Pip Hinman
On March 20, 2004 — the first anniversary of the invasion of Iraq by the Coalition of the Killing — people all around the world will take to the streets once again. They will protest a war that has claimed tens of thousands of Iraqi lives, and demand that the occupying troops leave.
In Australia, protests have been planned in all major cities and in some regional centres.
In 2003, a clear majority of Australians opposed this country joining the US in its invasion of Iraq. But the contemptuous Coalition government retorted that removing Saddam Hussein was a matter of urgency, because its "weapons of mass destruction" were "an immediate threat to Australia" and the world.
PM John Howard also implied that Saddam had connections with the terrorists responsible for 9/11.
A year after the illegal invasion, the warmongers stand exposed. There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq (although they are in plentiful supply in the US), and the supposed links between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda have not been proven.
The Howard government and Coalition of the Killing engaged in a campaign of mass deception to try and justify the illegal invasion. Most didn't buy it then, and still don't. This is a war based on lies.
These governments had a singular objective — to support Washington's plans for war on Iraq as part of an imperial strategy to replace no-longer-compliant governments with political puppets.
Freedom and democracy?
The invasion of Iraq has not made the world a safer place, nor has it given Iraqis the promised freedom and democracy. The end of the brutal Saddam Hussein dictatorship, welcomed by many Iraqis, has not translated into an acceptance for the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council. Protests against the occupying forces and their puppets in the IGC are evidence of this.
Many of the former regime's anti-democratic laws, including banning unions and outlawing pickets and strikes, are now implemented by Washington's Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA).
The continuing US-led occupation and mounting death toll, mainly of Iraqis, is causing widespread bitterness and resentment.
Already widespread unemployment is set to worsen as the CPA prepares the way for the wholesale privatisation of Iraq's public assets — mainly to US corporations. Iraq is being looted by Halliburton and the other multinational corporations with the blessing of the CPA keen to promote the "free market".
Some argue that if the occupation troops leave, the country will erupt into a civil war. But Iraq did not ask to be invaded. Iraq has the right to decide how it is to be governed without outside interference. This is fundamental. Further, occupation means permanent war on Iraq as there clearly won't be peace till the US, British, Australian and other occupation troops leave.
But neither can there be true peace or security in the Middle East wihout justice for the Palestinian people, another demand of the March 20 protests.
Howard out!
John Howard has made Australia a criminal accomplice in a cruel and bloody war. It is now even more important that he be brought to account.
First, we must demand that the new inquiry that Howard has been forced to promise be genuinely independent, with the power to subpoena witnesses to give evidence not only about the performance of intelligence agencies, but also about how the government used that intelligence.
And the inquiry must be completed before the next federal election. Howard and Co. must be forced to face the Australian people for their part in the slaughter, and for misleading the Australian people.
Howard says he's "over the war". Tell that to the Iraqis who are once again colonial subjects, who are condemned to a permanent war of occupation, who cannot go to school, who have no clean water, no jobs and not a lot of hope.
Make March 20 the day we tell Howard that we haven't forgotten the Iraqi people's rights to peace and security. Make it the day we tell Howard we will not forgive his lies and inhumanity. Troops out! Howard out!
From Green Left Weekly, March 10, 2004.
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