On July 25, Executive Director of UNSCOM, Richard Butler, and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Bill Richardson, looked out their window offices high atop the U.S. mission to the U.N. in New York to find: across the street, 14 activists (including one from Washington State, Enumclaw native and ETS! reader Charlie Brown) in day one of a 20-day vigil and liquids-only fast commemorating the eighth anniversary of economic sanctions against the people of Iraq.

On the seventh day of the fast, Erik Gustafson, a Gulf War Veteran from Madison, joined the group. Erik was haunted by the cries of 11-year-old Ali Kahazim, a boy he'd met during a hospital tour during the May 1998 Voices in the Wilderness delegation to Iraq. Kahazim had been suffering from untreated cancer which had spread to his brain. A doctor apologized for his inability to alleviate Ali's suffering, explaining that under sanctions there was no medicine, not even aspirin, and that Ali's pain was greater then even the worst migraine. This hospital, which had seen the world's second successful heart transplant and had a 90% success rate for treating cancer, was reduced to offering death beds to its cancer patients.

Like many citizens who glean their worldview from the negligent mainstream press, Officer Webb dismissed the protesters when they first appeared on his beat. Eventually he stopped and spoke with one of the protesters, mentioning the dilemma of Saddam, a figure that looms so large in the American press and psyche that it eclipses the specter of famine and disease in Iraq. The following day, Kathy Kelly, co-founder of Voices, was also approached. She feared trouble but instead he told her he was fasting all day, adding, "I figure if you guys can do it for 20, I can at least do it for one." So on day 16, NYPD Officer Webb joined the fast.

Each day, during the vigil, one faster was permitted to distribute leaflets in front of the U.S. mission. By the end, 6,000 informational leaflets were distributed. According to Erik, many voiced their support for the vigil upon receiving the leaflet, but of those, most were afraid to reveal their names for fear of losing their jobs at the UN. Two US officials returned repeatedly to give out tickets to that night's performance of Mozart at the Lincoln Center. Overall, 20 tickets earmarked for U.N. officials found their way to the weary activists across the street. On another occasion, a woman from Turkey stopped by to express amazement at seeing Americans stand up for the her "Arab brothers." Another U.N. official speaking poor English was in the end understood to be a supporter, when he had a case of spring water delivered to the activists.

During the vigil, fasters placed calls to the various officials within the U.N. and the U.S. mission, trying to arrange meetings. Bevan Sevan of France, who heads the Committee for the Iraq Program, and U.S. Ambassador Bill Richardson were among those who refused. However, on the 19th day of the fast, Kathy Kelly and others would look out of the same window that perhaps Richard Butler had used to look down upon them as they placed their calls to his office. The 45 minute meeting with Richard Butler led to the first mainstream press coverage of the vigil.

Speaking on CNN, Kathy Kelly said, "We very much wanted to convey the urgency of stopping economic warfare against Iraq. We look forward to Butler's contribution to a debate that promotes `a nonviolent alternative' and `compliance with the law.' We note with regret that the sanctions themselves are in violation of international law. What's more, we believe the sanctions themselves are a weapon of mass destruction." With this, Butler offered this support, saying, "I encourage Voices in the Wilderness to take part in the debate to find a nonviolent and more effective alternative to promote compliance" with disarmament goals. He went on to agree with the fasters that the humanitarian crisis is critical and stated that "disarmament must be done quickly to end sanctions on the Iraqi people."

The following day Erik and others met with Ewan Buchanon, assistant chairman of UNSCOM. Erik called sanctions "a humanitarian and political failure" adding, "Sanctions should target the government, not the people". The most noteworthy statement came when Ewan told the group that there were mechanisms in place to ensure that equipment designated for water treatment be used for just that and not for military use, so there was no reason the Sanctions Committee should deny this equipment to Iraq since the concern for limiting such "dual use" equipment from entering Iraq was nullified.