Dear NPR,
 
At first, I was pleasantly surprised to hear NPR's ATC (9/Feb) recognize the US bombing in northern Iraq, and devote time to
discuss this attack.  Unfortunately, the discussion with Mr.. Anthony Cortison was remarkably superficial.
 
There was absolutely no discussion of the illegality of the no-fly zones and the illegality of the US and British "retaliation" and
bombings into Iraq.  The no-fly-zones are not sanctioned by the United Nations; the zones were drawn up by the United
States, and initially enforced by the US, England, and France.  France has since ended its support for the no-fly-zone
enforcement.  In addition to the fact that these no-fly-zones and the bombings are not sanctioned by the United Nations, they
are also in violation of the agreement signed by the US and Iraq at the end of the 1991 military war. The agreement stressed the
respect for Iraq's territorial sovereignty; division of Iraq into three sections by the no-fly-zones is clearly a violation of Iraq's
territorial sovereignty.  Since these zones, which prohibit Iraqi domestic air flight, are illegal, the consequential violent attempts
at "enforcing" the no-fly-zones and "protecting" the pilots is also illegal.
 
There also was a completely lack of discussion as to the "justifications" for these no-fly zones.  The US has stated that these
no-fly-zones are imposed to protect the Iraqi people.  The bombings by the US, however, have killed more than one hundred
Iraqi civilians.  In addition, the US warplanes have not protected the Iraqi Kurds when the Turkish armed forces have invaded
and killed Iraqi Kurds -- as they have done numerous times!
 
On another note, I find myself asking NPR editors once again:  what constitutes news on Iraq?
 
Last week (Feb. 1), 70 congressional representatives signed a letter, sponsored by Reps. Campbell and Conyers, asking
President Clinton to the economic sanctions on Iraq.  Why don't you interview one of the many representatives who endorsed
that letter, and ask them about their views on the Iraq policy?
 
Last week (Feb. 2), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) released a report on Iraq.  The ICRC  reported to
the Security Council that, "Iraq's traditional reliance on imported food, the complexity of its public health system, the
dependence of this system on imports and its interdependence with other sectors of the economy, together with the precarious
state of the country's infrastructure as a whole, makes Iraq particularly vulnerable to the effects of comprehensive trade
sanctions."  Why did we not hear about the report on NPR?
 
And, just yesterday, the top UN official in Iraq urged for the end to economic sanctions on Iraq.  Surely, that should have been
news!  Hans von Sponeck, the senior UN humanitarian coordinator, urged an end to UN sanctions, calling them a "true human
tragedy." I include that article below.
 
If NPR has difficulty obtaining any of this information, or finding experts who are not in line with the US administration's policy
on Iraq, please do let me know and I can send you regular news and updates.  In the meantime, I do hope that you will live up
to your potential.
 
Sincerely,
 
-Rania Masri
rmasri@ncsu.edu