Author Topic: Stop War Coalition Newsletter - The World's Most Dangerous Country  (Read 5693 times)

nestopwar

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Stop War Coalition Newsletter - The World's Most Dangerous Country
« on: September 16, 2008, 05:07:55 PM »
IN THIS NEWSLETTER: 
1) THE WORLD'S MOST DANGEROUS COUNTRY   
2) PROTEST WHEN NATO COMES TO LONDON 
3) "DEEPLY SADDENED" AGAIN AND AGAIN 
4) GEORGE BUSH DESPERATE FOR "TROPHY STRIKE" 
5) IRAQI ART UNDER OCCUPATION   
6) YOU COULDN'T MAKE IT UP: NO. 2847

*************************************   
1) THE WORLD'S MOST DANGEROUS COUNTRY

Iraq is the most dangerous country in the world. With at 
least a million civilians killed since the illegal invasion 
in 2003, the daily toll of death and destruction outstrips 
any other country, however much the mainstream media peddles 
George Bush's propaganda that his "surge" is working.   
Journalist Patrick Cockburn, described recently the all too 
frequent reality for the Iraqi people:

"A car bomb exploded in the Shia market town of Dujail, 
north of Baghdad, killing 32 people and wounding 43 others. 
"The smoke filled my house and the shrapnel broke some of 
the windows," said Hussein al-Dujaili. "I went outside the 
house and saw two dead bodies at the gate which had been 
thrown there by the explosion. Some people were in panic and 
others were crying." (See http://tinyurl.com/5tgp9d )

There are 4,500 British troops in the midst of this brutal 
occupation and the horrific instability it has brought in 
its wake. They almost never leave their base at Basra   
airport, on the outskirts of the city. Their only function 
-- at a cost to the British taxpayer of around one billion 
pounds a year -- is to provide political cover for George 
Bush's continuing aggression against the Iraqi people and 
the pillaging of the country's resources.

The most recent polls show that the majority of Iraqi and 
British people continue to want all foreign troops to be 
withdrawn. But, just as George Bush insists he plans to 
reduce US troop levels (they are in fact as high as they 
have ever been in the last five years), Gordon Brown has 
reneged on the promises he made when he became prime 
minister that he would make sizeable reductions in 2008. In 
practice, the number of British troops withdrawn from Iraq 
has been pitifully low.

Stop the War's demonstration at the Labour Party's national 
conference on Saturday 20 September will include the call 
for all British troops to be withdrawn from Iraq now. It's a 
message we will do all we can to press home for as long as 
there is a single soldier left in Iraq.

MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD - STOP THE SPREAD OF WAR   
DEMONSTRATE AT THE LABOUR PARTY CONFERENCE 
SATURDAY 20 SEPTEMBER: ASSEMBLE 12.30PM 
ALL SAINTS, MANCHESTER M15 
Updates: http://www.stopwar.org.uk

TRANSPORT DETAILS: See http://tinyurl.com/696px8 or call 020 

7278 6694 
LEAFLETS: Call 020 7278 6694 or download at 
http://www.stopwar.org.uk

*************************************   
2) PROTEST WHEN NATO COMES TO LONDON

NATO defence ministers are meeting in London on Thursday 18 
September and Friday 19 September. They will be here for 
'talks about NATO reorganisation' and the discussions will 
be chaired by our very own defence minister Des Browne. 
Items on the agenda include Afghanistan, US incursions into 
Pakistan and the 'Star Wars' missile defence project.

Well might the NATO warmongers discuss Pakistan, which has 
been a key ally of the US in the 'war on terror', against 
popular opinion in the country which says the alliance has 
brought nothing but violence and instability. The risk of 
igniting a regional war is clearly contained in the illegal 
US attacks on Pakistani territory, which in the past two 
weeks have killed at least 60 Pakistani civilians. The   
chilling shadow over George Bush's decision to sanction 
covert military action is that Pakistan is a nuclear armed 
state.

The US Missile Defence Shield is also on the NATO agenda. 
The Georgian crisis a few weeks ago has prompted 
acceleration of the 'Star Wars' project. The Polish 
government, despite widespread opposition in Poland, has 
agreed to provide bases for the US Interceptor missiles, yet 
another potential provocation to war in Eastern 
Europe.

Stop the War Coalition and the Campaign for Nuclear 
Disarmament are calling a joint protest at the NATO meeting 
on Thursday 18 September and we're asking all our supporters 
in London to be there if they can and to help make this a 
noisy protest. Please publicise the protest as widely as 
possible.

NATO COMES TO LONDON 
STOP THE SPREAD OF WAR   
NO TO US MISSILE DEFENCE 
Thursday 18 September, 12.30pm   
Lancaster House 
Stable Yard Road, 
London SW1A 1BB 
(Nearest tube Green Park)

FURTHER INFORMATION: 
A Stop the War briefing on NATO by Kate Hudson, Chair of 
CND, is available here: http://tinyurl.com/6ml2ty

NO TO NATO DEMONSTRATION APRIL 2009 
On 4-5 April 2009, an international protest, supported by 
Stop the War and antiwar organisations across Europe, is 
being organised outside the NATO conference in Strasbourg, 
France, which will mark the 60th anniversary of NATO's   
foundation. The call will be for NATO, a driving force   
behind global war, to be dismantled. More details to follow.

*************************************   
3) "DEEPLY SADDENED" AGAIN AND AGAIN

UK defence minister Des Browne's well of sadness is clearly 
very deep. In the past week he was three times "deeply   
saddened" by the deaths of three more British soldiers in 
Afghanistan. This brings to 120 the number of military   
casualties killed so far in this unwinnable war.

It's always worth recalling that when Browne's predecessor, 
John Reid, deployed British troops to Helmand -- 
Afghanistan's most dangerous province -- he certainly didn't 
anticipate being "deeply saddened" on a weekly basis. Rather 
he looked forward to the troops leaving "without a shot 
being fired".

With George Bush announcing a "quiet surge" of more troops 
to be sent to Afghanistan and British defence officials 
talking of the British army staying there "for a 
generation", there's clearly going to be a lot more 
pointless death and destruction.

The anti-war movement has always insisted that there is no 
hope of progress in Afghanistan while it is occupied by 
foreign forces. It is our task to mobilise all available 
pressure on the government to act in accordance with the 
majority view of people in this country and in Afghanistan 
that all troops should be withdrawn. Which is why we will be 
demonstrating on Saturday 12 September, at the Labour   
Party's annual conference, with the clear message, Troops 
Home Now.

PAMPHLET: AFGHANISTAN: WHY WE SHOULD GET OUT 
Stop the War has published a new pamphlet, called 
Afghanistan: Why We Should Get Out, with an introduction by 
John Pilger. It will be on sale for £1 (reductions for bulk 
orders) at Saturday's demonstration in Manchester and can be 
ordered from Stop the War's national office: Tel 020 7278 
6694

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4) GEORGE BUSH DESPERATE FOR "TROPHY STRIKE"

George Bush has signed a secret order allowing US troops to 
operate in Pakistan, without permission from the Pakistani 
government or agreement by the United Nations, contravening 
numerous international laws and conventions. Bush says the 
recent ground assault by US commandos and the big increase 
in the number of US missiles fired from unmanned aircraft 
are directed at al-Qaeda leaders, but the Pakistani 
government and local observers say that most of the dozens 
killed in these attacks have been civilians, the majority of 
them women and children.

The Guardian newspaper suggests a different interpretation 
for these attacks: "Bush is thought to be in a desperate 
push for a trophy strike… before he leaves office." No doubt   
part of the calculation is the hope that this will boost the 
electoral chances of John McCain in his campaign to succeed 
Bush as president. (See http://tinyurl.com/68jpda )

Since 1945, American has bombed 25 countries round the   
world, killing many millions of people (some estimates put 
the figure as high as 20 million). But George Bush has a 
message for all the families grieving as a result of his 
contribution to this horrendous scale of mass slaughter. He 
recently expressed his sorrow, following the US attack in 
Afghanistan which killed 90 civilians: "I am a partner in 
your loss and that of the Afghan people."

And, of course, all those grieving families will be 
comforted by an earlier Bush pronouncement: "America is a 
Nation with a mission -- and that mission comes from our 
most basic beliefs. We have no desire to dominate, no   
ambitions of empire. Our aim is a democratic peace -- a 
peace founded upon the dignity and rights of every man and 
woman."

*************************************   
5) IRAQI ART UNDER OCCUPATION

RIDING ON FIRE is an exhibition of paintings and sculptures 
which have been created by Iraqi artists who are determined 
to keep art alive while everything around them is falling 
apart. It opens in London on 19 September and is highly 
recommended to all our supporters as a testament to how 
artists manage to remain creatively active, producing   
stunning works of art, in an unimaginably hostile 
environment.

It is only through overcoming hurdles and hazards which can 
be literally a matter of life and death that these 
twenty-two artists have been able to create their paintings 
and sculptures and get them transported to us in London.

Stop the War is proud to have helped in the organisation of 
RIDING WITH FIRE: IRAQI ART UNDER OCCUPATION, which will run 
at the Artiquea Gallery in south London from 19 September-31 
October. ( See: http://www.artiquea.co.uk )

RIDING WITH FIRE: 
IRAQI ART UNDER OCCUPATION 
19 September - 31 October 
Artiquea Gallery 
82 Wandsworth Bridge Road 
London SW6 2TF

FOR MORE DETAILS: 
WWW: http://www.artiquea.co.uk/ 
TEL: 020 7731 2090 
EMAIL: info@artiquea.co.uk

*************************************   
6) YOU COULDN'T MAKE IT UP: NO. 2847

"Things are better in Iraq. Life is returning to normal." 
This is the propaganda story from George Bush and the puppet 
Iraqi government, a story dutifully spread -- to its 
continuing shame -- by the mainstream media,. One supposed 
indicator of the good life returning to Iraqis is the   
announcement of lavish plans to build the Baghdad Eye, aimed 
to be the world's largest Ferris wheel. Baghdad citizens 
will be pleased to know that their city, in which there is 
usually only two hours of electricity a day -- and never 
enough to meet essential energy needs -- will at least find 
the power to rotate a 650 feet tall Ferris wheel, carrying 
30 passengers in each of its air conditioned compartments.