http://www.unhchr.ch/udhr/lang/eng.htm
Tuesday, August 12, 2003; By Jonathan Weisman - Washington Post Staff
Writer - Page A02
Iraq War Protesters Face Fines
'Human Shields' Violated U.S. Sanctions, Treasury Says
They failed to get the attention of the invading U.S. military, but the
civilians who traveled to Iraq as "human shields" to stop the war last
winter have since attracted the attention of the Bush administration's
Treasury Department.
Over the past several weeks, Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control
has been contacting an undisclosed number of protesters who placed
themselves in harm's way before the war, warning them that they face
$10,000 fines for violating U.S. sanctions that forbade most travel to
Iraq and commerce with Saddam Hussein's regime.
If they don't pay, the human shields face up to 10 years in prison.
Treasury spokesman Taylor Griffin said yesterday that the effort to
enforce prewar sanctions is "absolutely not" politically motivated.
"Choosing which laws to abide by and which to ignore is not a privilege
that is granted to anyone in a society supported by the rule of law,"
he said.
A Treasury official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said none
of the shields has yet been fined. They have been told they may have
violated U.S. sanction laws, been informed of the potential penalty and
been asked for more information, he said.
The shields will be allowed to contest their fines before a federal
judge, he said.
But the administration's efforts to enforce the law are handing war
protesters a new megaphone to broadcast their opposition to U.S.
policies in Iraq.
"I have no intention of paying them any sum of money," announced Ryan
Clancy, a 26-year-old former record store owner in Milwaukee who spent
much of February and March in and around a food silo in Taji, Iraq.
"They seemed to be open to some kind of negotiations and asked me if
I had any suggestions. I told them I had a suggestion for them, but
it didn't have anything to do with giving them money."
The human-shield brigade that descended on Iraq was never shy about
publicity, which may explain how Treasury has tracked them down.
Griffin said Treasury is tracking down the human shields through
customs records, travel documents and "high-profile" activities.
Clancy spent quality television time on CBS-TV's evening news broadcast,
he said.
Faith Fippinger, a 62-year-old retired schoolteacher from Sarasota,
Fla., was on ABC's "Good Morning America" and National Public Radio
and appeared in the Daily Telegraph of Sydney, Australia; the San
Francisco Chronicle; the Irish Times; and the Times of London before
being featured in a profile in The Washington Post.
Now, she's getting a second 15 minutes of fame. On Friday, she told
the Associated Press she was refusing to pay Treasury the fine she
found waiting for her when she returned home in May.
By yesterday, she was back on television, declaring on CNN, "I will not
contribute any money to the continual buildup of America's weapons of
mass destruction, which, as far as I know, far exceed the weapons of
all other nations combined, and, in fact, have escalated the buildup
of weapons everywhere."
Faced with a new round of media inquiries, Tom Andrews, national
director of the antiwar group Win Without War, quipped, "Let things
roll."
Such sanctions are fairly routine, especially for those doing business
with Cuba, Griffin said. The New York Yankees settled a $75,000 fine
with Treasury this spring for allegedly violating sanctions on Cuba.
Playboy Enterprises Inc. paid $27,500 for Cuba sanctions charges.
Caterpillar Inc. paid $18,000 for similar charges, according to
documents posted on the Treasury Department's Web site.
No individuals are listed on the Web site to protect their privacy,
Griffin said.
© 2003 The Washington Post Company
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46248-2003Aug11.html
How would you call a country whose citizens cannot travel
where they want ?
*Ethic*
Universal Declaration of Human Rights :
http://www.unhchr.ch/udhr/lang/eng.htm
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