WASHINGTON: (South News), August 4 - Actor Martin Sheen and thousands
of
activists will risk arrest in protest of the sanctions imposed on Iraq
outside the White House this weekend.

Sheen, who stars as the US President in NBC's hit drama "the West
Wing",
will be joined by Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit, Rev. James
Lawson, a
Methodist minister and civil rights activist, and Rev. John Dear,
Executive
Director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR). They will lead a
direct
action, calling on the American people to break the US/UN imposed
sanctions
that kill 5,000 children a month in Iraq.

Actor, Martin Sheen will join the rally at which a list of a 1,000
names of
US citizens who are planning to send a Baghdad orphanage four gas
chlorinators and $7,000 worth of chlorine gas for water purification
and
sewage treatment. They risk civil fines up to $275,000 per violation
and
criminal penalties up to $1 million and/or 12 years in prison by
donating
money and supplies for the Iraqi people.

The four gas chlorinators and $7,000 worth of chlorine gas will be
donated
to the 28th of April orphanage, the Dar Aytam orphanage, the Islamic
Health
Center and the Islamic Youth Center all in Baghdad. The gas
chlorinators
can be used for water purification as well as sewage treatment. A
Nongovernmental Organization - NGO will oversee installation and
monitor
use in Iraq.

Nearly 50 local and national religious congregations and peace
organizations have signed the Campaign of Conscience and contributed
towards the purchase of water purification equipment for Iraq. Licenses
from the U.S. treasury Department have been applied for. However, the
items
will be shipped regardless of whether or not a license is granted.

Iraq is now barred from importing adequate supplies of chlorine to
purify
its water. Referring to this items as “dual use” commodity, the United
States says it be used as a component in a chemical weapon. Washington
has
further banned pencils for schoolchildren because these pencils contain
graphite, which is also a lubricant. It has also banned batteries,
X-ray
machines and ambulances because they could be used in military
conflicts.

The sanctions were initially put into place to help evict Iraqi troops
from
Kuwait, according to the Bush administration. Iraq had invaded Kuwait,
an
oil-rich territory under the domination of an U.S.-backed monarchy, in
August 1990, after a protracted and complicated dispute between the two
countries.

Since the sanctions have been imposed United Nations International
Children's Emergency Fund - UNICEF estimates that more than a half
million
children under the age of five have died as a direct result of the
economic
sanctions.

They contend that hardships caused by the sanctions have contributed to
the
deaths of an estimated 1 million Iraqis, half of them children younger
than
5. Some of the estimated 3,000 to 5,000 demonstrators are threatening
civil
disobedience to advance their argument that the sanctions have caused a
humanitarian crisis.

Human rights organizations and peace activists respond that, whatever
the
reason, children in Iraq are dying unnecessarily from lack of proper
nutrition, clean water and medicine. Members of FOR and the American
Friends Service Committee, a Quaker-led humanitarian organization,
intend
to mark the 10th anniversary of the sanctions by defying them to send
supplies to Iraqi orphanages.

Events begin Sunday with a rally sponsored by American Muslim groups
and
the National Mobilization to End the Sanctions Against Iraq, a
coalition of
more than 70 interfaith and peace organizations from across the United
States.

On Sunday, thousands will march from the Lincoln Memorial to Lafayette
Park
to draw attention to the effect of sanctions on Iraq. Actor Martin
Sheen
and George Galloway, a member of Britain's Parliament, are scheduled to
address demonstrators Sunday outside the White House.

On Monday, members of FOR and the American Friends Service Committee
will
march through downtown Washington to the offices of the Treasury
Department, the agency that enforces the sanctions. Demonstrators say
they
will present a letter bearing the signatures of at least 1,000
Americans,
including many religious leaders, who support their defiance of the
embargo.

According to the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), sanctions have
caused over 500,000 deaths among children under 5 in Iraq since they
were
imposed on August 6, 1990.

FOR representatives say violating the sanctions could bring civil fines
of
up to $275,000 per violation and criminal penalties of up to $1 million
and
up to 12 years in prison.

Erik Gustafson, executive director of the Washington-based Education
for
Peace in Iraq Center and a veteran of Operation Desert Storm, said the
action is part of a growing nationwide movement to end the sanctions.

``Seventy members of Congress signed a letter calling for an end to
sanctions, with much of the support coming from the Congressional Black
Caucus,'' Gustafson said. ``We even had a member of congress, Rep. Tony
Hall, travel to Iraq, and he confirmed there's a tremendous
humanitarian
crisis there.

``One of the things he found most disturbing is that there are growing
cases of polio and cholera, caused by massive poverty and the lack of
clean
water and sanitation.''

There also is a growing international movement against the sanctions,
said
Kate Reuer, one of the organizers of the demonstrations. FOR sponsored
a
trip to allow a group of Nobel Prize recipients to visit Iraq last
year,
Reuer said, and one likened the situation to genocide.

``In 50 years, the next generation is going to be asking us what were
you
doing when the children of Iraq were dying,'' Reuer said. ``We want to
get
it into the American consciousness so that they can't say they didn't
know.''