Articles in the Sun Herald and Canberra Times last week indicated that British PM Tony Blair will be addressing a joint sitting of the Australian parliament on March 27, after attending the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. The ACT Network Opposing War (ACTNOW) is planning to give the warmonger Blair the welcome he deserves, and has issued the following call to action.
The war on Iraq is entering its fourth year and the lies that heralded the invasion have continued with the occupation. Bush, Blair and Howard continue to bleed the word "democracy" of any meaning. The freedoms that they claim to be fighting for are being taken away, and not only in Iraq.
The past few years have shown that democracy is not on the rise in Iraq, but the death toll is, and that the tanks and missiles of the US military are proving much more capable of driving Iraqis towards armed resistance than towards democratic government.
Tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed at the hands of occupying forces that continue to destroy city after city in an impossible attempt to crush a genuine and growing rebellion. Billions of dollars that could otherwise have been spent on schools, hospitals and housing are being used to violently deny the Iraqi people their land and the resources they need to determine their own future.
This war is robbery on a grand scale, made possible by murder on a mass scale, and justified to the world by lies only made possible by a subservient media.
But just as Iraqis do not accept the occupation, we do not have to accept it in our name. As we approach the shameful anniversary when the warmongers ignored the will of their own people and unleashed their attack on Iraq, we also get an opportunity to give one of these warmongers the greeting he deserves.
Tony Blair, prime minister of the UK and pre-eminent deceiver in the lead-up to the war, is coming to Australia in March, where he will be addressing federal parliament.
Join with people of conscience who will be making their way to Canberra to ensure that Tony Blair and John Howard — two of the leaders of the Coalition of the Killing — are held accountable for their war crimes.
This is a call to action to stand up against the great crime of our time, to demonstrate against the war in Iraq, to bring the troops home, and to remind the warmongers that the people they ignored three years ago cannot be silenced.
See you on March 27!
[To add your endorsement to the call or find out more, phone (02) 6247 2424 or 0413 092 883, or email <act_now_canberra@yahoo.com.au>.]
From Green Left Weekly, March 1, 2006.
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