END US OCCUPATION OF IRAQ!
We went out into the streets last year to oppose the war. We believed then, that the war against Iraq was not about weapons of mass destruction. We believed then that it was not about democracy and liberation of Iraqi men, and certainly, not women. We knew that it was a war for oil, and a war for control over a nation, and we opposed it.
Today, on the anniversary of the invasion, the peoples anti-war movement has been proven correct. US President Bush said they will bring democracy to Iraq. "Iraq for Iraqi people." But what Iraq has now are US hand-picked Iraqis as members of the transition government. The companies to lead the reconstruction of Iraq are Bechtel and Haliburton, both US companies. Haliburton, the largest oil services company, was once led by Dick Cheney, the US Vice President. Destruction and reconstruction by US, coming to full circle indeed.
Last year, the US-led coalition forces launched the military Operation Awe and Shock to look for weapons of mass destruction. To this day, they find none. It was to look for the nest of Al Qaeda. None found. What it has accomplished is the destruction of Iraq, and a high death toll among the people it was supposed to liberate. What it further accomplished is the ultimate discrediting of this war, and its architects - Bush and Blair.
Last Wednesday, the US-led coalition forces launched another operation
- Operation Iron Promise. This time, the mission: to find insurgents and
illegal weapons. Who are the insurgents? The Iraqis who are glad that
Saddam has left, but who are resisting the continuing occupation of US
and its allies? What are illegal weapons? Any weapon except those carried
by the US and the coalition force? The US military men have reportedly
been using their weapons against Iraqis who have been expressing anti-coalition
sentiments, and
aimed at Iraqi women to rape them.
Since last year, even after the capture of Saddam, suicide bombings and armed attacks against the coalition forces have stepped up. Today, there is a higher number of deaths of Iraqi people and the members of the coalition forces more than the time of the invasion. Operation Iron Promise is the US response to the escalating armed resistance to the occupation of Iraq. US Defense Secretary Rumsfeld recently said that June 30, as the day of the turn-over of the Iraq to the Iraqi people may be reconsidered. But the Iraqi people have been saying they want the occupying troops out of Iraq soon. Operation Iron Promise will not stop the violence in Iraq. It will not pacify the resistance against the occupation, nor will it quell the opposition of the occupation in the world over.
The resounding call of the people all over the world is the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, which the new Socialist Prime Minister of Spain has heeded. He commits to withdraw the Spanish troops until the United Nations takes over. Thai Prime Minister Thaksin should do the same and withdraw the Thai troops he sent to Iraq. All governments which claim to be democratic, should withdraw their own troops and stop supporting this war.
We have opposed the war. Let us oppose the occupation.
Let us oppose the different wars around us, wars being waged for profit
and for power.
Let us continue to build a strong movement of women and men towards a
just and humane world.
UNITED FOR PEACE-CHIANGMAI
MARCH 20, 2004
GLOBAL DAY OF ACTION AGAINST THE WAR
contact: bee – 097002575 / mapnet@ksc.co.th
judy – 017240580 / apwld@apwld.org