MAY 2004

IRISH ANTI-WAR MOVEMENT

 

Press Statement – April 9th

 

-ONE YEAR AFTER FALL OF SADDAM MASS POPULAR REVOLT NAILS LIE ABOUT US “LIBERATION” OF IRAQ.

-US NOW FACING VIETNAM STYLE DEFEAT AT THE HANDS OF IRAQI PEOPLE AND GLOBAL ANTI-WAR MOVEMENT

 

Today the Irish Anti-War Movement issued a statement to mark the first anniversary of the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime to the US forces.

The Irish Anti-War Movement said the revolt now taking place across Iraq among both Sunni and Shia is the final proof that the US invasion of Iraq was a colonial war of occupation not a war of “liberation.”

The IAWM also said that the US is now facing a Vietnam style defeat at the hand of the Iraqi people and the global anti-war movement.

 

Richard Boyd Barrett, Chairperson of the IAWM said:

“All the lies used by bush and Blair have now been exposed. No weapons of mass destruction have been found. Terrorist attacks on the west continue. Now we are witnessing a mass popular revolt of the very Iraqi people the US said they had liberated against the US occupying forces.” 

“It is utterly false to suggest the current revolt has simply been whipped up by one radical Shia cleric, just as it was a lie to suggest that resistance before this was only coming from Saddam loyalists and Al Quida. The banning of Al Hawza, Al Sadr’s newspaper, because it was critical of the US occupation, is simply the straw that broke the camel’s back. It was the final proof for the Iraqi people, that the US has no intention of establishing real democracy in Iraq. Iraqi opposition to the US occupation has been growing steadily from day one. The Iraqi people have now run out of patience.” 

“The US grabbed control of Iraqi oil but have let the rest of the country to sink into misery. They established a puppet government and made it clear that any Iraqi government would have to meet with US approval. They established new bodies to censor the media. They are retaining laws established by Saddam Hussein to ban public sector workers from joining trade unions. The general population faces a thousand daily humiliations at the hands of arrogant and trigger-happy US troops. The announcement that the US intend to leave 100,000 US troops in the country until the end of 2005 made a mockery of any talk about a hand-over of sovereignty. These are the reasons the Iraqi population is in revolt. 

“The claim that the US must stay to prevent civil war between Shia and Sunni is an ignorant and cynical fiction to justify the continued US occupation. Sunni and Shia are united in their opposition to the US presence. There is almost no history of conflict between Iraq’s Shia and Sunni. There is a long tradition of united mass Iraqi resistance to colonial occupation. The anti-colonial tradition in Iraq goes right back to the massive popular revolt in the 1930’s, which drove the British out of the country.  The current revolt looks very like the popular uprising that ended British rule.   

 “The truth is now inescapable. This is a colonial war and occupation for oil and power. The violence and chaos we are witnessing was entirely predictable and was, indeed, predicted by the anti-war movement before the war started. Just as we said then, and were laughed at for saying it, Iraq is turning into the new Vietnam.” 

“The US are facing the certainty of Vietnam style defeat. Just as in Vietnam, the US confronts mass popular resistance in Iraq and massive global movement of opposition to the war. The US will be forced them to end their occupation.” 

“The only difference with Vietnam is that the far bigger scale of the global anti-war movement this time around means the US are facing defeat and humiliation in a much shorter time-scale. It took over ten years for Vietnamese resistance and popular international protest to defeat the US then. In less than a year in Iraq the US are a facing the same kind of humiliation.”  

“For the sake of the suffering Iraqi people we must hope that Iraqi resistance and protest here in the west force the US to pull out as quickly as possible. The US occupation is likely to become more brutal as the opposition increases. It is a matter of huge urgency to keep the global anti-war movement on the streets.  Bush must face absolutely huge protests when he comes here in June. Our government should also now be utterly ashamed for supporting Bush’s war agenda. Ahern should be punished politically for supporting the war just like Aznar in Spain was punished by the Spanish electorate.”

ENDS

 

For more info/confirmation contact Richard Boyd Barrett 087-6329511