Seattle man sues federal office over fine for visiting Iraq

Thursday, January 15, 2004

Seattle man sues federal office over fine for visiting Iraq
After humanitarian trip, Sacks was ordered to pay $10,000

By CLAUDIA ROWE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

A retired engineer is suing the U.S. government after being fined $10,000 for making a humanitarian trip to take medical supplies to Iraq.

Bertram Sacks, a 61-year-old Seattle resident who has made nine such trips since 1996, filed a 40-page lawsuit in U.S. District Court yesterday, alleging that the federal Office of Foreign Assets Control overstepped its authority, violated the U.S. Constitution and flouted international law when it penalized him for humanitarian missions.

Since Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, the United States has imposed economic sanctions on that country that have slowed the delivery of food and medicine and had a "devastating humanitarian impact" on civilians there, Sacks' lawsuit says.

"You can't pump water, you can't process sewage, so you have the sewage of 6 million people from Baghdad becoming the drinking water downstream," Sacks said in an interview.

"I've been to the pediatric hospitals and seen the mothers with little babies in their laps, some of them so sick from waterborne illnesses that you know they're going to die, and when you see something like that, it doesn't leave you," he said.

To publicize those effects, Sacks began going to Iraq and speaking with reporters. In 1997, he delivered $40,000 worth of medical supplies and a year later received notice that the U.S. government was planning to fine him $10,000 for violating laws enforcing its economic sanctions.

But Sacks and his lawyers, Donald Scaramastra and Gary Swearingen, contend that the U.S. legislation does not authorize government officials to prevent private citizens from undertaking humanitarian efforts. The team seeks to have Sacks' fine overturned, with a ruling that would affirm that view. Their complaint will be served on federal officials in Washington, D.C., next week, Swearingen said.

"I personally am not opposed to sanctions per se," Sacks said. "But sanctions that have the effect of causing massive suffering and death -- especially of children -- is not only wrong but illegal under many laws."

P-I reporter Claudia Rowe can be reached at 206-448-8320 or claudiarowe@seattlepi.com

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