Sydney Stop the War (STWC) added its voice to those condemning United States President Joe Biden’s bombing raid on northern Iraq on February 25.
The US strikes killed at least 22 people.
“The US government claimed that it was bombing an Iranian-backed Iraqi armed group — Kataeb Hezbollah militia or Hezbollah Brigades — which it said had launched a rocket attack in Iraq in February that killed one civilian contractor and wounded a US service member and other coalition troops, the SSTWC said.
“There is now evidence that the strikes were on Iraq, not Syria, as the US has claimed.
Iraqi-born exile Sam Ramadani said that the US killed personnel from Iraqi Popular Mobilisation Forces which had taken a leading role in defeating ISIS and other terrorists who were being protected by the US.
“Decades of US bombing and occupation in the Middle East is proof that bombing raids continue war and do nothing to bring peace.
“Biden has shown himself to be no different to Republican and Democrat presidents who unleashed and maintained the US ‘war of terror’ in the Middle East.
“March 20 will mark 18 years since the US led a “coalition of the willing” to war on Iraq. That war killed 1 million Iraqis, then destroyed Libya, waged a proxy war on Syria, helps Saudi Arabia continue its war on Yemen by deploying NATO forces and terrorist groups.
“Neither the Prime Minister Scott Morrison nor Defence Minister Marise Payne have so far said anything.”
The anti-war coalition called on the Australian government to urge the US to cease its bombing raids, and to remove its troops and bases from Iraq. It also wants the federal government to remove Australian troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, and send reparations to those countries.