Stop the War Coalition Newsletter

[Annie]

STOP THE WAR COALITION NEWSLETTER
No 2006/4: March 6
Email office@stopwar.org.uk
Telephone 020 7278 6694

To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank e-mail to:
stwc-unsubscribe@lists.riseup.net

**************************************************
IN THIS NEWSLETTER:
1) MAKE MARCH 18 BLAIR'S JUDGEMENT DAY
2) JUDGEMENT DAY FOR GEORGE BUSH TOO
3) THE IRAQI PEOPLE WANT US OUT
4) US TROOPS SAY GET US OUT OF HERE
5) NOT ONE MORE DEATH
6) IS GOODBYE AMERICA HELLO CIVIL WAR?
7) THE CAIRO CONFERENCE
HOW MUCH IS THE WAR COSTING?
9) LIVES IN THE BALANCE
10) USEFUL LINKS

**************************************************
1) MAKE MARCH 18 BLAIR'S JUDGEMENT DAY
In any true democracy, Tony Blair would have been held to account long ago for his war crimes, not least by the judgement of the British people, the vast majority of whom have consistently shown they are opposed to Blair's illegal war in Iraq.

Blair tells us it is not the British people who will judge him on the war; it is God. Blair says he "talked" to God when reaching his decision to take the country to war. Not for the first time, he is talking the demented language of his mentor George Bush, who says he is on "a mission from God" in his wars on Iraq and Afghanistan.

All of us who have opposed the war and the occupation in Iraq should do everything we can to make sure that Tony Blair's judgement day comes much earlier than anything his God has planned for him. As Mary Riddell put it in The Observer, "Near civil meltdown in Iraq greets the third anniversary of Shock and Awe. Don't wait for God. We will judge you."

Reg Keys, father of Tom Keys, a British soldier killed in 2003, says, "Forget God, I'll judge Mr Blair myself... and I find him guilty on all counts. He's guilty of not telling the truth, not showing restraint and not acting with integrity. God and religion has nothing to do with this war."

And Rose Gentle, whose 19 year old son Gordon was killed in Iraq in 2004, says, "I hope my boy isn't with the same God Tony Blair prays to. What kind of God would justify the deaths of thousands of people? If there is a God, He'll judge Mr Blair to have made the wrong decision - one for which I and many other British families have already been punished."

SIGN THE WAR TRIBUNAL DEMAND
Appropriately, the March 18 demonstration assembles at the Houses of Parliament, where three years ago MPs voted for an illegal war and thereby failed to represent the will of the people who elected them. As our march assembles on 18 March, we will be taking over the whole of Parliament Square for a giant sign-in, demanding a war crimes tribunal for those who in attacking Iraq committed the supreme war crime as specified under international law. Everyone on the demonstration will be encouraged to put their name to the demand, which follows the submission by Tony Benn and 43 others to the United Nations and to the British Attorney General. (See http://www.stopwar.org.uk/Bennletter.htm)

MAKE MARCH 18 TONY BLAIR'S JUDGEMENT DAY by publicising the demonstration as widely as possible (leaflets, posters and stickers are available from the national Stop the War office).

MAKE MARCH 18 TONY BLAIR'S JUDGEMENT DAY by joining the local Stop the War activities which are building support for the demonstration (see our website or phone the national office for details).

MAKE MARCH 18 TONY BLAIR'S JUDGEMENT DAY by encouraging everyone you know -- family, friends, neighbours, colleagues at work, fellow students at college or school -- to be at the demonstration and to get involved in building support for the global protest.

STOP THE WAR COALITION
Telephone: 020 7278 6694
Email: office@stopwar.org.uk
Web: http://www.stopwar.org.uk/

**************************************************
2) JUDGEMENT DAY FOR GEORGE BUSH TOO
US polls show that George Bush is the second most unpopular American president in history, with his ratings sinking so fast he could soon be down with Richard Nixon, who was driven from office in 1974.

Sixty percent of Americans say the war in Iraq is a disaster and troops should be withdrawn now. But the Vietnam war shows us that unpopularity at home doesn't necessarily lead to a quick military withdrawal abroad. In 1968 -- by which time 20,000 American troops had been killed -- it was obvious that the US could not win in Vietnam. But it was not until seven years later that America was finally driven from the country, following the deaths of 40,000 more American troops and at least one million more Vietnamese, plus countless numbers killed by US carpet bombing of Cambodia.

The Vietnamese resistance was of course the pivotal reason for the defeat of the US army but the enormous protest movement in America and worldwide was also a key factor.

Which is why, on the third anniversary of the Iraq invasion, it is as essential today as it was in the 1960s and 1970s that the global anti-war movement mobilises the broadest and most visible _expression of world public opinion against Bush's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the planned war in Iran.

There are now over 170 towns and cities across the world which will be demonstrating on March 18/19. More are being added every day, not least in the United States. Most importantly of all, we will be joined for the first time by mass demonstrations in Iraq, with protests already called for Basra and Baghdad.

TO KEEP UP TO DATE WITH THE GLOBAL PROTESTS PLANNED FOR MARCH 18/19, GO TO:
http://www.stopwar.org.uk/march20/events.asp

TO KEEP UP TO DATE WITH PROTESTS PLANNED IN THE USA, GO TO:
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/

**************************************************
3) US TROOPS SAY GET US OUT OF HERE
George Bush has a problem. He says American troops must stay in Iraq "as long as they are needed", by which he means as long as it takes to secure Iraq's oil for US oil companies and to establish permanent military bases in the country.

Unfortunately, for Bush, an overwhelming majority of 72% of American troops serving in Iraq think the US should exit the country within the next year, and more than one in four say the troops should leave immediately, as revealed by Zogby, the highly respected US polling organisation.

42% of troops said they were either somewhat or very unclear why they are in Iraq at all. Confusingly, 85% said the US mission is mainly "to retaliate for Saddam’s role in the 9-11 attacks", which everyone outside of George Bush's media spin machine knows to be nonsense. Unsurprisingly, 93 percent said removing weapons of mass destruction is not a reason, which is hardly rocket science (pun intended). Whatever the reasons given, they are clearly not enough for the majority of US troops to think they should stay and "finish the job", as Bush insists.

TO SEE FULL DETAILS OF THE ZOGBY POLL, GO TO:
http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1075

**************************************************
4) THE IRAQI PEOPLE WANT US OUT
Last week, Pauline Hickey, whose son Ian was the 97th British soldier killed in Iraq, wrote an open letter to Tony Blair, reprinted in The Guardian under the title, "Mr Blair, you sent my son to die in a war based on lies". In her letter, Pauline writes:

"A Ministry of Defence poll found that up to 65% of Iraqi citizens supported attacks on British troops, less than 1% thought allied military involvement was helping their situation, and 82% were strongly opposed to the presence of coalition troops in their country. For nearly three years, the British public has been inundated with US and British "exit strategies". You should not need such a strategy when the above statistics speak for themselves, and the Iraqi people want us out. It is time to bring the troops home and let the people of Iraq decide their own future."

TO READ PAULINE'S LETTER IN FULL GO TO:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1721351,00.html

TO KEEP UP TO DATE WITH THE UK MILITARY FAMILIES AGAINST THE WAR CAMPAIGN, GO TO: http://www.mfaw.org.uk/

TO KEEP UP TO DATE WITH THE US MILITARY FAMILIES SPEAK OUT CAMPAIGN, GO TO: http://www.mfso.org/

**************************************************
5) NOT ONE MORE DEATH
Not One More Death is a new book published by Verso with Stop the War Coalition, in which voices from the world of literature, science and music – including John le Carré, Richard Dawkins, Brian Eno and Harold Pinter -- unite in their condemnation of the unjust war on Iraq and its disastrous occupation. It is being rushed out in time for the third anniversary of the declaration of war and the major international demonstrations on 18th March.
FOR FULL DETAILS OF THE BOOK AND HOW TO ORDER, GO TO:
http://www.stopwar.org.uk/new/NotOneMoreDeath.htm

WIN A FREE COPY OF NOT ONE MORE DEATH
We have five free copies of Not One More Death to give away to people who email us with the answer to the following question:

WHO SAID THIS, WHEN AND ABOUT WHERE?
"We have no interest in oppressing other people. We are not moved by hatred against any other nation. We bear no grudge. I know how grave a thing war is. I wanted to spare our people such an evil. It is not so much the country; it is rather its leader. He has led a reign of terror. He has hurled countless people into the profoundest misery. Through his continuous terrorism, he has succeeded in reducing millions of his people to silence. The maintenance of a tremendous military arsenal can only be regarded as a focus of danger. We have displayed a truly unexampled patience, but I am no longer willing to remain inactive while this madman ill-treats millions of human beings."

Email your answer with the subject line "Not One More Dead competition" to office@stopwar.org.uk. The first five names drawn randomly from all those who enter will get a free copy of NOT ONE MORE DEAD.

**************************************************
6) IS GOODBYE AMERICA HELLO CIVIL WAR?
The US government is now presenting itself as the "honest broker" in Iraq trying to hold the country together while Iraqis are -- according to Bush and Blair -- dividing into factions hell bent on mutual self-destruction.

The truth is, the chaos, mass slaughter and destruction in Iraq are a direct result of the illegal invasion and the continuing US/UK occupation, which is opposed by the vast majority of Iraqis, from whatever cultural or religious affiliation.

The attacks on mosques and the apparent sectarian death squad killings have been highlighted by the US and UK media. Who really benefits from these attacks gets little mention and there has been virtually no coverage of the numerous mass demonstrations across Iraq in the last weeks which have united Shia and Sunnis under the slogans, "No to America, no to terrorism".

History tells us that the hidden hand of the US occupiers may well be behind many of the atrocities and death squad killings taking place in Iraq. We only have to remember the widespread use of these methods in Central and South America by the Reagan government in the 1980s.

Death squads, US backed militias, special US forces and private mercenaries, who outnumber the uniformed troops in Iraq, are believed by many Iraqis to be deliberately inflaming sectarianism in a classic divide and rule strategy, such as has been used throughout history by colonial powers when they face widespread resistance to their occupation.

And it is of course not just America which is engaged in the so-called "dirty war". It still hasn't been answered satisfactorily as to why last September two British soldiers arrested by Iraqi police in Basra were dressed as members of Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mehdi Army and had arms and explosives in their vehicle. They were revealed to be members of the SAS and it is assumed they were involved in targeting members of the Mehdi Army to cause yet more sectarian division. Attempts to question the men ended after British tanks freed them from their Iraqi jail cells and flattened the police station where they were held.

The idea that the instigators of this anarchy could be the "honest brokers" who can bring stability, security and a political solution to Iraq is absurd but is still what is being peddled by much of the media and armchair commentators.

There is a civil war in Iraq right now. It is, as Sami Ramadani has pointed out, between those who oppose the occupation and those who are collaborating with it. The US occupiers want to replace that civil war with a civil war which sets Iraqi against Iraqi on sectarian grounds. There is only one solution to both of these civil wars: the immediate withdrawal of all foreign troops from Iraq.

**************************************************
7) THE CAIRO CONFERENCE
The annual Cairo Conference has become a key meeting place for those opposing war, occupation and global injustice, attracting prominent activists from across the Arab world and from the international anti-war and anti-globalisation movements. In recent years it has assisted the emergence of the democracy movement in Egypt which is now challenging the American model of regime change in the Arab world.

This year's the Conference will take place from 23-26 March and is given added significance by the international day of protest against the war in Iraq a few days earlier on 18 March.

The Stop the War Coalition has always sent a large delegation to the Cairo Conference. If you would like further information or to go to this year's conference please email office@stopwar.org.uk or ring 0207 278 6694.

**************************************************
HOW MUCH IS THE WAR COSTING?
We know how many US and British soldiers have been killed in Iraq because the occupation forces are counting their own dead. The figures at the time of writing are 2300 Americans and 103 British soldiers. You can see these figures rise daily on Iraq Coalition Counter: http://icasualties.org/oif/

We know that well over 100,000 Iraqis have died because reports subsequent to the survey published in the Lancet in 2004 have confirmed that the figures given then are almost certainly a significant underestimate of the real total, as shown by George Monbiot here:
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=9082

The financial cost is on a scale which is almost beyond imagination. George Bush has spent already close to 250 billion dollars destroying Iraq. If you want to see this figure rise by the second and see what the money could have bought in helping to solve world hunger, the AIDS epidemic in Africa or poverty in the United States itself, go to: http://costofwar.com/index.html

This figure of 250 billion dollars is puny next to the predictions of the final cost of the Iraq war, as made by Nobel prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz. For details see:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1681119,00.html

The financial cost to Britain is not so readily available, which is hardly surprising, given Tony Blair and Gordon Brown's insistence on "value for money" in the public sector. The cost has in fact doubled from the original estimate and is now expected to reach six billion pounds by the end of 2006. This is at a time when we are told that hospitals must make severe cuts because the national health service is not "balancing" its budget. To see the details of the criminal waste of our money being used to fund illegal wars, go to:
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,,1659280,00.html

**************************************************
9) LIVES IN THE BALANCE
Just in case you think all American celebrities are Bruce Willis knuckleheads expressing undying (literally) support for the slaughter in Iraq, have a look at Jackson Browne's excellent video for LIVES IN THE BALANCE, which is as complete a condemnation of American imperialism as can be packed into three minutes, to the accompaniment of Browne's song, which includes the lines:

You might ask what it takes to remember
When you know that you've seen it before
Where a government lies to a people
And a country is drifting to war
And there's a shadow on the faces
Of the men who send the guns
To the wars that are fought in places
Where their business interest runs

SEE VIDEO WITH WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER:
http://video.jacksonbrowne.com/lives/wmv

SEE VIDEO WITH APPLE QUICKTIME:
http://video.jacksonbrowne.com/lives/mov

**************************************************
10) USEFUL LINKS
- STOP THE WAR
http://www.stopwar.org.uk/
- MILITARY FAMILIES AGAINST THE WAR:
http://www.mfaw.org.uk/
- INFORMATION CLEARING HOUSE: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/
- ZNET:
http://www.zmag.org/weluser.htm
- COUNTERPUNCH:
http://www.counterpunch.org/
- ANTIWAR:
http://www.antiwar.com/
- URUKNET.INFO
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=-6
- GLOBALECHO:
http://www.globalecho.org/

[Ally]

Have stop the war coalition ever once voiced concern about 9/11 or 7/7 or are they happy just being a limited hangout?

[Annie]

Hi Ally

As far as I can see, STW activists I've met at events tend to be intensely interested in 911.

However, the leadership can be a different matter. Dave Shayler and I have done stacks of talks for STWC over the years, and know a lot about the issues, so we'd really love to be able to broaden the coalition's perspective to include 911. After all, 911 is the root cause behind these wars, not a diversion! Perhaps it's about perceived credibility more than anything.

All we can do is keep plugging away at meetings.

Regards

Annie

[Ally]

Hi Anne, didn't mean to sound funny but I'm still reeling after approaching a Socialist Worker stand last week, I offered them free copies of LS2 and Eyewitness but they were rather insulting towards me saying it was conspiracy bull, the two guys wouldn't let me get a word in saying it was nonsense and a destraction from campaign for the Iraq war to end. I couldn't seem them stopping the war standing in the middle of my city centre but hey that's their prerogative. I was just being friendly and they were utterly hideous. Even my great uncle who is a right wing Freemason is more receptive to 911 stuff.
I tell you what was funny, I asked them if they thought the Beeston bombers were framed and this posh guy from down south said I was lying because he lived in Beeston and knew the families. However when asked to name any of them he completely unable to and thus exposed to embarassment in front of his bunch if hangers as someone who doesn't hesitate to lie.

[xmasdale]

Hi Ally

I find the reaction you got not untypical of SWP people, but I wouldn't tar them all with the same brush. Mick Dear from Leeds, former SWP and now treasurer of 911 Truth Campaign (Britain and Ireland), is a fine example of how SWP people sometimes do reject the party line. You never know when something you say might strike a chord with someone committed to a group which is antagonistic to us.

But I understand the SWP is heavily infiltrated by MI5, presumably to stop it from mounting an effective opposition. It is also a major influential component of both Respect and the StW coalition. In both we find grass roots activists interested in what we are saying, but decisions by central committees to have nothing to do with us and to dismiss us as irrelevant. David Shayler was welcome to speak on Stop the War Coalition platforms, until he started talking about 911 being an inside job, whereupon they dropped him like a stone.

That's part of the challenge we face. Personally I believe our tactics should be not to waste too much time with leftist know-it-alls, but to reach out to the eminently shockable middle England. But that's hard to do, because they tend not to run stalls in the street or go to demonstrations.

Noel

[Annie]

Hi Ally

Your run-in with the SWPers sounds par for the course, as Noel says. They have a line (ie distraction from Iraq) sent down from on high, and are not supposed to deviate from it. Despite that, I have met a number who ARE concerned.

The Beeston bombers bit was telling too. For a start, until we have a public enquiry, they are "alleged bombers". Also, Dave S was recently challenged on this during a meeting in Beeston itself, so he cracked back with: "Don't you think it's racist to assume that the bombers were Muslim?"

Try that next time, and sit back and enjoy....

Regards

Annie