President William Jefferson Clinton
               The White House
               Washington, DC 20500

 Dear Mr. President:

 We are writing to you regarding our urgent concern for the serious deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Iraq. It has been over seven years now since the Gulf War ended, yet tremendous suffering remains unabated and indeed appears to have accelerated in recent months. As the weapons inspections by international officials continue, the Iraqi people have been left behind. They have been orphaned not only by their own leader's manipulations, but by the international community's lack of compassion and flagging creativity in finding workable approaches to these difficult problems.

Official and unofficial reports about the situation faced daily by ordinary people
in Iraq are devastating. According to a report issued by the United Nations
Children's Fund (UNICEF) in November 1997, "the food rationing system
provides less than 60% of the required daily calorie intake, the water and
sanitation systems are in a state of collapse, and there is a critical shortage of
life-saving drugs." Moreover, it points out that "the balance sheet of several
years of sanctions against Iraq reveals a minimum of political dividends as
against a high human price paid primarily by women and children." Nearly a
million children are chronically malnourished. A new UNICEF report, due out
soon, will repeat many of these same concerns.

Several delegations of American citizens have gone to Iraq to document and relieve this suffering. One recent delegation, led by religious leaders and
medical professionals, included Bishop Thomas Gumbleton from the
Archdiocese of Detroit, Reverend Lucius Walker, and representatives from the
American-Arab Anti-discrimination Committee, the National Arab-American
Medical Association, Fellowship of Reconciliation, and the American Muslim
Council.

There are mechanisms in place meant to address the humanitarian situation,
primarily the oil-for-food deal permitted under United Nations Security Council
Resolution 986. We believe that increasing the deal to permit a sale of $5.2
billion worth of oil every six months was a step in the right direction. However,
as UN Secretary General Kofi Annan indicated in his April 16 report, Iraq's oil
industry is currently incapable of producing anything close to that amount of oil.
We urge you to lead the Security Council Sanctions Committee in allowing the
importation of repair supplies and spare parts for Iraq's oil infrastructure. This
is necessary if the food-for-oil deal is really going to work.

In addition, the monitoring and oversight mechanisms need to be improved to
provide quicker movement of relief supplies to needy civilians. In a recent
report, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization noted serious
problems with the implementation of the UN Security Council Resolution 986.
The approval of contracts has been slow, the amounts permitted remain
insufficient, and Iraq lacks adequate infrastructure for potable water. Full
implementation of UN SCR 986 will still fall short of the nutritional and health
needs of the citizens.

The report concluded that unless water and sanitation
systems are comprehensively rehabilitated, "the continuation of the economic
embargo, even allowing for the amelioration that will occur with UN SCR 986,
the situation will progressively deteriorate with grave consequences to the
health and life of the Iraqi people." We are aware that Saddam Hussein does
not spend his money well, but that should not justify our own inaction or apathy
toward the implementation of these large and well-intentioned programs that
shape the Iraqi people's attitudes toward the US and democratic nations in
general.

Moreover, private charities should be permitted to deliver humanitarian aid
without the threat of prosecution. We are aware, as is the humanitarian mission
traveling to Iraq, of the regulations contained in Title 31 Section 575.525 of the
Code of Federal Regulations. These rules stipulate that the sale of humanitarian
items to Iraq by US citizens must be licensed by the Department of Treasury.
Criminal penalties for violations of the Iraqi Sanctions Regulations are as high
as 12 years in jail and one million dollars in fines, plus civil penalties of
$275,000 per violation that may be imposed administratively.

We recognize the importance of making sure assistance gets to the people who
need it and not the Iraqi military, but these penalties are excessive and
symptomatic of an outdated policy. US policy toward Iraq should be geared
toward assuring compliance with United Nations resolutions pertaining to
weapons inspections, addressing the future of democratic leadership in Iraq,
and securing the good faith of the Iraqi people toward the US and the
international community. Prosecuting American religious leaders and doctors
seeking to alleviate suffering will not serve these ends.

The time has come to re-examine the intended goals and the actual effects of
these sanctions. The first step should be to de-link the economic sanctions,
which have been a complete failure, from the military sanctions, which have had
a measured success. We are encouraged by Iraq's willingness to cooperate
with UN inspectors, but hold no illusions about Iraq's overall record of
compliance with weapons inspections. It is clear, however, that continued
economic sanctions allow Saddam Hussein to exploit the suffering of his people
to his political advantage.

We are simply asking you to look squarely at the economic sanctions, which
have outlasted their political utility. They now serve only to extend the human
suffering of the population and carry out a policy that has driven religious
leaders -- the moral conscience of our nation -- to acts of desperation.

We urge you to give serious consideration to these concerns. We will be
seeking Congressional hearings to review humanitarian policy toward Iraq, and
we hope that you are prepared to re-evaluate and re-invent our policy. We
welcome the opportunity to work with you on these issues and look forward to
hearing from you.

Sincerely,

John Conyers (MI), Carolyn C. Kilpatrick (MI), David Bonior (MI), William Clay (MO), Cynthia McKinney (GA), John Olver (MA), Eddie Bernice
Johnson(TX), John LaFalce (NY), Major Owens (NY), Tom Campbell (CA),
Elizabeth Furse (OR), Alcee Hastings (FL), and Bobby Rush (IL).

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