No to war and the warmongers:
End the occupations
DISASTER, CATASTROPHE, devastation – words that can’t come close to
describing life in occupied Iraq or Afghanistan. But also the situation
facing the British military and the Bush and Blair regimes which face
mounting opposition and, in Blair’s case, clamouring for his departure.
Sarah Sachs-Eldridge
The leaked memo planning Blair’s departure admitted that Iraq is the
"elephant in the room" for New Labour. While it certainly poses problems
for the governments here and in the US, it means hell for ordinary
Iraqis. On the BBC website teachers from Samarra and Fallujah describe
life without decent water, often without electricity and with an
increasingly high cost of living. In Fallujah the local hospitals are
short of anaesthetics and in Samarra, regular US-imposed curfews prevent
people from attending their work or studies and have even made getting
food impossible.
Bush and Blair continue to talk up the situation while all around
them wring their hands at the disaster that Iraq and Afghanistan have
become. Bush makes claims about how soon the Iraqi army will be
"standing up, so the US can stand down". But back in reality, instead of
withdrawals in the run-up to the US mid-term elections, the military
presence has been stepped up.
Former Labour Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, points to the "five
fault lines for Labour" and admits that the government’s approach to
Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East "has alienated many".
As foreign minister, Margaret Beckett, goes to visit Iraq more
British soldiers are killed and the head of the army admits that "our
armed forces can only just cope". The 14 servicemen killed when the
Nimrod MR2 aircraft came down in Afghanistan on Saturday bring the death
toll for UK forces personnel to 37 since the start of operations in
November – 23 since the start of August.
Bush and Blair had beautiful plans for "democracy" and "freedom"
based on regime change in Iraq and Afghanistan. They then planned to
roll out their regime change machine across the Middle East, taking in
Iran and Syria on their smiling, waving tour. Instead, their plans turn
to dust and they find themselves overstretched and overwhelmingly
unpopular.
These warmongers have no solutions. Under their leadership, the
"elephant in the room" can only grow and reproduce ad infinitum. Under
their leadership, there will be more deaths on all sides. Under their
leadership, true freedom and real democracy only remain a mirage.
Join the Socialist Party on the national anti-war demonstration on 23
September to build the struggle for an alternative to the poodle and his
elephant, for a socialist world without war and poverty.
Demonstrate
Saturday 23 September
Assemble 1pm Albert Square, Manchester
Called by the Stop the War Coalition. For details of transport to the
demo ring 020 8988 8777
