PHOTO: FFML15 Márta/March 2008, despite pouring rain and wind, to protest the
The protest was organised by the Irish Anti-War Movement who have consistently opposed the bloody wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and brought to public attention the horrendous consequences of these Imperialist adventures and the Irish Government’s shameful collaboration with the use of Shannon Airport by US military aircraft and CIA “rendition” flights going to and from Iraq these past five years.
The speakers on the platform, which included Michael D. Higgins, Labour Party foreign Affairs Spokesman, Richard Boyd-Barret of Irish Anti-War Movement, Joe Higgins, Socialist Party and Michael Youlton, Palestine Solidarity, who chaired the event, condemned the continued aggression against the Iraqi and Palestinian peoples and called on the Irish Government to cease its shameful collaboration with US warmongers and respect the views of the majority of the Irish people who want an end to the use of Shannon Airport by the US Military.
The meeting also heard, on direct phone-link to Gaza City, a Palestinian representative give an on-the-spot account of the Zionazi Israeli armed assault on the civil population, men, women and children, of Gaza, which has resulted in 140 deaths in the past week alone. The Palestinian representative urged continued demonstrations of protest in European countries as these shows of solidarity and support were very welcome and the cause of hope and great encouragement to the Palestinian people in their great struggle for freedom from Zionist oppression.
RUIN AND DESTRUCTION
The shocking statistics of the bloodshed and destruction in Iraq are inadequate to describe the actual conditions in which the majority of the population must live. Thousands of homes have been destroyed and made uninhabitable, so even if some of the millions of refugees who have fled to neighbouring Syria and Jordan wanted to come back there is no accommodation for them. It will take years to rebuild Iraq’s ruined living accommodation and infrastructure There are no medicines for the Hospitals, once the best in the Middle East. 50% of Iraq’s medical personnel have fled the country. There is no clean water in the cities and towns; the sewerage system has collapsed. Electricity is provided only for a couple of hours a day and sometimes not at all.
There is massive unemployment as Iraq’s industries and trade have been completely disrupted. Religious sectarianism, unknown before the invasion, has come to dominate daily life and cities and towns are now split along religious lines with walls and barriers being erected between communities who once lived together peacefully. There is daily bombing and killing of civilians in murderous sectarian attacks. The US Occupation Forces continue to harass the civilian population and brutally invade their homes for so-called “security” reasons.
The United Nations continues to fail to protect the people of Iraq against an illegal and brutal occupation which has no purpose or future except to continue the violence and oppression and prevent the Iraqi people from exercising their fundamental rights of self-determination and sovereignty in their own country. There should be no more fig-leaf cover by the UN for what is a brutal Imperialist occupation in Iraq. US and British troops and their European associate forces should be withdrawn and replaced with UN Mandate forces from cultures more amenable to the Iraqi people. Since the unity and territorial integrity of the Iraqi state is now under serious threat, replacement of the Occupation forces is an urgent political and military necessity.
It is quite clear that the despicable Buckfush regime in Washington, now coming to its inglorious end in a financial meltdown of US capital, is incapable of extracting itself with dignity from Iraq and Afghanistan and is, vampire like, seeking to suck more European blood into what is a damnable lost cause and political, military and economic shambles of its own making. Nothing could be more damaging for European interests than getting further involved in this disastrous enterprise. Some of the media, to their credit, are beginning to question the whole basis for this mad adventure. Gordon Brown, the British Prime Minister has been forced to agree to a full public enquiry into the decisions made in Downing Street leading up to the War and his predecessor, Tony Blair’s, infamous lies to the House of Commons, in March 2003, suggesting that Britain was under threat from Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes of launch. But, of course, Gordo himself was at the Cabinet Table when this decision went through.
We mark the anniversary of this awful war with protest and alarm for the future when the Warmongers still shriek for more blood:
NO! LET THEM GO TO THE FRONT LINE FIRST AND SEE HOW THEY LIKE IT.
NO MORE LIVES FOR MILITARISTS AND OIL BARONS!
NO BLOOD SACRIFICES FOR FINANCE CAPITAL AND INTERNATIONAL MONOPOLYS!
FearFeasa Mac Léinn
Áth Cliath/DUBLIN, 20 MÁRTA/MARCH 2008.
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