Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility president explains decision to defy U.S. law
by Eric Carlberg
May 2002, The Source
For Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility President Gerri Haynes, the decision to defy U.S. law arises largely out of her experiences as a mother.
"It would be wrong to think anyone else would love their children less intensely than I love my children. An Iraqi child must be as beloved as my children are by me."
From May 8th to May 21st, this mother of six and grandmother of seven will lead her fourth delegation to Iraq, a country where according to UNICEF reports between 2,690 to 5,357 children under 5 die each month as a result of ongoing, largely U.S. led, economic sanctions. By delivering medicine, equipment and textbooks to Iraq, each member of the delegation, which will include nine Seattle area residents, risks up to 12 years in prison and penalties up to 1 million dollars.
For Haynes, a deep religious faith and compassion for Iraq's suffering parents greatly outweigh fear of imprisonment. Speaking from 14 years' experience as a grief counselor to parents who've lost children she says "It's inconceivable that those hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children that have died have not been mourned as deeply as these children here in America."
On her first trip to Iraq, Haynes entered a hospital ward filled with children dying from diseases almost non-existent there twelve years ago. She found herself across from a grieving mother, and without really thinking Haynes raised her hand to her chest and gently tapped in sync with her heartbeat. The Iraqi mother mirrored the gesture. Haynes then lowered her hands, holding them outward at waist-level. The Iraqi mother then collapsed into her arms.
She recounts that day going bed to bed embracing dozens of grieving mothers "whose babies were dying because they didn't have enough to eat, because they're drinking dirty water in one of the wealthiest countries in the world." Haynes says that in Iraq, before the extensive infrastructure damage caused by coalition bombing during the Gulf War "97% of the population had access to potable drinking water, and the worst medical problem was obesity." She explains that under the U.N. Oil for Food program, whose last two directors have resigned in protest, each citizen receives only $170 per year for "food, medicines, electricity to repair their system, absolutely everything."
In response to the question "Isn't the suffering in Iraq all Saddam's fault?", Haynes doesn't shy away from implicating the United States in Hussein's rise and continued power--through actions ranging from selling Iraq biological weapons (as documented in Iraq Under Siege: The Deadly Impact of Sanctions and War edited by Anthony Arnove) to allowing Iraq after the Gulf War to fly its armed helicopter gunships to massacre opposition rebellions as the U.S. flew its airplanes in the airspace above the battles. She speculates our inconsistency arises from our status as the largest importer of Iraqi oil and a fear of regional instability in a post-Hussein Iraq. But ultimately she concludes, "If humanitarian goals were our primary purpose, the sanctions would have been gone years ago. Our goal is obviously not saving the people of Iraq."
The United States' minimal response to Iraqi foreign minister Tariq Aziz's recent offer to allow the return of weapons inspectors if the economic sanctions were lifted arouses frustration in Haynes. "I don't think it can get any clearer to the world what our motives are. If we want to avoid war, we need to send our negotiators to work with the Iraqi government, get the sanctions removed and put weapons inspectors back in there. Period."
Haynes, however, does not spare herself from being implicated either. When she mentions the depth of hospitality and kindness she's received from Iraqis in the past she recounts "People say 'we know it's not your fault. We know it's the fault of your government.'" She insists this "is just not reasonable in a way. I still retain the sense that I as a taxpayer have some responsibility for what my government does."
Yet at the same time she urges the overburdened among us to "Concentrate on your own life," stating that one can't work globally "and avoid what's going on intimately, because it's not authentic then." She implores people engaged in political struggle to do so with the deepest commitment to prayer and love for enemies, advising us to "be ye not angry at the doer, but the deed."
Haynes acknowledges the heightened risks surrounding this particular trip, given the current political climate. But she concludes, "I have a sense of intense responsibility to the little people that are growing now on earth."
"I have to go back [to Iraq] and I have to say 'we know you're here.' How do they know that we know they're here if we don't go there?"
A send-off for the Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility delegation to Iraq will be held on Monday, May 6, noon to 1:00 pm at Keystone United Church of Christ, 5019 Keystone Place N. in Seattle. Gerry Haynes will speak. There will be an opportunity to defy the U.N. sactions on Iraq by making a monetary contribution. The delegation will use the funds to purchase medical supplies and essential items for Iraqi people. For more information call, 206-632-6021.
The Source is published monthly by the Church Council of Greater Seattle.
Posted on June 2, 2002.