Interview

Members of Voices join the 100 Days Campaign in Washington DC

Joshua Brollier — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 18:32:52 -0600

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Video clips from Witness Against Torture

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The 100 Days Campaign

Interview with Jeff Leys

Poem By Adnan Latif (A detainee from Yemen being held in Guantanamo)set to music by Joshua Brollier

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The 100 Days Campaign

Interview with Jeff Leys

Poem By Adnan Latif (A detainee from Yemen being held in Guantanamo)set to music by Joshua Brollier

Raising Sand Radio: Kathy Kelly returns from Gaza...and Jerrod Cohen on Israeli Human Rights

Dan Pearson — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 20:40:04 -0600

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An Interview with Susan Galleymore

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February 3, 2009

Click here to listen to the interview on Raising Sand Radio

Kathy Kelly of Voices for Creative Non-violence returns from Gaza and reports on what she found there. Visiting hospitals, tunnels, and families, Kathy Kelly describes the devastation.

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February 3, 2009

Click here to listen to the interview on Raising Sand Radio

Kathy Kelly of Voices for Creative Non-violence returns from Gaza and reports on what she found there. Visiting hospitals, tunnels, and families, Kathy Kelly describes the devastation.

Other Lands Have Dreams: An Interview With Kathy Kelly on GRITtv

Gerald — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 10:47:18 -0600

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Kathy Kelly, the author of Other Lands Have Dreams and a co-founder of Voices for Creative Non-Violence, discusses her recent trip to Gaza.

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January 30, 2009

Kathy Kelly, the author of Other Lands Have Dreams and a co-founder of Voices for Creative Non-Violence, discusses her recent trip to Gaza. As the United States continues to supply Israel with billions in weapons and military hardware the public remains largely in the dark as to how those weapons are used. A tenuous ceasefire may have been reached in Gaza but the violence hasn’t stopped. What can be done? Kelly, who has been an advocate of non-violent resistance for decades, shares her stories.

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VCNV Author

Kathy Kelly

Kathy Kelly interviewed on Democracy Now!

Dan Pearson — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 15:46:40 -0600

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Worse than an Earthquake: Peace Activist Kathy Kelly on the Destruction in Gaza

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January 27, 2009

Worse than an Earthquake: Peace Activist Kathy Kelly on the Destruction in Gaza

Photo: Democracy Now!

President Obama has dispatched George Mitchell on his first trip as Middle East envoy. Mitchell is set to begin in Egypt today, followed by Israel, the occupied West Bank, Jordan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. My next guest has just returned from the Gaza Strip, where she witnessed the Israeli attack. Kathy Kelly is the executive director of Voices for Creative Nonviolence.

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Worse than an Earthquake: Peace Activist Kathy Kelly on the Destruction in Gaza

January 27th, 2009

Kathy Kelly, Executive Director of Voices for Creative Nonviolence. She is a veteran peace activist and the founder of Voices in the Wilderness. She has just returned from the Gaza Strip.

AMY GOODMAN: President Obama has dispatched George Mitchell on his first trip as Middle East envoy. Mitchell is set to begin in Egypt today, followed by Israel, the occupied West Bank, Jordan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Speaking at the White House, Obama said Mitchell will be charged with bringing about “genuine progress.”

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: The charge that Senator Mitchell has is to engage vigorously and consistently in order for us to achieve genuine progress. And when I say “progress,” not just photo-ops, but progress that is concretely felt by people on the ground, so that people feel more secure in their lives, so that they feel that the hopes and dreams and aspirations of their children can be met. That is going to be our task. It is not something that we’re going to be able to do overnight, but I am absolutely confident that if the United States is engaged in a consistent way and an early—in early fashion, that we can make genuine progress. Now, understand that Senator Mitchell is going to be fully empowered by me and fully empowered by Secretary Clinton. So when he speaks, he will be speaking for us. And I’m hopeful that during this initial trip, one of the earliest initiatives that we have taken diplomatically, that not only is he able to communicate effectively how urgent we consider the issue, but that we’re also going to be able to listen and to learn and to find out what various players in the region are thinking. And more immediately, we hope that Senator Mitchell will be able to give us some ideas in terms of how we can solidify the ceasefire, ensure Israel’s security, also ensure that Palestinians in Gaza are able to get the basic necessities they need and that they can see a pathway towards long-term development that will be so critical in order for us to achieve a lasting peace.

AMY GOODMAN: George Mitchell has no immediate plans to visit the Gaza Strip, site of the three-week-long US-backed attack that killed more than 1,300 people, injured more than 5,000. A State Department spokesperson said Mitchell might make it to Gaza. Well, my next guest has just returned from Gaza. She witnessed the Israeli attack. Kathy Kelly is executive director of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, veteran peace activist, founder of Voices in the Wilderness, has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize several times. She joins us in our firehouse studio. Welcome to Democracy Now!, Kathy.

KATHY KELLY: Good morning, Amy.

AMY GOODMAN: How long were you in Gaza, and how did you get in?

KATHY KELLY: We were there, Audrey Stewart and I, for a total of six days, and we had entered after going back up to Cairo and getting an official-stamped letter. You had to swear before the United States embassy in Cairo that you were going in on your own responsibility.

AMY GOODMAN: And what did you see? Where did you go?

KATHY KELLY: We went to Rafah, and we were very fortunate. A family that had fled from their own home and was living in a home that was lent to them in-laws invited us to stay with them. And we were immediately outside the area where people were told to evacuate. And so, we timed it. Every eleven minutes, there would be a huge bomb thudding down on the neighborhood. This was very close to where the tunnel industry had been in full activity prior to the December 27th attacks.

And so, we heard many of the bombs falling, we heard Apache helicopters firing, and then traveled with young people, students, up to Gaza City after the ceasefire was in place and the roads had been cleared and could see just how stunned the students were at the extent of the devastation. And then, from there, we visited inside the hospital, the burn unit, in a major—Shifa Hospital in Gaza, and then went up to Beit Lahiya and Audrey over to Tufa to further see the extent of the damage.

AMY GOODMAN: Speaking with doctors in the hospital, seeing patients, what struck you most?

KATHY KELLY: The doctors said that the majority of their patients were non-military. They were civilians, grandmothers, teenagers, children. They were shaking with rage, honestly, because the world had watched for twenty-two days while this affliction just went on and on. They talked about patients lying on the floor, dying before their eyes, because they couldn’t open up operating rooms, they didn’t have enough materials to try to save all of the people who were coming in desperate need.

They said they had never seen injuries like this before, doctors with fifteen, twenty, thirty years of practice, particularly with regard to the burns. They’ve now, they believe, proven that white phosphorus was used. They had sent one patient’s tissue out for a biopsy in Egypt, and elements of white phosphorus were found in the tissue. And what actually kills people, when the white phosphorus, which is poisonous, goes into the circulatory system, is that the liver can’t process it. And two of their patients died of cardiac arrest after being transported to Egypt.

They also told about the way that surgeons had to work as teams—a vascular surgeon, a neurosurgeon, an orthopedic surgeon—trying desperately to save lives. And the extent of the wounds that each patient came in with, they said, was nothing like they had ever experienced before.

AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to ask you, Kathy Kelly, about this brewing controversy in Britain. Two of Britain’s major broadcasters, the BBC and Sky, are continuing to come under criticism for refusing to air a charity appeal for the victims of the Israel attack on Gaza. The appeal was put together by the Disasters Emergency Committee, or DEC, which includes thirteen of Britain’s main charities. The DEC asked broadcasters to air the three-minute appeal during primetime on Monday, seeking donations for Palestinians affected by the conflict. The appeal aired on many British channels last night, but the BBC and Sky refused. This is an excerpt of the appeal. DEC APPEAL: The children of Gaza are suffering. Many are struggling to survive, homeless and in need of food and water. Today, this is not about the rights and wrongs of the conflict. The hospitals have been overwhelmed with the number of casualties and need more resources to treat them. This is why the DEC has launched this appeal.

AMY GOODMAN: Again, the BBC has come under broad criticism for its decision not to air the appeal. This is Caroline Thomson, chief operating officer for the BBC. CAROLINE THOMSON: It is a matter of a big national, international controversy. There is a big debate about the rights and wrongs of the war and the causes and so on, and we would want that to have stabilized and the situation on the ground to have stabilized before we could reconsider and feel it was something we could do.

AMY GOODMAN: And here is what the BBC’s director-general Mark Thompson had to say. MARK THOMPSON: We believe that the BBC’s reputation of impartiality is so important and so integral to the BBC’s reputation and its trustworthiness here and around the world that it’s very important that we adhere strictly to our principles.

AMY GOODMAN: Again, the charities behind the appeal include the Red Cross, Oxfam, Save the Children and Christian Aid. Kathy Kelly, your response?

KATHY KELLY: Well, many of those charities had even prior to the December 27th attacks issued a scathing report showing how the economic war, the state of siege that had been imposed on Gaza, was something that was in violation of international law. I think that these charities have had on-the-ground experiences, and they should certainly be listened to.

Surely, the humanitarian is political. That’s just a reality that we should all accept. But I think that the journalistic integrity would be most respected if in fact there would be clear reporting on the ways that these assaults, the Israeli assaults on a civilian population, 50 percent of whom are children, violated international law and any standards of human decency and, I believe, should be examined under the questions of genocide.

AMY GOODMAN: Israel said that they would stop during that attack if Hamas stopped launching the rockets. What was the response of Palestinians inside? Has Hamas increased in popularity or decreased?

KATHY KELLY: It’s difficult to answer that question. I, myself, sensed that when people heard the word “victory,” that gave people pause. I mean, you couldn’t look at the extent of the damage and devastation and the amount of time it will take to repair and speak of victory, if in fact you are going to live in that situation for a long time. But I think that the rage that was felt in every conversation that I heard, in terms of the international community allowing this devastation to go on for twenty-two days without stepping in, was a cause of ongoing chagrin. Now, how that will affect Hamas’s political standing, it’s difficult to say.

AMY GOODMAN: How did this compare to your experience of other conflict situations? I mean, you’re famous, Kathy, for traveling the world to conflict zones. You were in Iraq before the invasion and during. You were in Lebanon in 2006.

KATHY KELLY: You know, in Iraq, when people were trapped under the economic sanctions, it seemed as though there was nothing that average, ordinary people could do except be punished again and again and again.

I was impressed by the tunnel industry. In the town of Rafah, which is bisected by the border, people have found a way to deal with the state of siege that was imposed on them imposing collective punishment. And they created a network of tunnels so that—actually, the first day that people could kind of basically come out after the bombing had ended, the stalls in Rafah were pretty stacked with goods. And I thought, well, how did they ever get there? And people just said, “The tunnels.” And so, I think where there’s tremendous need, people don’t like the idea of burrowing underground in order to get food and water and benzene and needed goods, but I think that there’s a great survival ethos that is—

AMY GOODMAN: Israel said the tunnels are used for weapons smuggling, and Tzipi Livni came to the US in the amidst of the attacks to get the US to vow they would stop this weapons smuggling.

KATHY KELLY: But oughtn’t we just use that as a segue into understanding the extent of the United States weapon delivery to the Israeli government? I mean, the planes that were flying overhead were using aviation fuel given free of charge by the United States taxpayers. The drones that are flying overhead doing surveillance represent state-of-the-art modern technology. The amount of money the United States gives annually, $2.6 billion, to Israel—this is a delivery that doesn’t even require any kind of smuggling, because the world has said, yes, the United States and Israel can collaborate, and they can beat up on Palestinian people, pounding them into the ground as much as they want, and there will be complicity.

AMY GOODMAN: What about George Mitchell going to Israel now, going to the occupied West Bank, but at least at this point they’ve not announced plans for him to go to Gaza?

KATHY KELLY: He has such an opportunity to make tracks out of the comfort of offices and salons in Tel Aviv and go to Gaza. Ban Ki-moon did it. My hope is that he would go and stay for several days, that he would make a thorough tour of the Gaza Strip. And I hope that everybody in the United States who’s tuned into his travel will encourage him to avail himself of what is a crucial opportunity to state his own desire to listen, as the President has instructed him to do. He should be listening to the mothers, to the children, to the doctors, to the people who are trying to now rebuild after a fierce and horrible assault.

AMY GOODMAN: Why did you leave Gaza?

KATHY KELLY: You know, the electricity was sporadic. The internet connections were not so available. We felt we had a story to tell, and so we decided—it was a difficult decision to make. We decided, though, that it might be best to leave. But also, the people giving us hospitality, I think, were a bit worried that they were becoming too high-profile. I’ll have to acknowledge that people are afraid of what the Hamas authorities might think of what they’re doing in housing two Westerners, and, you know, shepherding them around the area was perhaps, with students, beginning to become worrisome.

AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to ask what you think of your fellow Chicagoan who has just become President of the United States, Barack Obama, who says he will double the force, for example, in Afghanistan, though has vowed to draw down troops in Iraq.

KATHY KELLY: This is a grave disappointment. I think we can still hold out hope in the reports that he said once, maybe four years ago, that his leading lights were the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King and Mohandas Gandhi. But I think that the pressure that he has buckled under, in terms of adhering to the demands of people who are weapon makers and war makers, is a pressure that won’t bring security to his fellow citizens in the United States or to the world. I hope he’ll step away from US exceptionalism and see the United States as part of the family of nations, not as a nation that has an indispensable role in the world.

AMY GOODMAN: I’ll never forget, not that I was there in Iraq when you were, right before the invasion, but the scene described—I think we talked to you around then—of you holding a protest outside the US embassy right before the attack and the journalists surrounding you, almost attacking you, for what you were doing. Can you explain that scene? They were calling you a collaborator with Saddam Hussein for protesting the imminent attack.

KATHY KELLY: I have a pretty vivid memory of that day, as well. We were in front of the United Nations compound, and we had a big sign that said “No blank check for war.” And Jeremy and others—Jeremy Scahill—had gone over to the prison just prior to that where people had been released by Saddam Hussein. And I remember John Burns, in particular. He was so angry with—

AMY GOODMAN: John Burns of the New York Times?

KATHY KELLY: Yeah—with my belief that in fact, you know, we had a prison-industrial complex in the United States that perhaps should bear scrutiny and attention and that maybe what Saddam had done might be something that the United States could consider, as well. But I have to say that after the war, after John Burns was kind of stuck in the Palestine Hotel in a staircase, at some point, at some risk to his own life, he pulled me over while he was with another group of reporters, and he said, “This is the person to go to if you want to hear the humanitarian story in Iraq.” So, you know, I should probably add that part, too.

AMY GOODMAN: Are you saying he was, in a sense, apologizing to you?

KATHY KELLY: Oh, that might be a stretch. But at any rate, it didn’t seem to be a relationship fraught by conflict.

AMY GOODMAN: And what was the anger that was being expressed to you right before the invasion? I mean, these reporters were supposed to be covering your point of view, but they were arguing with you.

KATHY KELLY: Well, I think that the reporters were very, very angry at Saddam Hussein’s regime, in part because they would be bounced out every ten days and have to pay enormous amounts of money, which all went—in order to come back into the country every ten days. And that went to the Ministry of Tourism. Well, believe me, there was no tourism in Baghdad before the war. So, in a sense, it went right into the pockets of the Mahabharat, the secret service agency that was hounding them and tracking their every step. They were very, very angry, and I think they had a right to be. Saddam Hussein’s regime was ruthless and horrible.

But it wasn’t fair to say that we were the silent servants of Saddam Hussein. We were trying to say that you don’t punish children; children couldn’t be held accountable for that government. And John Burns deemed the demonstration we had as a demonstration that Saddam Hussein loved to see, but we saw the headline that he used as a headline that George Bush loved to see. And these kinds of—

AMY GOODMAN: And what was that?

KATHY KELLY: Oh, it was a headline, exactly that, saying that it was a demonstration Saddam loved to see.

AMY GOODMAN: Finally, with Barack Obama now the President of the United States, are you strategizing differently? You are one of the most well known international peace activists.

KATHY KELLY: I think if we take a wait-and-see attitude, that could quickly morph into inertia. And so, I think it’s just as imperative and as much of a responsibility for adults in the United States to keep trying to identify the grave dangers that exist as we continue to pour resources into military projects. And I think we should continue to say, “Abandon these military projects.” They don’t bring us security. And at a time when there are so many environmental concerns, when the financial collapses of so many industries are affecting people, we should be taking that money that we’ve given to the Defense Department and putting it into things that really ensure security and then continuing to demand that President Obama pay attention to these kinds of vital concerns.

We camped outside his home for nineteen days in Arctic temperatures in Chicago—I left in the middle to go to Gaza—what we called Camp Hope. And we did want to be respectful of the neighbors of the Obama family, of all the many people who are feeling great congratulatory happiness. But I think that we have to recognize where—well, that President Obama has now become the chief arms exporter in the world. He’s in charge of the most massive killing machine in the world. And it’s our responsibility to continue to hold forth those visions of another way without extending the arm of imperial menace and might all over the world—instead, to be extending a hand of friendship and to share resources as best we can.

AMY GOODMAN: Kathy Kelly, I want to thank you for being with us. Kathy Kelly is executive director of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, a veteran peace activist, founder of Voices in the Wilderness. She has just returned from Gaza. She lives in Chicago, when she’s ever home.

(Full transcript and video from Democracy Now!)

AUDIO: Kathy Kelly interview with The Progressive

voices — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 22:29:11 -0500

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WITNESS AGAINST WAR 2008: From Chicago to St. Paul

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Original broadcast: The Progressive Radio Show

My guest today is Kathy Kelly, who founded Voices in the Wilderness and now works with Voices for Creative Nonviolence.

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Original broadcast: The Progressive Radio Show

My guest today is Kathy Kelly, who founded Voices in the Wilderness and now works with Voices for Creative Nonviolence.

Kathy Kelly Interview by Matthew Rothschild

Click to play 29:00 minutes (12.53 MB)

Aug. 6, 2008

War protest walk arrives in Racine

voices — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 11:12:50 -0500

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WITNESS AGAINST WAR 2008: From Chicago to St. Paul

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BY PETE WICKLUND
Journal Times
Thursday, July 17, 2008

RACINE — The welcoming party perhaps could have been a little bigger, but participants in a peace walk from Chicago to St. Paul, Minn., will bring with them memories from a two-day stay in greater Racine.

Members of the Chicago-based Voices For Creative Nonviolence brought their Witness Against War walk to Racine on Thursday afternoon. The dozen or so members of the walk, including participants from New York, California and even Stockholm, Sweden, were welcomed at the Dr. John Bryant Community Center on the city’s south side by members of the Racine Coalition for Peace and Justice.

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Witness Against War News Article: Journal Times by Pete Wicklund

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BY Pete Wicklund
Journal Times
Thursday, July 17, 2008

The walk is scheduled to end on Aug. 31 in St. Paul, Minn., just in time for the start of the Republican National Convention, where some sort of nonviolent protest will take place, said Dan Pearson, 27, a co-coordinator of the organization.

The Voices members are using the walk to draw attention to several issues, said Pearson and Voices founder Kathy Kelly, not the least of which is the protest against the planned deployment to Iraq next year of the Wisconsin 32nd Brigade Combat Team, which includes local residents.

But they also hope that their protest by walking will also call attention to finding alternatives to using fossil fuels.

During their stay in Racine, members of the walk will stay with local families, hold an 11 a.m. rally today at the local office of U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and hold a potluck dinner Friday at the Siena Center in Caledonia.

The walk, which began Saturday in Chicago is on schedule, Pearson said. There have been a few bumps along the journey so far, but nothing that couldn’t be overcome — including the replacement of a transmission on the 1979 coach bus belonging to Wheels For Peace, an allied organization based in Luck, Wis.

Kelly said the walk participants have been receiving shouts of encouragement, as well as a couple of heckles, as they make their way north.

“We’re trying to galvanize that feeling (of opposition to the war) into political action, and that’s where the groups along the way are so helpful,” said Kelly, 55. “It’s helpful to stay over in people’s homes. You get to know their experiences.”

Members of the walk met up with their host families Thursday afternoon after walking a little more than 2 miles from the Bryant Center to the Belle City Senior Center near the Racine Zoo.

“I think that personal contact makes all the difference,” said Helene Hedberg, 22, of Stockholm.

Back home, Hedberg works with the children of Iraqi refugees in after-school programs. Hedberg said there are 90,000 Iraqi refugees living in Sweden.

“You can still feel the feeling of displacement they’re going through,” Hedberg said.

Hedberg met Kelly last year at a human rights conference in Stockholm and jumped at the chance to come to the U.S. this summer to take part in the walk.

The march is also drawing participation from veterans who served in the Iraqi conflict like Paul Melling of Melrose, Minn. He served in the field artillery in Iraq from January 2004 to February 2005 and witnessed the deaths of members of task force, including a close friend.

“I don’t think we did anything to improve the situation. We did a lot of damage,” Melling said. “We were just out there destroying things and not at all helping the local population.”

While they are ending at the site of the Republican convention, Pearson said Voices For Creative Nonviolence does not excuse the role Democratic lawmakers played in “waging and continuing to finance the war.”

After the walkers leave the Siena Center Saturday morning, the group continues on to Oak Creek and Milwaukee. Then they head west to Madison and then on to the Mississippi River, which they will walk along to St. Paul.

On the Net:
Voices For Creative Nonviolence
Racine Coalition For Peace and Justice

Life in Iraq: An Interview - February 2008

Jeff Leys — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 14:34:22 -0600

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An interview with Walid Waleed about life in Iraq today.

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Walid Waleed, interviewd by John Malkin
February 2008

Walid Waleed is 38 years old and was born in the Alkhaalij quarter of Baghdad. He now lives in the country side in a village in south-east Baghdad. He was married in 1997 and now has two boys and three girls; Ows 10, Mohammad 8, Nowras 6, Nibras 4 and less than one year old Ziena. Before the violence he lived as one big family, with about twenty-two people, but now they live in individual temporary houses. Walid studies journalism at Baghdad University and got practical experience as a guide for foreign journalists for many years. He has done interviews for magazines, newspapers and TV and helped Japanese producers make a documentary film about children during the US/UN economic sanctions. He recently produced an autobiographocal documentary about the US invasion and occupation of Iraq.

John Malkin interviewed Walid in January 2008. John is a writer, musician and author of “Sounds of Freedom”, a collection of interviews with musicians concerning spirituality and social change. He is a regular contributor to Good Times Weekly of Santa Cruz, California.

JM: What kind of newspapers/TV are available in Iraq now? How do people get news there?

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Walid Waleed, interviewd by John Malkin
February 2008

JM: What kind of newspapers/TV are available in Iraq now? How do people get news there?

Waleed: There are many newspapers and TV stations available in Iraq. Most newspapers belong to political parties of the government as well as the religious movement. Very few people actually buy newspapers because they have radical opinions. For example, Al-Iraqia TV is the official TV station. It is the same as a spokesman of government and is supported by American forces and Iraq government. It’s run by radical shiat people.

The Al Hura TV station is supported by the American administration and their main office is in Washington. Al furat TV is 100% Shiat TV and is part of the high Islamic council, a party that was established in Iran during the Iraq - Iran war, and run by the most radical character, Mr. Abdul Azziz Al Hakeem. He met George W. Bush last week in state and his very powerful Bader forces are responsible for killing thousands of Iraqi people, especially ex-Baath party members.

Alkwather TV shows only stories about the history of Islam. Alsharqia TV is one of the most lovely TV stations in Iraq because they are openly modern and they show the suffering of the Iraqi people. Al Rafidain TV belongs to Muslim scholars and scientists and shows the opinion of Sunna people against the American occupation of Iraq.

JM: I think that some Iraqi TV and radio stations and newspapers are now controlled by the U.S. military. Is that true? Can you tell me about the media there now?

Waleed: Generally any TV station located in Iraq is controlled by American forces, while stations located outside Iraq feel free to broadcast any programming. For instance, the office for Alrafidain TV is located in Egypt and they are free to show there independent opinion. The TV stations that are most controlled by American forces are Al-Iraqia and AlHura.

JM: What was life like in Iraq before the 2003 invasion by the U.S. military?

Waleed: It was a hard life because the immoral economic sanctions destroyed people’s lives. The embargo was imposed for more than 13 years (1991-2003) and caused the death of many people because of the lack of medicine. Added to that was the dictatorial regime of Saddam Hussein. But if we compare that with our current life we can say we lived in paradise then because there was some security and our basic needs for life were available like gasoline, kerosene, cooking gas, electricity, clean water, educational institutions like schools and universities. Also, there was no discrimination between the Sunna and shiat people and our life wasn’t targeted like it is now.

JM: What are your living conditions now? Do you have access to water, electricity, healthcare, medicine, food?

Waleed: Nowadays I’m working as a farmer just to stay alive. I am Sunna and Sunna people cannot get jobs in governmental offices because any person who wants to have a job needs to bring a recommendation letter from the political or religious parties in power and as you know, the Shiat parties dominate the government offices. Also, the only two jobs available are either to be a soldier or policeman. Osne week ago my cousin asked me to be recruited into the Iraq police as an officer but I refused because my age does not fit with this job.

Clean water: It’s one of our big sufferings because Cholera has spread across the country and many people have died. We buy tablets from the pharmacy to kill the bacteria in the water but many poor people have no money to buy this medicine. Recently I heard that American forces are tying to provide Iraqi citizens with water purification machines but we haven’t receive any.

Electricity: We are spend our nights with candles and a kerosene lamp.

Health Care: We have very big problem in my country - the Ministry of Health is controlled by the Alsader, a shiat group, and most Sunna people are afraid to go to the hospitals. When my wife was pregnant I couldn’t bring here to the hospital. I brought her to an old woman who helped her to deliver her baby. She was lucky because she delivered her baby naturally.

One of my cousins was injured by an American bullet while he was waiting to get gasoline for his car. The people at the site of the shooting brought him to Alkindy Hospital and when he arrived there he pretended to be a shiat man and they did an operation to remove the bullet from his pancreas. He saw many sunnah patients being kidnapped from the hospital. After he spent four days there he decide to leave the hospital because the hospital staff started to gather information about his house and his origin. He continued his treatment in our village and at that time we asked our friend who is a doctor to treat him.

Food: It’s not easy to go to the market. In my village we decided to send our wives to the market because it’s a big risk if sunna men go there. But I shopped for fruits, vegetables and some other goods by myself especially during the last month of my wife’s pregnancy.

During economic sanctions, the United Nations took money from Iraq oil sales and bought food for the Iraq people and this food was distributed by Iraqi Ministry of Trade. This operation was called “oil-food agreement.” Fortunately this agreement is valid right now but there are big rumors nowadays that the government trying to cancel this food rationing.

JM: Do your children go to school now? Is it safe to travel to school, to the market, to visit friends?

Waleed: I changed my kids school from New Baghdad to the school in our village. Primary schools have no problems but in the intermediate, high school, and colleges most teachers and doctors were killed by terrorists and now those institutions have a lack of staff. My youngest brother is in high school and they don’t have enough teachers. Also, my brother couldn’t go to the final examination last year because the Ministry of Education decide to have the examination in a shiat majority area. He refused to go and at that time we were angry with him but after two sunna students were kidnapped from inside the examination hall we excused him.

This is little funny story; when the final examination in shiat area began, the Al Mahdy army came to the school and ordered the teachers to solve all the questions for the students and when the examination results were distributed it was incredible! All the student got marks between 95-100% .

Visiting Friends: It’s also one of our biggest problems, especially when a relative has a death ceremony or wedding party. We cannot go to there house if it’s far away. Personally, I lost most of my friends in the sectarian war - more than twenty friends were killed without reason.

JM: How do you get around the city? Buses, taxis, cars?

Waleed: I stopped using my car because of traffic jams due to the main roads and bridges being blocked by American and Iraqi forces. Now I use the bus and wherever the bus stops, I start walking.

JM: The Lancet Journal in England estimated that 500,000 children died as a result of the United States/United Nations economic sanctions against Iraq. What was that time like for you and your family?

Waleed: The economic sanctions started just after Iraqi forces were defeated from Kuwait in 1991 and continued until 2003, when the United States invaded our country by reason of weapon of mass destruction. I was student of Engineering at college when the embargo was imposed and it was so hard live. Let me give you an examples to imagine how hard it was;

We ate rice only once each ten days. We were three brothers working day and night to buy bread and eggplant because at that time only eggplant was available in the market. If you talk to any Iraqi person who lived and suffered from the economic sanctions and ask him, “Do you remember the year of eggplant,” he will remember it very well. Three brothers were working, my other two brothers and three sisters were students and there was my father and mother. The style of eating in our poor society is for us to sit all together and eat from one big pan, as you will see it in attached pictures. I don’t remember even one time that I ate until I was full - the adults decided to eat only very little and we’d pretend we were eating in order to give the children and old people a chance to eat enough. At that time I wasn’t married and was just graduated from engineering college but there were no jobs, so I worked as a driver of a minibus, building donkey worker, ice seller, electrician, and as an interpreter for an NGO twice a year.

I once worked as interpreter for Pakistani journalist in 1999 and he bought bananas from the market and gave me one piece of banana. I kept it in my car and when he asked, “Why you don’t eat it?” I said, “I want to share this piece with my family because we haven’t eaten a banana since four years.” So you can imagine how hard life was. I think we’d need a text book to keep all our suffering. By the way my sister got cancer during that period as well.

JM: Have your family or friends been hurt or killed by US soldiers?

Waleed: On 9th March 2003 my cousin was injured. She was a farmer taking care of her cow and an American soldier shot her because they didn’t have the knowledge to see the fashion of women in an Arabic country. She was wearing an Arabic dishdasha that is black in color and the soldier shoot here because at that time Saddam’s fedaieen fighters wore black. But there is big difference between a woman’s dishdasha and man’s pants.

In June 2007 my cousin was shot after an American patrol was hit by a roadside bomb. He survived.

On October 10, 2007 another cousin was shot and arrested by American forces and now he is in jail. Since that time his family couldn’t meet with him. We got information that he had been shot in his back and the effect of the bullet on his spine might cause him to be paralyzed. He is 34 years old. The reason he was walking to visit his friend was that he’d been invited to have dinner at his friend’s house during Ramadan month after sunset and there was an American unit waiting to ambush the Iraqi resistance. They failed in this ambush.

On November 4 people from my village were shot by soldiers in an American helicopter by mistake and this is the only accident that has been compensated. Many relatives have been killed by American forces, but as I told you I would need to write a long list of there names.

Another accident I need to mention is my oldest brother. He was arrested by Iraqi forces while he was working as a taxi driver. The Iraqi forces wanted to kill him but fortunately their prison has been visited by American forces. He was released because an American officer took pictures of the prisoners and did investigations with the prisoners directly, so not all doing of American forces are negative.

JM: What is the most difficult thing now about living in Iraq?

Waleed: Security, electricity, fuel (gasoline, kerosene, cooking gas), jobs, education, medical care, and to get back our houses which had been looted by Almahdy army.

JM: What has changed the most for you since the US invasion in 2003?

Waleed: I lost my freedom and security, my brother was killed, my father in law was killed, we lost our houses in town and the prices for all materials has jumped. For example, before the war the price of 1 liter of gasoline was 20 Iraqi dinar. 1 cylinder of cooking gas was 250 ID. At that time 1US$ = 3000 ID. Today a liter of gasoline is 500 ID and a cylinder of cooking gas is 25000 ID and it’s not easy to get it. The current exchange rate is 1$=1210ID.

JM: Officially, the 1991 United States war on Iraq was finished in 45 days. But the United States continued bombing after that – Does it feel like there has been one long war going on there since 1991? (Perhaps even before that as well, with the war with Iran ?)

Waleed: During the Iraq –Iran war we didn’t feel a direct effect from America. Maybe they were selling weapons to both sides. As an Iraqi person I didn’t blame the United States when they attacked Iraq in 1991 because Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait and he gave them a reason to attack Iraq. But when the immoral economic sanctions were imposed we hated America so much because usually in economic sanctions it is only poor people who will be effect, while the rich people can arrange there lives.

JM: You have written that many people in Iraq do not believe that there are peaceful people in the United States because they have observed the United States invade other countries. And now the US has invaded Iraq. Tell me more about this.

Waleed: When we were young we read about the history of United States and how they invaded Vietnam, Cuba and Nicaragua. How they killed the American Indian, dropped an atomic bomb on Japan, and gave support to Israel to kick out the Palestinian people. Many Palestinian people came to Iraq as refugees at that time. And recently the US has invaded Somalia, Afghanistan, etc… So, we have been saturated by this image. Added to that is that there are no direct relationships between US and Iraqi individuals and very few Iraqi people can believe that there are good people in America.

JM: Why do you think the US military is in Iraq now?

Waleed: The American forces are tools of the American administration and most of them joined for a job, for money. Sometimes I talk to American soldiers and I have found many of them have a good personality. Many of them commit suicide because they have been shocked when they saw the fact.

JM: What do you think is the goal of President George Bush and the US military? Some people here think Iraq was invaded and is occupied to get oil or have more control in the Middle East – what do you think?

Waleed: Yes it’s right because America can not live without war. War means that all the military factories can work, otherwise they would close it down. The main goal is oil and more control in the Middle East, and looking for another war. I think the American administration has never cared about their soldiers and never cared about the fate of American people.

JM: After the World Trade Center in New York was attacked on September 11, 2001, the United States government said that Saddam Hussein had helped with the attack. Many people here still believe this. What do you think?

Waleed: I think the attack of the World Trade Center has been fabricated to have a reason to start war and to convince the American people that they are targeted. If the American people still believe that Saddam Hussein supported the attackers I am really envious of Mr. George W. Bush about these stupid people because they can not see where their future is going. I am sorry - maybe my language is poor in how I describe the American people about this point.

JM: The media here says that there is now a lot of fighting between different religious groups in Iraq ; Shias, Sunnis, Kurds. Is this true?

Waleed: Yes it’s true. It’s still happening but is less. The reason is that America has many enemies in the region so that all of Iraq’s neighboring countries don’t want stability in Iraq, so this fighting has been ignited by Iran, Syria, and Israel as well.

JM: How do you think the fighting in Iraq will end? What is the prospect for peace and safety in Iraq?

Waleed: The situation is now getting very complicated and the American forces are not serious to finish this fighting, because if they were serious they would not have lost four years without doing any reconstruction projects. The main reason behind the terrorism here is the jobless problem because for four years people couldn’t find jobs and the young people have been used by extremists, with thousands of dollars paid to militias. The solution for Iraq will come after America solves its problems with Iran, Syria, and Al Qaeda. And prepare jobs for millions of jobless people.

JM: Have you had encounters with United States soldiers? What kind of violence have you experienced? Have you encountered any US weapons like cluster bombs or depleted uranium?

Waleed: Usually I am trying to avoid American soldiers because talking English language its enough reason to be targeted by terrorist, so that just in urgent cases I am talking with them. .

About cluster bomb I sow it many times but I didn’t get any accident by it.

Depleted Uranium my sister got cancer due the first gulf war, and now my village locate near by the most polluted area by Uranium, we are living around only 2 KM away from the ex-atomic-nuclear energy research center, this center has been looted by people after American invasion and many people took polluted tank to use it for water (I think its very famous accident, it was called by yellow cake ) ,right now no incident show’s and I hope we will be safe

JM: Do you know people who have been taken to Abu Ghraib or other prisons?

Waleed: Yes. Many relatives of mine have been jailed in Abu Ghraib, Puka and Baghdad airport jails.

JM: How do you deal with the anxiety and sadness of living in a violent situation?

Waleed: Frankly talking, I am suffering too much from the current situation. I have seen many death cases and many decaying, dead bodies. I am smoking and sometimes when I feel depressed I have been angry and that’s why I insisted too much that an internet line be installed in my village to kill my time.

JM: What are some enjoyable things that you do you have with your family or friends?

Waleed: When I can help poor people I feel too much comfort and sometimes I play with my kids.

JM: Some people in the United States have been told by the media that the Islamic religion is violent and that the US military is protecting Americans against terrorism. What is Islam to you? Do you do prayer?

Waleed: I am pray five times a day and I think the Islamic religion is good religion. The extremist Muslims ate the people responsible for these bad ideas of Islam.

JM: What do you think about the suicide bombings that have become common in Baghdad?

Waleed: The people who suicide themselves have there own reasons - either they lost their family or kids. I think the same reason that pushes American soldiers to commit suicide is pushing those people to bomb themselves on American forces.

Last year I was in Japan and I was surprised when I saw the high number of people who commit suicide. They live in very good conditions compared with Iraqi people.

JM: George W. Bush has called himself a “compassionate Christian.” What do you think?

Waleed: I think he is the enemy of Christianity because we know the Christian religion is a very peaceful religion and the prophet Jesus was very peaceful.

JM: We are told that the violence in Iraq is a “War on Terrorism.” Does that make sense to you?

Waleed: Who brought terrorism to Iraq? Who let the Iraqi borders open for many years? Al Qaeda was established by America during the Soviet Union war and now they fight against America. George W. Bush has said many times that “we want to fight the terrorists outside of America.” According to this, Iraqi people are victims to keep American people safe.

JM: Private security companies, like Blackwater, have been hired by the US government to be soldiers in Iraq . News reports are saying that Blackwater contractors killed 17 Iraqi civilians in September in Baghdad . Have you heard anything about these private soldiers?

Waleed: Yes we see them almost every day. They drive on the streets in a very brutal way, killing any driver approaching their vehicles. Many people are killed by American forces and only a few cases are announced - this incident is well known because its happened downtown, but many killings happen in the countryside where no media can reach.

JM: Lately there are news reports that things have gotten safer in Iraq and that refugees have been returning to cities like Baghdad. Is this true from what you can see?

Waleed: Yes, some parts of Baghdad are getting better, especially in Sunna areas because there is an agreement between the American forces and the resistance group, except Alqaeda, and as result of this agreement new forces - named waken troops - have been established. Waken troops are fighting against Alqaeda and keeping the security of their region. American forces are paying monthly salaries to them and new projects have been started to clean up the cities and establish electric generators.

Kathy Kelly on Washington Journal, in Des Moines (C-Span, Jan 2, 2008)

Kathy Kelly — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 03:13:37 -0600

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Interview with Kathy Kelly, co-ordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence.

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January 2, 2008

Interview with Kathy Kelly, co-ordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, Washington Journal, in Des Moines (C-Span)

Des Moines - With 40 percent of Iowa’s Republican caucus … all » voters expected to come from the ranks of conservative Christians, peace activists occupied Mike Huckabee’s campaign headquarters in Iowa’s capital city today with signs asking the former Baptist minister, “Who Would Jesus Bomb?”

Eight members of the Iowa Occupation Project and Voices for Creative Nonviolence arrived at Huckabee’s Locust St. campaign office early Monday afternoon (Dec 31, 2007), waiting for the former Arkansas governor’s reply to a letter delivered two months ago that sought his pledge to completely withdraw from Iraq within 100 days of assuming office; halt all military actions against Iraq and Iran; fund the rebuilding of Iraq as well as health, education and infrastructure needs in the U.S.; and “…the highest quality health care, education and jobs training benefits for veterans of our country’s Armed Services.”

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January 2, 2008

__Interview with Kathy Kelly, co-ordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, Washington Journal, in Des Moines (C-Span)

VIDEO: Kathy Kelly Speaking in Anchorage Alaska Oct 2006

voices — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 17:47:47 -0500

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5 part video of Kathy Kelly speaking

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June 2007

Kathy Kelly presents her experiences of visits to Iraq before the US occupation and her subsequent visits. The video is in 5 parts.

Part 1

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June 2007

Kathy Kelly presents her experiences of visits to Iraq before the US occupation and her subsequent visits.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

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VCNV Author

Kathy Kelly

VIDEO: CAN TV Community Forum...Kathy Kelly - Voices for Creative Nonviolence

voices — Mon, 21 May 2007 13:02:25 -0500

Short Information Teaser

CAN TV interview with Kathy Kelly

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May 20, 2007

Chicago Access Network Television (CAN TV) interview with Kathy Kelly, co-coordinator with Voices for Creative Nonviolence. The video is in 3 parts.

Part 1 Body

May 20, 2007

Chicago Access Network Television (CAN TV) interview with Kathy Kelly, co-coordinator with Voices for Creative Nonviolence. The video is in 3 parts.