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luke
Joined: 11 Feb 2007
Location: by the sea
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 Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2007 5:43 pm Post subject: Stop the War Coalition | Iraq: They're still lying to us |
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| Quote: | STOP THE WAR COALITION
NEWSLETTER No. 1015
04 September 2007
Email office@stopwar.org.uk
T: 020 7278 6694
Web: http://www.stopwar.org.uk
IN THIS NEWSLETTER:
1) IRAQ: THEY'RE STILL LYING TO US
2) A MESSAGE TO GORDON
3) AFGHANISTAN: THE NEXT QUAGMIRE
4) STOP THE WAR AGM
5) WAR WITHOUT END? OR WORLD WITHOUT WAR?
6) WHERE HAVE ALL THE ANTIWAR SONGS GONE?
7) THE COST OF WAR
*****************************
1) IRAQ: THEY'RE STILL LYING TO US
They lied to get us into a war which has cost up to one million Iraqi lives and
the deaths of over 3700 American and 168 British soldiers.
They are still lying to us to keep us in the same war, which the overwhelming
majority of people in Iraq, the United States and Britain want to end now, with
all foreign troops brought home.
Gordon Brown says the British withdrawal from Basra is part of a successful
strategic plan to hand over control of the city to Iraqi forces. The truth is,
a few thousand British troops never had any control of Basra – a city of two
million people – and the attempted occupation was resisted by the Iraqi peopl
from the start. The British withdrawal to a single base on Basra airport is an
ignominious retreat from a city which is too dangerous for the occupying forces
to remain.
In short, the British army has been defeated in what The Independent calls "one
of the most futile campaigns ever fought by the British army."
It wasn't futile to George Bush, who needed the political cover of a British
presence to justify his illegal war. Now it looks like Gordon Brown intends to
maintain that presence to avoid embarrassing a president whose popularity
ratings are amongst the lowest ever recorded.
Brown is due to make a long awaited statement to the House of Commons in early
October. What he should announce is the complete withdrawal of British troops
from Iraq (an apology to the Iraqi people and a promise of reparation payments
is too much to hope for). What is much more likely is an insistence by Brown
that the British forces will stay in Iraq, at least until George Bush leaves
office. In other words, no departure from the war policies of his predecessor
Tony Blair.
This is why Stop the War has called a demonstration outside the House of
Commons on Monday 8 October, the day Parliament reassembles, to represent the
anger felt by the antiwar majority in this country over Britain’s continuing
participation in one of the worst war crimes in recent history – an anger
which MPs have refused to reflect in parliament. In the words of Andrew Murray,
national chair of Stop the War, writing in The Guardian:
"Overwhelming that gap between popular outrage and parliamentary apathy is the
key to ensuring the full and final withdrawal of the troops from Iraq, where
they serve no purpose beyond covering George Bush's imperial nudity. That is
why we are organising a demonstration in London on October 8, the day
Parliament reassembles, to demand troop withdrawal from Iraq." (Read the full
article here: http://tinyurl.com/yqn53k)
Please join this demonstration and help publicise it as widely as possible. If
you would like to help your local Stop the War group build support for the
demonstration, contact the Stop the War national office:
telephone 020 7278 6694, email office@stopwar.org.uk.
TROOPS OUT OF IRAQ NOW
NATIONAL DEMONSTRATION
MONDAY 8 OCTOBER 2PM
PARLIAMENT
(Download leaflet: http://tinyurl.com/2ehlvp)
*********************************
2) A MESSAGE TO GORDON
We are getting tremendous support for the donations we need to help fund an
advert in The Guardian for our open letter to Gordon Brown, which calls for the
immediate withdrawal of British troops from Iraq.
DEAR PRIME MINISTER
We urge you to use your October statement to signal a break from George Bush's
foreign policy and to bring all the British troops out of Iraq immediately,
regardless of US plans.
It is clear the presence of British troops in Iraq is a pointless waste of
life. The majority of Iraqis want them to go. Most soldiers have been withdrawn
to base outside Basra where they play no active role but are coming under fire
regularly and taking heavy casualties. It is time to go. We need a change of
course.
(See full details: http://tinyurl.com/3xafku)
If you would like to add your name to the letter in The Guardian advert, please
make a donation of £20 / £15 concessions online, by post or by card over the
telephone:
TO PAY ONLINE, GO TO:
£20 donation: http://tinyurl.com/27vexo
£15 donation: http://tinyurl.com/29bxh7
TO PAY BY DEBIT OR CREDIT CARD: phone 020 7278 6694.
TO PAY BY CHEQUE: Make cheques payable to 'Stop the War Coalition' and send to:
Guardian Ad, Stop the War Coalition, 27 Britannia Street, London, WC1X 9JP.
If you would like to sign the letter online without making a donation, go to:
http://tinyurl.com/3xafku
DOWNLOAD THE LETTER AS A PETITION:
http://tinyurl.com/3cmysc
*********************************
3) AFGHANISTAN: THE NEXT QUAGMIRE
"The public are not seeing pictures like this at the moment. I don't think
anyone is getting the real story." These were the words of the father of 21
year old soldier Private Davey Graham, explaining why he was allowing the
publication of pictures showing his son shot in the stomach in Afghanistan.
They are not pictures Gordon Brown wanted to see spread across the national
media. He wants to portray Afghanistan as a "winnable" war, in contrast to the
Iraq debacle.
As with Iraq, we are being lied to and deceived over Afghanistan. Tony Blair
famously claimed in 2001, "We will not walk away from Afghanistan." At the
outset of the war, he promised prosperity and liberation for the Afghan people.
What they got was the slaughter of thousands, displacement of many thousands
more and the total destruction of the infrastructure. Even the puppet president
Karzai has been protesting against the NATO bombardments, which have killed
hundreds of innocent civilians this year, making a growing number of people
join the active opposition to the occupation.
The more observant commentators say Afghanistan has the potential to become
"Britain’s Vietnam", yet Gordon Brown is likely to use his October statement
to confirm an escalation of British deployment in Afghanistan and prove once
again to George Bush that the British government will remain subservient to US
foreign policy.
Stop the War is organising a day school AFGHANISTAN: BRITAIN'S OTHER WAR in
London on Saturday 15 September. Speakers include Craig Murray, Dr. Elaheh
Povey and Lynda Holmes from Military Families Against the War. Tickets are
£6/£4 concessions.
FULL DETAILS: http://tinyurl.com/2euh6h
AFGHANISTAN: BRITAIN'S OTHER WAR
SATURDAY 15 SEPTEMBER, 9.30 - 5PM
UNIVERSITY OF LONDON UNION
SPEAKERS INCLUDE Craig Murray, Dr. Elaheh Povey and Lynda Holmes
(Military Families Against the War).
TICKETS £6/£4 concessions.
Phone 020 7278 6694 to book your space
Early booking is advisable, as tickets are selling very fast.
*********************************
4) STOP THE WAR AGM
This year's Stop the War National Conference will be held on Saturday 27
October at Friends Meeting House, 173 Euston Road, London NW1 2BJ.
All affiliates and members are invited to attend.
Details on the submission of resolutions, the agenda and the fee will be
available soon on the Stop the War website: www.stopwar@office.org.uk
All affiliates are reminded that in order to send delegates they need to have
renewed their affiliation for 2007/ 2008.
*********************************
5) WAR WITHOUT END? OR WORLD WITHOUT WAR?
Stop the War Coalition are organising an international peace conference in
London on 1st December. The World Against War conference is a follow up to the
successful international conference we hosted in 2005.
We expect peace and anti-war groups from South America, the Middle East, USA,
South Asia, Africa, Canada and Europe. The conference will discuss the
occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan and opposition to any attack on Iran.
It will also look at the broader struggle against war and for independence
against all the threats of the US administration.
Representatives have been invited from Iraq, Palestine, Venezuala and Pakistan
amongst others. We have also invited Polish and Czech organisations who are
opposing the Bush 'Missile Defence' plan. The World Against War conference will
take place at Westminster Central Hall. Booking forms will be available soon.
TO RESERVE YOUR PLACE CALL STOP THE WAR ON 020 7278 6694.
*********************************
6) WHERE HAVE ALL THE ANTI-WAR SONGS GONE?
It has become a media cliché that there are no more antiwar songs like there
were in the 1960's and 1970's against the Vietnam War. It’s not true. One
look at all the music videos on the Stop the War web site show the range of
anti-war records that have been made, protesting against all the George Bush
wars. Ian Brown's decision to launch his new single 'Illegal Attacks' through
the Stop the War website was an innovation but the peace message of the record
was not. The difference between now and forty years ago is not that the songs
are not getting written but that they are not being played on radio or
television.
TO SEE THE VIDEOS WHICH SHOW WHERE ALL THE ANTI-WAR SONGS HAVE GONE, GO
TO: http://tinyurl.com/25fzgm
*********************************
7) THE COST OF WAR
New figures show the total cost of the Iraq war for Britain has soared to £6.6
billion, making it the most costly conflict since the Second World War. Experts
say the £6.6 billion figure still underestimates the true total because it
does not take into account hidden costs such as the long-term care for soldiers
who have suffered mentally and physically. |
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Mandy
Joined: 07 Feb 2007
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| Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2007 5:51 pm Post subject: |
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| Thanks Luke. |
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