U.S. Contingent Lands in Iraq to Deliver Aid
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BAGHDAD — More than 70 American activists arrived on two separate flights Saturday to provide medicine, books and school supplies as part of the growing international challenge to the 10-year-old international embargo against Iraq.
The Americans, mostly members of religious and humanitarian organizations, make up one of the largest U.S. contingents to visit Iraq since the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Two chartered Royal Jordanian airliners ferried them from Amman, the capital of neighboring Jordan, to Baghdad’s Saddam International Airport.
“We’re probably the first Americans who have flown over Iraq for a long time who haven’t brought bombs,” said organizer James Jennings, head of the Atlanta-based Conscience International.
Sanctions imposed on Iraq after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait include a ban on international flights, but humanitarian trips are allowed with prior permission from the United Nations sanctions committee.
The second group of Americans, headed by former Atty. Gen. Ramsey Clark, arrived Saturday night.
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