-Caveat Lector- > THE MIRROR UK > http://www.mirror.co.uk/ > > WHY WE SHOULD MARCH TOMORROW > John Pilger > > TOMORROW one of the most important public events in memory will take place > in central London. > > It is not possible to overstate the significance and urgency of the march > and demonstration against an unprovoked British and American attack on > Iraq, a nation with whom we have no quarrel and who offer us no threat. > > The urgency is the saving of lives. First, let us stop calling it a "war". > The last time "war" was used in the Gulf was in 1991 when the truth was > buried with more than 200,000 people. Attacking a 70-mile line of trenches, > three American brigades, operating at night, used 60-ton armoured > earthmovers to bury alive teenage Iraqi conscripts, including the wounded > and those surrendering and retreating. Survivors were slaughtered from the > air. The helicopter gunship pilots called it a "turkey shoot". > > Of the 148 Americans who died, a quarter of them were killed by Americans. > Most of the British were killed by Americans. This was known as "friendly > fire". The civilians who were killed, whose deaths were never recorded by > the American military because it was "not policy", were "collateral > damage". > > Today, after 13 years of an economic blockade that has been compared with a > medieval siege, Iraq is defenceless, no matter the discovery of an odd > missile that can reach barely 90 miles. Its ragtag army is woefully > under-equipped and awaiting its fate, along with a civilian population of > whom 42 per cent are children. They are stricken. Even the export of > British manufactured vaccines meant to protect Iraqi infants from > diphtheria and yellow fever has been restricted. The vaccines, say the > Blair government, are "capable of being used in weapons of mass > destruction". > > This is the nation upon which the Bush gang says it will rain down 800 > missiles within the space of two days. "Shock and awe" the Pentagon calls > its "strategy". Meanwhile the weapons inspectors and their morose Swedish > leader go about their treasure hunt and a cartoon show is hosted in the UN > by General Colin Powell (who rose to the top by covering up the notorious > My Lai massacre in Vietnam). > > It is all a charade. The Americans want Iraq because they want to control > and reorder the Middle East. Their once-favourite dictator, Saddam Hussein, > made the mistake of misreading the signals from Washington in 1990 and > invading another favourite American oil tyranny, Kuwait. So belatedly, > Saddam must be replaced, preferably by another Saddam, though more reliable > and less uppity. There is no issue of "weapons of mass destruction". That > is a distraction for us and the media. > > The wider significance of the promised attack is the rapacious nature of > the American state. As Tony Blair has confirmed, North Korea is likely to > be "next". I think he is wrong and that Iran will be next. That is what the > Israeli regime wants and Israel's wishes are as important to influential > members of the Bush gang as oil. Thereafter, there is China. Says Anatol > Lieven of the Carnegie Institute in Washington: "What radical US > nationalists have in mind is either to 'contain' China by overwhelming > military force or to destroy the Chinese Communist state." > > ONE of the Bush gang's planners, Richard Perle, has said: "If we let our > vision of the world go forth and we embrace it entirely, and we don't try > to piece together clever diplomacy but just wage a total war ... our > children will sing great songs about us years from now." > > September 11 2001 was their big opportunity. On September 12 Donald > Rumsfeld wanted to use the Twin Towers tragedy as an excuse to attack Iraq, > which was temporarily spared only because Colin Powell argued that "public > opinion has to be prepared". Afghanistan was the easier option and they > were planning to attack it anyway. > > The subsequent American endeavour to encircle al-Qaeda in the eastern > mountains of Afghanistan was a fiasco and more than 20,000 people, > estimates Jonathan Steele in the Guardian, paid the price of that country's > "liberation". > > Since September 11 America has established bases at the gateways to all the > major sources of fossil fuels. The Unocal oil company is to build a > pipeline across Afghanistan. Bush has repudiated the Kyoto treaty on > greenhouse gas emissions, with the war crimes provisions of the > International Criminal Court and the anti-ballistic missile treaty. He has > said he will use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states "if > necessary" - incredibly Geoffrey Hoon, on Blair's behalf, has said exactly > the same. > > Assassination is now legal. Virtually before our eyes, prisoners have been > tortured to the point of suicide in an American concentration camp in Cuba. > Under Donald Rumsfeld a secret group with the Orwellian name of the > Proactive Pre-emptive Operations Group has the job of provoking terrorist > attacks, which would then require "counter-attack" by the United States. > You have to keep reminding yourself this is not fantasy: that the enemy to > all our security is not a regional tyrant - there are plenty of those, many > created by America and Britain. > > And what of Blair? Do he and his craven Ministers understand any of this? > It is difficult to know. Such is Blair's evangelical obsession with Iraq, > and perhaps his desperation in the face of overwhelming public opposition, > that he is prepared to mislead and deceive not only the public but the > armed forces he has sent to pursue his and the mad Perle's "vision". > > Does anyone believe the Prime Minister any more? During his interview last > Thursday with the BBC's Jeremy Paxman, Blair lied once again that UN > weapons inspectors were "thrown out" of Iraq by the regime in 1998. He > knows the truth: that they were withdrawn when it was discovered the CIA > had planted spies among them in order to gather intelligence for the > subsequent Anglo-American bombing of Iraq in December 1998. > > I MEAN," said Blair last week, "(the threat of Iraq's undiscovered weapons > of mass destruction) is what our intelligence services are telling us and > it's difficult because, you know, either they're simply making the whole > thing up ..." > > Making it up, indeed. On February 7 Downing Street had to apologise when it > was revealed that its latest dossier seeking to justify war - "Iraq: its > infrastructure of concealment, deception and intimidation" - was lifted > word for word, including the grammatical and spelling mistakes, from an > article written by an American student 10 years ago. As David Edwards of > Media Lens has pointed out, "the only changes involved the doctoring of > passages to make the report more ominous: a claim that Iraq was 'aiding > opposition groups' was changed to a claim that Iraq was 'supporting > terrorist organisations'." Like Bush, Blair lies that "we do know of links > between al-Qaeda and Iraq". An investigation by America's National Security > Council, which advises Bush, "found no evidence of a noteworthy > relationship" between Iraq and al-Qaeda. On February 5 a Ministry of > Defence document, leaked to the BBC, revealed that British intelligence had > told Blair there was "no current link" between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda. > Blair has even denied seeing this crucial report. > > As a Christian, Blair says be is helping to build a "secure and hopeful > world for all our children". > > The Labour MP Llew Smith recently asked the Education Secretary to explain > "how we can find billions of pounds to increase our defence budget and go > to war with Iraq but cannot find the money to scrap tuition fees?" > > There was no intelligible reply. > > LAST November a report by the School of Public Policy, University of > College London, disclosed that "53 per cent of children in inner London are > living in income poverty". Yet Chancellor Gordon Brown puts aside "at least > a billion pounds" as "a war chest" with which to attack not poverty but an > impoverished people half a world away. > > A peaceful solution in the Middle East is only possible when the threat of > an attack is lifted and a total ban on so-called weapons of mass > destruction and arms sales is imposed throughout the region, on Israel as > well as Iraq. The economic blockade on the people of Iraq should end > immediately and justice for the Palestinians become a priority. > > The power of public opinion, both moral and political power, is far greater > than many people realise. That's why Blair fears it and why, through the > inept Tessa Jowell, he tried to ban tomorrow's demonstration. He fears it > because if the voice of the people threatens the house of cards he has > built on his obsession with Iraq and America, it may well threaten his > political life and make mockery of the Anglo-American "coalition" and deny > the Bush gang its fig leaf. > > Should that happen, American public opinion, now stirring heroically after > the most sustained brainwashing campaign for half a century, may even stop > the Bush gang in its tracks. As of yesterday 42 American cities had passed > resolutions condemning an attack. > > Is all that a cause for optimism? Yes it is. Look at how this week's French > and German "rebellion" almost seemed to change everything; and remember > that those governments are speaking out only because of overwhelming > pressure from their people. > > Now that has to happen in Britain. Tomorrow you can begin to make it > happen. > > > > > > > > > Top > > > > > > >
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