Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, May/June 1998, Pages 64-65

Northwest News

Oregon Groups Sponsor Teach-In on U.S. Policy in Iraq

By Elaine Kelley

About 100 individuals representing diverse Oregon groups gathered on April 4th for a teach-in called “Sanctions and Military Force: U.S. Policy and the People of Iraq.” The event was co-sponsored by Oregon Peace and Justice Works Iraq Affinity Group and Portland State University’s Middle East Studies Center, and endorsed by over 20 area organizations, including the American Friends Service Committee, Muslim Education Trust, Northwest Veterans for Peace, and Oregon Fellowship of Reconciliation.

Panelists at the teach-in were activists and academics who spoke on the impact of U.S. policy against Iraq and offered many perspectives and suggestions on how to proceed with grassroots efforts to pressure the U.S. government to lift sanctions and stop the military build-up in the Gulf.

Two panels of 13 speakers provided the format for the teach-in on a Saturday afternoon at Portland State University’s Campus Christian Ministries. One of the panelists was Michel Shehadeh, a Palestinian Christian from Birzeit on the West Bank and one of the LA 8—seven Palestinians and a Kenyan woman who were arrested in 1987 by the FBI and accused by the Justice Department and Immigration and Naturalization Service of supporting a terrorist organization.

Later in the day Shehadeh made a presentation to the Oregon Chapter of ADC (see report below). Other panelists were Rev. Dan Simmons, a United Methodist minister; Jan AbuShakrah, a native Oregonian who directed the Palestine Human Rights Information Center in Jerusalem for 10 years; Jon Mandaville, director of the Portland State University Middle East Studies Center; Dan Handelman of the Iraq Affinity Group who was a member of a Voices in the Wilderness delegation to Iraq in November last year; Carolyn Mills who served on the National Board of the National Gulf War Resource Center, which has researched the possible causes of illnesses reported by Gulf war veterans; Azhar Puerini, born and raised in Iraq; Aseel Nasir Dyck, an Iraqi and a retired university librarian, historian and activist; Heather Fencl-Hughes, a child welfare social worker; Joe Kear, an active unionist with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local 1005 who is working with the Iraq Affinity Group; Masoud Kheirabadi, author of Iranian Cities: Formation and Development; Marilyn Sewell, senior minister of the First Unitarian Church in Portland; and Adrienne Weller of the Freedom Socialist Party who has traveled to Cuba to witness the impacts of the U.S. government’s 37-year-old embargo.

Two moderators serving on the panels were Jan Bone of Peace and Justice Works who has worked as a remediation instructor for marginalized youth, minorities and adult learners, and Ann Huntwork of the PJW’s Iraq Affinity Group who spent five months in 1991 in a refugee hospital on the Iran-Iraq border providing health services to mostly Kurdish refugees and in December 1997 spent two weeks in Hebron as part of a Christian Peacemaker Teams delegation.

Also present were members of “Diane Nelson and Friends,” students from Lewis and Clark College in Portland who performed political satire and songs during breaks.

Unitarian minister Sewell, who spoke to the group on the subject of “Who Stands to Gain?” recalled that the U.S. very recently was on the verge of bombing Iraq and had emissaries from Washington “flying all over the country putting their positive spin on the anticipated action.”

She pointed out that although the administration of President Bill Clinton has been keen on supporting U.N. resolutions against Iraq, it has been strangely silent on other U.N. resolutions such as the land-for-peace Resolution 242, which condemned the Israeli occupation of the West Bank.

She said that the whole of the European community, apart from England and Belgium, has rejected the use of force in Iraq and that three of the five U.N. Security Council members rejected the plan “as did the vast majority of the member states in the U.N.” She noted that “not one of the Arab nations backed us. What does the rest of the world know that we don’t know? Who stands to gain?”

Jan AbuShakrah’s talk on the “Use and Abuse of the U.N.” emphasized the failure of the U.S. media in raising the issue of the U.S. government’s domination of the United Nations to further U.S. national interests and perceived foreign policy interests. “The U.N. was formed to bring peace to the world,” she said, “and the question is why the world decided that there should be an intervention, and that this particular issue concerning weapons of mass destruction was chosen just in this part of the world, when they can also be found in the U.S. and Israel.”

AbuShakrah pointed out that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land and the taking of territory by force “is exactly equivalent in terms of egregious offense to the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait.” She noted that the U.S. wants to make sure the U.N. stays out of the Palestine issue, except as a humanitarian body. “So the issue is not raised in the American media,” she stated, “but everyone else sees the double standard.”

AbuShakrah encouraged listeners to go to the Internet, to the U.N. home page, to find relevant documents to clarify what should be taking place within the U.N., instead of the current control over the international body by the U.S.

Masoud Kheirabadi is an Iranian and a specialist in Middle East and Islamic affairs who has taught at the University of Oregon, Lewis and Clark College, Portland State University, and currently at Marylhurst College and Clackamas Community College.

In his presentation on the “Historical and Economic Roots of U.S. Involvement in Iraq,” Kheirabadi suggested that one solution to prevent future conflicts between Iraq and Kuwait would be to provide Iraq with unimpeded access to ports on Bubiyan and Warbah islands, north of Kuwait, which would facilitate Iraq’s maritime trade through the Persian/Arabian Gulf.

“What Do Iraqis Think?” was the theme of a talk given by Aseel Nasir Dyck, an Iraqi born in Baghdad in 1942 who earned an MA in history from the American University of Beirut. Dyck said she visits Iraq about every two years to see her father, who still lives in Baghdad. She described her father as an Arab nationalist who took part in struggles against the British when they ruled Iraq, and spent time in prison for participating in the resistance.

“My father says that what is happening now is even worse than under British imperialism,” she said. Her father told her that under British rule Iraqis were denied political rights, but “at least the British kept up an interest in the civilian infrastructure.”

She said that now, as a result of the U.S.-backed U.N. embargo of Iraq, “in addition to one million deaths,” 27 percent of Iraqi newborns are physically or mentally stunted. Dyck reported that the people in Iraq now see the U.S. as “extremely vindictive, vicious and duplicitous.” “What’s going on is not to get rid of Saddam, but to destroy a country and its people,” she stated.

Azhar Puerini, who was born in Iraq and lived there for 24 years, fought back tears as she began “A Personal Story,” speaking of her elderly parents and a brother and sister in Iraq. “What did the Nazis do to the Jewish people that this country is not doing to Iraq?” she asked, pointing to the statistics of Iraqi deaths since the Gulf war and the thousands who are dying every day because of U.S./U.N. sanctions which have devastated the Iraqi economy and prevented access to needed medical supplies.

Puerini, who received a master’s degree in pharmacology, condemned “right-wing demagogues who routinely blast Hollywood for senseless violence, but have no problem when it comes to Iraq.”

Adrienne Weller’s presentation on “Iraq: a Jewish-Socialist-Feminist Perspective” charged that “the corporate bosses need a Mideast pawn to control this oil-rich region and keep a simmering Arab revolution from exploding.” She said that the Zionist philosophy is compatible with the needs of imperialism.

“Israel, no safe haven for Jews, exists, armed to the teeth by the U.S., in constant bloody battle, committing atrocity after atrocity, to maintain a foothold in the Mideast for the U.S. under the pretense of defending their ‘homeland,’” she said. Weller is planning to run for Oregon House Representative District 18 on a platform that opposes U.S. war for profit.

Carolyn Mills of Northwest Veterans for Peace spoke on “Gulf War Syndrome and Depleted Uranium Weapons,” and said that as a result of pressure by the Gulf War Resource Center, which is pressing for an international investigation, and the Northwest Veterans for Peace, the Pentagon finally has admitted that American military personnel were adversely affected.

Dan Handelman of the Iraq Affinity Group, who joined a Voices in the Wilderness delegation to Iraq last November, presented “Sanctions: An Eyewitness Account.” Handelman’s personal belongings, photos and video tape were confiscated by U.S. Customs on his return flight, but he was able to show a short video of scenes from Iraqi hospitals which was filmed in Basra and left for the following Voices in the Wilderness group, which returned to the U.S. with the tape.

The Oregon Peace and Justice Works Iraq Affinity Group may be contacted by calling or writing: PO Box 42456, Portland, OR 97242; (503)236-3065; e-mail: pjw@agora.rdrop.com

ADC Western Regional Director Visits Portland Chapter

ADC Western Regional Director Michel Shehadeh visited the Lebanese/Syrian Club in Portland April 4 to meet with former officers and current members of the Oregon Chapter of ADC following several months of talks and consultations intended to revive the once-robust organization. He is known also as one of the LA 8, who have fought an 11-year battle against the U.S. government, charging the Justice Department and INS with selective prosecution against outspoken Palestinians who have publicly criticized U.S. policy in the Middle East.

Prior to the Gulf war the Oregon Chapter of ADC was visible and active, but for the past seven years it has experienced an increasing loss of participation, membership and support, primarily because of the classic “burn-out” of local volunteers and also because of divisions on the national level and the subsequent process of soul-searching for a new direction. Criticized by the Arab world for its position on the Gulf war, and by its membership for a too-centralized bureaucracy and dependence on funds from outside, ADC is now turning a new course toward the grassroots, financial self-sufficiency and a more decentralized leadership.

“I want to listen to you now,” Shehadeh said, after explaining the purpose of his visit and describing the “new energy that is going through the community.” He said with 13 chapters nationwide, membership is swelling and the leadership is modifying its positions on centralized structure to accommodate chapters wanting a stronger voice in decision-making.

“This is a heart-to-heart communication,” he remarked, asking the audience to come forward with suggestions on how to get things going again in Portland. He said nationally ADC is fighting negative stereotypes with an emphasis on education, involvement in curriculum development, speakers bureaus and efforts to fight acts of discrimination.

“This is crucial at this time,” he said, “because the Metropolitan Human Rights Commission could intervene, but the city of Portland, Multnomah County, dismantled the commission. The attitude is that local organizations will take care of their own kind.”

Following a fruitful discussion on how to proceed, 13 members were elected to the chapter’s board of directors. They are: Jan AbuShakrah, Khalid Alafif, Chris Barghout, Soham Darwish, Asees Nasser Dyck, Marlene Eid, Akel Hashem, Faddi Khoury, Yacoub Khoury, Tariq Shureih, Rev. Dan Simmons, Imad Sousou and Faris Al Zaghoul. To contact the Oregon Chapter of ADC, write PO Box 9021, Portland 97207 or call (503) 245-1637.