[To add your name to this statement email <nick.everett@lycos.com>.]
US President George Bush is preparing for a new war on Iraq using the pretext that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is threatening the world with "weapons of mass destruction". Pentagon papers leaked on July 4 reveal plans for an assault on Iraq involving 250,000 troops.
US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld is seeking new laws that will give the military a freer hand by reducing congressional supervision of the Pentagon. Meanwhile deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz has been in Ankara, pressuring Turkey to support a US invasion of Iraq.
Scott Ritter, a former senior United Nations weapons inspectors in Iraq, observes "there is no justification for war based upon the facts that had been presented by both the United States and Great Britain." Ritter points out that the UN has already demolished 90% of Iraq's stockpile.
Despite the failure of the CIA to find any evidence of nuclear, biological or chemical weapons, the United Nations Security Council has used this assertion to justify a crippling economic blockade on the 22 million people of Iraq (assisted by the Australian navy). A 1999 UNICEF report calculated that more than half a million children had died as a direct result of sanctions since 1990 (an average of 200 per day).
The world's greatest stockpile of "weapons of mass destruction" in fact lies in the hands of the Pentagon, which has been allocated a budget of US$396 billion for the 2003 financial year. Speaking at the West Point military academy on June 1, Bush refused to rule out the possibility of "first strike" nuclear attacks against Iraq and other "rogue states". With US congressional elections due in November, the propaganda machine is being cranked up to win the support of American people for a new war.
To date only two other governments have pledged their support for a US attack on Iraq: Britain and Australia.
We the undersigned demand:
* No US attack on Iraq.
* Lift the sanctions on the Iraqi people. * No Australian government support for a war on Iraq.
Further, we pledge to build the largest possible peaceful protest rallies in cities around Australia on November 3, on the eve of US congressional elections.
Signed: Jo Vallentine, People for Nuclear Disarmament (WA) & former Greens senator; Tanya Plibersek, Labor MHR for Sydney; Natalie Stevens, campaigner, People for Nuclear Disarmament (Sydney); Rev Ray Richmond, Wayside Chapel (Uniting Church); John Hallam, Friends of the Earth (Sydney); Cam Walker, Friends of the Earth, Melbourne; Teri Calder, Greenpeace Australia; Keysar Trad, Lebanese Muslim Association; Jamal Daoud, spokesperson on immigration & refugees, Greens NSW; Pamela Curr, spokesperson on refugees, Greens (Vic); Nick Everett, Network Opposing War & Racism (Sydney); Colin Mitchell, Network Opposing War & Racism (Adelaide); Dick Nichols, national co-convenor, Socialist Alliance; Ian Rintoul, national co-convenor, Socialist Alliance; Andrew Ferguson, state secretary, CFMEU (Construction Div) NSW; Michael Thomson, assistant state secretary (General Staff), NTEU (NSW); Michael Schembri, producer Gay Waves, 2SER; Sylvia Hale, Greens councillor, Marrickville; Pip Hinman, Action in Solidarity with Asia & the Pacific; Roberto Jorquera, Free the Refugees Campaign (Parramatta); Paul Benedek, Free the Refugees Campaign (Sydney); Sylvie Leber, Refugee Action Collective (Vic); John Seed, Rainforest Information Centre (Lismore); Damien Lawson, Western Suburbs Legal Service, Newport; Layla Mohammed, Worker Communist Party of Iraq; Fouad Elhage, chairperson, Australian-Iraqi Friendship Assoc (Vic); Bill Hartley, executive officer, Australian-Iraqi Friendship Assoc (Vic); Andy Gough, secretary, Summerland Greens NSW; Matt Collins, president, Young Labor (Qld) & convenor ALP social justice policy committee (Qld); Mairi Petersen, secretary, Hiroshima Day Committee Wollongong; Doreen Borrow, Australian Peace Committee, South Coast branch; Marg Perrott, president, South Coast May Day Committee; Hillel Freedman, Nuclear Free Australia; Chelsea McNab, Yarra Ranges Environment Coalition; Pat Feehelly, Rural Australians for Refugees (Goulburn); Sabine Holt, president, World Peace Society (Aust); Sunirmalya Symons, secretary, World Peace Society (Aust); Roland Lubett, director, Last-First Networks; Ray Jackson, Indigenous Social Justice Association; Dr John Tomlinson, senior lecturer, QUT; Peter McGregor, senior lecturer, School of Communications, University of Western Sydney; John Nightingale, lecturer, School of Economics, University of New England; Bea Bleile, lecturer, School of Mathematics, Statistics & Computer Sciences, Universtity of New England; Gary MacLennan, lecturer, QUT; Kelly Ann Wickham, associate lecturer, Faculty of Education, QUT; Dorothy Bruck, associate professor & acting deputy dean, Faculty of Arts, Victoria University; Dr John Tully, lecturer, Asian and International Studies, Victoria University; Jenny Sharples, senior lecturer, psychology department, Victoria University; Heather Gridley, senior lecturer, psychology department, Victoria University; Wendy Saunders, lecturer, psychology department, Victoria University; Ruth Ballardie, PhD research student in psychology, Victoria University; Dr Anthony Ashbolt, lecturer, History & Politics Program, University of Wollongong; Dr Tim Anderson, lecturer, University of Sydney; Dr Barbara Leigh, head of Asia Pacific Studies, UTS; Louise Dressing, senior policy officer, Department of Education & Training, Victoria; Nell Graham, Environmental Education Officer; Venetia Brissenden, community development & education officer, Hepatitis C Council (Vic); Mary Watson, clinical psychologist; Jill Hickson, producer, Actively Radical TV; Debbie Brennan, Radical Women; Michael Morphett, national executive, Socialist Alliance; Alison Thorne, Melbourne organiser, Freedom Socialist Party (Aust); Brenda Roy, Greens WA member; Steve Georgopoulos, Imagine Peace & Hopecaravan; A. Hindirju, Anti-Nuclear Alliance of WA; Rebecca Pinkstone, Aust-Cuba Friendship Society (Sydney); Roque Grillo, Support Group for the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo Assoc of Argentina; Peter Vella-Grech, Boar's Hill Housing Co-Op, UK; Natalie Zirngast, women's information & research officer, RMIT Student Union; Belgin Besim, research & information officer, RMIT Student Union; Audrey Scarff, council staff, RMIT Student Union; Sally Orpin, administration officer, RMIT Student Union; Kaijin Zah Kenisciehad, NUS delegate, Ourimbah campus, University of Newcastle; John Davis, co-editor, The Paper; Ken Stewart, Urban Guerillas; Dave Riley, Carnival of the Oppressed, Brisbane; Jepke Goudsmit & Graham Jones, co-directors, Kinetic Energy Theatre Company; Simon Butler, national coordinator, Resistance; Ghazi Noshie, industrial officer, AMWU; Chris Cain, delegate, MUA; Daniel Jardine, vice-president, general staff, Macquarie University branch, NTEU; Alana Kerr, central councillor, PSA; Vivienne Porzsolt, delegate, PSA; Melanie Sjoberg, delegate, PSA; Noreen Navin, state councillor, NSWTF; Adam Leeman, delegate, AMWU; Liam Mitchell, delegate, AMWU; Jenny Long, delegate, PSA; Lachlan Malloch, delegate, PSA; Chris Pickering, delegate, PSA; Mara Ochoa, delegate, ASU; Simon Millar, AMWU (Vic); Mattie Turnbull, CPSU; Phil Shannon, delegate, CPSU; John Passant, CPSU & MEAA; Helen Whitechurch, NSWTF; Lynda Hansen, FSU (Qld); Anthony Benbow, CEPU (WA); University of New England Community for Peace & Freedom; Talha Patel, Muslim Student Association, UWA; Kiraz Janicke, Refugee Rights Action Network, UWA; Dina Elhafez, Arab Association; May Hismeh, Arabic Club, UWA; Wollongong University Meditation Society; People for Nuclear Disarmament (NSW); International Federation of Iraq Refugees; Democratic Socialist Party; International Socialist Organisation; Socialist Alternative; Socialist Democracy; Radical Women; World Peace Society (Aust); Alan Shaw; Maria Sendic; Cathy Berman; Lara Pullin; Bernardo Zamora; Danilo Krsto Gadza; Helen Kerr, GP; Simone Nichol, Teacher; Kate Nielson; Dave Murphy; Fay Waddington; Margo Webb; Max Whisson; Andrea Shoebridge; Eman Seif; Barbara Wigan; Jim Dixon; Diana Rubel; Kevin Brennan; Olaf Meyer; Olivia Parker; Saritah; Robert McFarlane; June Mcfarlane; Diana Rah; Tasma Michael; Maxine Allan; Alex Falconer; Josh Tonkin; Catherine Menzies; Tony Troughton-Smith; George Rofkar; Barbara Rofkar; Nizza Siano; Bill Fisher; Carolyn Mutch; Michael Cornish; Susan Newby; Grant Boxer; Margret Gilchrist; Henk Eijkman; Helen Hogan; Emily Boldiston; Alexandra Warner; Jenny Whitlock; Paul Kringas; Steve Painter; Rose McCann; Bob Gould; Christine Huber; Jesse Birch; John Owen; Carl Murray; Malachi MacKay; Nat Wills; Sherelle Hillary; Sean Redder; LV Fumich; Tanya Vanderzman; Marie Brown; Kirby Franinelli; Dylan Ryan; Marie Wynne; Walter Gard; PR Wood; Leith Maddock; Judith Blyth; Trevor Edwards; Kolin Thumbadoo; Kerry Klinner; Barbara Jones; Patrick Wagner; Celina Axe; Anthea Brotherton; Jessica Goldsworthy; Naomi Read; Meredith Walker; Alan Ray; Tom Bertuleit; Jeannine Purdy; Karen Carlson, project worker; Denise Warren, teacher; Bela Kusumah Kasim; Mira Wroblewski; Nada Dashlooty; Stephanie Hughes; Bernard Tiay; Michael Di Iorio; Leila Awada; Erika Muzinic; Meredith Budge; Stacey Lynn; Steven Heathcliff.
From Green Left Weekly, August 14, 2002.
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