(Thanks to Sue Frankel-Streit for this report.)

A "Liberation of Kuwait" conference, organized at the University of Virginia by the former U.S. Ambassador to Kuwait, was shadowed for three days by the specter of on-going death in Iraq, where the war of bombing and sanctions still claims another child's life several times each hour, ten years after "Liberation."

From February 22-24, every eight minutes during the conference a simple procession of drum and candles escorted another black baby coffin from the tents of the Camp-out Against Genocide to The Lawn in front of Old Cabell Hall. A growing cemetery was soon laid out on the snow-covered grass.

On Saturday morning the 23rd, seven activists entered the conference hall and quietly filed in behind retired Ambassador Nathaniel Howell on stage, holding poster-sized photos of Iraqi children. For a minute, Howell did not notice - but when he did, university police quickly responded. The activists were dragged from the stage as Bill Frankel-Streit announced that they had come to make present the suffering of the children of Iraq. They asserted that no conference on the war should ignore the victims who continue to suffer today.

After several hours handcuffed in a police van, the seven were brought before a local magistrate. Five were cited for trespass then released. Frankel-Streit was held on $1,500 bond and Scott Kenji Warren refused to sign a promise to appear for the the group's March 27 court date.

Also on Saturday, another group of activists entered the lobby of the Old Cabell Hall and chanted a litany. Lenore Yeager and Lisa Guido were arrested for refusing to leave. Yeager was released on a promise to appear March 27, but Guido refused.

On Monday, Guido and Frankel-Streit pled guilty and were sentenced to time served. Warren pled not guilty and was released until March 27. All nine were also banned and barred from the University for life.

The prosecutor was not ready to proceed on March 27, so the case has been postponed for trial in Charlottesville on May 22.

For more information, contact Little Flower Catholic Worker, 2780 Hadensville-Fife Road, Goochland, VA 23063.