarly lectures to come.
Be sure to check out this exhibition
before it leaves on Friday. Visit
www.meetkorea.org for further details.
Jen Katz-Buonincontro is a freelance
writer for the Emerald.
Andrea Cooper
presents
kr 1st l ia/s s>tor\A
The story of Andrea’s daughter, Kristin, who com
mitted suicide after being raped by a “friend” and
falling into a deep depression.
April 30th, 7pm
McArthur Court
Open to the Public
for no charge
Sponsored by the Panhellenic and
Interfraternity Councils, Office of Student
Life, Counseling Center, Womens Center
and Alpha Chi Omega National Sorority
016368
Oregoi Daily Emerald end-af-the-p1 bakesale
Monday, April 28 - all day, in front of the UO Bookstore
All the homemade delicacies that can fit in one bake sale, held by your
friendly Emerald staff members.
We will be selling cookies, brownies,
lemon bars, nmffins, donuts, cup cakes
and much more.
[^[/ All proceeds will go toward Emerald expenses.
Yes, it has come to this!
[Cgme in
by, get some
goodies and
chat with
IE staff.]