GENE RANDALL, CNN ANCHOR: A coalition of American and religious and humanitarian organizations is defying U.S. travel sanctions against Iraq, carrying humanitarian aid to Baghdad. Jane Arraf reports from the Iraqi capital.</s>JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There have been dozens of humanitarian flights landing at Saddam International Airport over the last year. But Royal Jordanian Flight 6870 carried the first American humanitarian group to fly here since the Gulf War, and Iraqi officials were waiting to greet them. The passengers included Jordan's health minister as well as dozens of Jordanian doctors and nurses. But the main event was the coalition of U.S. peace groups, headed by Conscience International</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're probably the first Americans who have flown over Iraq for a long time that haven't dropped bombs on the country.</s>ARRAF: It wasn't exactly the sanctions-busting flight that they had wanted. The Jordanian government insisted on getting U.N. approval for the plane and each passenger. But the American group said it was bringing $150,000 worth of medicine and medical supplies for Iraqi hospitals to ease the burden of sanctions -- sanctions the U.S. says won't be lifted until Iraq accounts for all its most dangerous weapons. Iraq says it's done that. Ten years after the Gulf War, the U.N. is now also asking Iraq to account for one of its missing pilots it had declared killed in action. Washington says it has evidence that Michael Scott Spiecher, shot down in Iraq on the first day of the war, may have survived the crash and may even be alive. Iraq calls those claims silly. Jane Arraf, CNN, Baghdad.
American Humanitarians Defy Sanctions Against Iraq and Fly to Baghdad