Global Anti-War Movement Demands an Immediate and Genuine End to US/UK Onslaught

national | miscellaneous | news report

Wednesday April 09, 2003 20:36

by Dominic Carroll - Clonakilty Against the War

clonakiltyagainstthewar at eircom dot net

March to Shannon Airport: Saturday 12th April 2pm

“A lot more fighting is gonna be done. A lot more people are gonna get killed.” (US Secretary of State, Donald Rumsfeld: Wednesday 10th April 7pm)

The Irish Anti-War Movement must react cautiously to today’s developments in Iraq. Although an end to the US/UK onslaught on Iraq would be welcome, an end to the war is not yet in sight. The US Secretary of State, Donald Rumsfeld, has warned that “A lot more fighting is gonna be done. A lot more people are gonna get killed.” (Wednesday 10th April 7pm) This cynical and brazen assertion is an appalling reiteration of the US/UK coalition’s determination to sustain its murderous campaign in Iraq.

If the former US-supported tyrant, Sadam Hussein, has indeed lost power, the much-lauded ‘liberation’ of Iraq is not on the agenda. Whilst the Iraqi people will undoubtedly welcome the demise of Sadam’s brutal regime, the US administration-in-waiting offers only the prospect of indefinite occupation, a denial of democracy, repression of those opposed to foreign occupation and a plundering of Iraq’s oil wealth by the US.

The US, emboldened by its success in Iraq and indifferent to the suffering and destruction it has wrought on an innocent people, has its sights firmly set on other Middle Eastern states, including Syria and Iran. This spectre of further and continuous warfare is haunting the region and will have the most fundamental and dire consequences across the globe.

The Irish Anti-War Movement, in common with anti-war opposition across the world, must reiterate its demand for an immediate end to this illegal and immoral war. We must continue to demand that the Irish government withdraws from the so-called ‘Coalition of the Willing’ and denies the use of Shannon Airport and other aviation facilities to the US warmongers. The Irish Anti-War Movement must call on people throughout Ireland to join the protest march at Shannon Airport this Saturday 12th April to maintain pressure on our government to end its complicity in the criminal and insane project for the so-called "Project for a New American Century".