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For a national trade union-led demo
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Troops out of Iraq
TONY BLAIR sent British troops into Iraq with the words that it
would make the world a ‘safer place’.
Judy Beishon
Yet in just the last few weeks there have been horrific terrorist
attacks in London, Turkey, Egypt and in Iraq itself.
Now, there are few places in the world where people feel
completely safe.
Blair and Bush also claimed their invasion of Iraq was to defend us
from weapons of mass destruction, which didn’t even exist!
Now, Blair’s second major lie is to tell us that the London
attacks have nothing to do with his foreign policy, but stem simply from
the "evil ideology" of a small minority of Muslims.
Even the pro-Iraq war Economist magazine, which backed Blair at the
recent general election, felt driven to comment: "It is absurd to
deny even the possibility of a connection with Iraq.
The invasion could well have been the trigger that turned four
British Muslims into suicide-bombers".
Blair’s own intelligence services put it more concretely when they
reported that: "events in Iraq are continuing to act as motivation
and a focus for a range of terrorist-related activity in the UK".
Denying the link
Blair is now almost alone in denying any link, with even
fellow cabinet members deserting his position. Foreign secretary Jack
Straw said that "it’s impossible to say for certain" that
there is no link.
With a recent Mirror/GMTV opinion poll suggesting that the
overwhelming majority of people – 85% – believe there is one, government
ministers are increasingly realising that their position is untenable.
Socialists totally condemn the terrorist attacks.
Unfortunately, one of the consequences of the terrorist attacks has
been that Blair has temporarily increased his ratings, by leaning on the
shock and horror people feel and trying to appear to be giving
leadership during a period of crisis.
But as his security forces struggle to catch the perpetrators and to
prevent further attacks, killing an entirely innocent man in the
process, there is increasing unease and questioning of his position.
It is unlikely that Blair can escape for long from a resurgence of
anger being directed at his support for US imperialism’s aggression in
the Middle East, and also at his domestic policies of privatisation and
cuts.
Now, with the danger of further terrorist attacks, it is even more
urgent that workers’ unity is developed against terrorism and war. A
national demonstration should be called by the trade unions, with the
immediate withdrawal of the troops from Iraq as one of the central
demands.
Workers’ unity is also essential against poverty, exploitation and
oppression which set the underlying conditions for a more dangerous and
unstable world.
This means that while building a movement for the removal of
Blair, we must also fight for an end to the capitalist system itself,
which is responsible for all these nightmares, and for the goal of
socialism, to give everyone a safe and decent future.
