From: Kathy Kelly <kkelly@igc.org>

January 13, 2000
Dear Friends,

Tomorrow, several of us leave for Washington, D.C., where we will
undertake a month-long fast. We officially begin the fast on January 15,
the birthday of Martin Luther King and the 9th anniversary of the Gulf
War.

Our agenda and motivation - quite simply - is to engage in an action that
approaches being commensurate to the crime committed every day in our
names against the Iraqi people. The fast is carried out in the nonviolent
tradition of King and Gandhi. We believe that by forsaking food for one
month to focus our energies and minds, we are taking a step towards
elevating the level of action to end the sanctions.

This fast, we hope, expresses our resolve to bring this issue into the
hearts and minds of mainstream America. It is a moral question - the
imposition of humanitarian deprivation towards a political end - and we
want it to be considered one. Quite honestly, we have tried many things -
writing, actions, arrests, and protests - and sense again and again when
we visit Iraq that the hopes and dreams of children are continually being
beaten to death by political and economic whims of powerful nations and
players. During the fast we will visit with members of Congress, bother
the State Department, and visit likeminded organizations in D.C. to ask
for their support in our campaign.

We'll gratefully welcome your support in:

i-contacting your congressional representatives:

The Campbell-Conyers letter to President Clinton has gathered 34
signatures. Hopefully this number will reach 100 by the deadline, January
27. Please if you have not already done so, call your representative, and
urge that he or she not only sign the letter, but also call for hearings
on the sanctions, and sponsor legislation that will end them.

ii --  notifying your local media about the fast

iii - if at all possible, coming to D.C. to visit your congressional
representatives and other influential organizations

Fasters include Kathy Kelly, Nicholas Arons, Simon Harak, S.J., Bert
Sacks, Mark Maguire, Ramsey Kysia, Raed Battah, Ruthy Woodring, Phil
Runkel, Erik Yandell, Anne Montgomery, and Joe Morton. Over the course of
the month, we will sustain a daily vigil on the Capitol Steps. There are
also many people fasting in solidarity with us, who cannot make it to
Washington, but who are working locally for this month on Iraq organizing.

One exciting element of the fast will be a blood drive, in which we will
give our blood symbolically in the name of an Iraqi child who has died. We
plan to be joined at this event by several members of Congress,
Arab-American and Muslim organizations, religious leaders, and the press.

Finally, we ask for your thoughts and prayers during this month. Please
help us focus on how to best use the next few weeks as a time of massive
education and compassion for the people of Iraq.

About one year ago, VitW received the pre-penalty notice from the Treasury
Department, informing us that bringing medicine and toys to Iraqi children
was a crime punishable by extraordinary fines. And nine years ago, a
firestorm of bombs and weaponry shattered Iraq to its core, paving the way
for the misery that we find there today. The US political leaders - with
the widespread support of our people - targeted civilian infrastructure,
sought "long-term leverage" by bombing electrical grids and water
sanitation plants, used weapons coated with depleted uranium establishing
a toxic legacy in Iraq, and succeeded in the presaged mission: bombing
Iraq "back to the stone ages."

Should you decide to join us in Washington, D.C. during this time, know
that we will warmly welcome you to fast, lobby, and organize with us. Jeff
Guntzel and Ken Hannaford-Ricardi will be in Chicago for this period,
manning the offices, and they will know how to reach us.

Our last delegations met with Hans von Sponeck, the UN Humanitarian
Coordinator for Iraq. He said in closing, "In twenty years, your fine
universities will be using the sanctions on Iraq as an example of how not
to pursue foreign policy... Your nation is trying to cage a wild tiger.
But you are killing a rare and beautiful bird."

We bring this information with us to Washington, D.C. But we have with us
also the truth. The truth is 500,000 children who are no longer with us.
The truth is 143 people who have been bombed to death during the last year
in what is now the longest bombing campaign since the Vietnam War. We look
forward to remaining in touch with you.

Sincerely,

Nick Arons, Kathy Kelly, Jeff Guntzel