Hague Appeal for Peace Members Got To Baghdad

Hague Appeal for Peace International Advisory Board Members, goto Baghad.

Hague Appeal for Peace International Advisory Board Members, Admiral Ramu Ramdas, and Dr. Walden Bello go to Baghdad.

Asian peace mission flies to Iraq in last-ditch effort to stop war

WHILE EMBASSY STAFF, migrant workers, and other international non-government organizations are packing up to leave Iraq, a group of prominent Asian intellectuals, parliamentarians, civil society leaders, and activists are flying to Baghdad in a desperate last-ditch effort to avert the war.

Composed of delegates from the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, India, and Pakistan, the team will be in Iraq from March 14 to 18. The peace mission hopes to express a powerful last-minute appeal to prevent war through a strong symbolic action at a critical time. It will serve as a live message of solidarity from fellow Asians to the Iraqi people in their hour of need.

While in Baghdad, the team will visit hospitals, orphanages, schools, and interact with Iraqi civilians who will likely be killed as "collateral damage" when the bombs start to rain down on their city. US war plans call for the launching of 3,000 cruise missiles for Baghdad in the first 48 hours and US generals have been quoted as saying that civilian casualties will be inevitable consequences of the looming war. According to the military officer who drew up the strategy, the effect would be "rather like the nuclear weapons at Hiroshima."

The mission members will also hold dialogues with officials from UN agencies and other humanitarian organizations who have warned that a war on Iraq will have catastrophic consequences for the Iraqi people.

The peace mission will link up with a number of other contingents who are also currently in Baghdad. This includes a Thai parliamentary and civil society delegation, an international peace delegation from Europe headed by Austrian activist Leo Gabriel, and the Iraqi Peace Teams organized by the American organization Voices in the Wilderness.

"The clouds of war may now be about to burst, but so long as there is the slightest sliver of hope for peace, we must be prepared to seize it or history will never forgive us. This is the desperate dream that animates this mission," says Prof. Walden Bello, one of Asia¹s most recognized progressive intellectuals and executive director of Focus on the Global South.

Leading the mission is Congressman Loretta Ann Rosales, who was among those who fought the Marcos dictatorship and is now the Akbayan! party-list representative in the Philippine Congress.

The composition of the peace mission reflects the growing anxiety about escalating tension and hostilities in a number of countries in Asia. Among its members include Hussin Amin, a parliamentarian from the Philippine province of Sulu, who opposes the scheduled deployment of US combat troops to wage war against the extremist Abu Sayaff group.

The mission also includes two former high-ranking military officers from a potential flashpoint of war, India and Pakistan, and who have since become committed and outspoken peace activists. Zulfiqar Gondal is a retired Major and is now a Member of Parliament of Pakistan. Retired Admiral Laxminarayan Ramdas¹ was former chief of the Indian Navy and is now very active in anti-war organizations.

In Baghdad, the mission will link up with members of the Nonviolent Peace force from South Korea, which is now getting more and more worried about the heightening conflict between North Korea and the United States. Another member of the team, Dita Sari, is a prominent labor leader from Indonesia, the world¹s largest Muslim country. Jaran Ditapichai is National Human Rights Commissioner of Thailand. Among those who will be affected adversely by this war will be migrant contract workers in the Middle East from countries like Indonesia, Pakistan, Thailand, and the Philippines.

After the mission, the members of the delegation are expected to issue a report and conduct speaking tours in their respective countries, in Asia, and other parts of the world to share their experiences. In addition, a documentary report to be prepared by a professional television team that will be accompanying the mission will be broadcast and distributed around the region End

LIST OF MISSION MEMBERS 1. Congressman Hussin Amin, Philippine House of Representatives 2. Dr Walden Bello, Executive Director, Focus on the Global South 3. Jaran Ditapichai, National Human Rights Commissioner (Thailand) 4. Zulfiqar Gondal, Member of Parliament, Pakistan 5. Admiral (Ret.) Laxminarayan Ramdas, former chief of the Indian Navy 6. Congresswoman Loretta Rosales, Akbayan! party-list representative and head of the Committee on Human Rights, Philippine House of Representatives 7. Dita Sari, respected labor leader from Indonesia

SPEAKERS: 1. Cong. Loretta Ann P. Rosales (Akbayan! party-list representative) 2. Dr. Walden Bello, Executive Director Focus on the Global South 3. Cong. Hussin Amin (1st district, Sulu)

DC Collective for South Asians [DCCSA] is a volunteer, non-profit, non-sectarian network of individuals actively engaged in a broad range of social/political/economic/cultural issues concerning the South Asian region, and the South Asian community in the metro Washington DC area and globally.

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