http://www.active.org.au/sydney/news/front.php3?article_id=2255&group=webcast
Australian five Human Peace Shields
by Maria Pilar 6:51am Wed Mar 19 '03 article#2255
address: Sydney, Australia phone: 02 9799 4591 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Australian five Human Peace Shields in Iraq last words before they get
bombed!
May Honor and Peace be with you all...
MEDIA RELEASE
WE WILL STICK IT OUT. WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED - THE AUSTRALIAN FIVE
Baghdad, 18th March 2003:
The five Australian Human Shields based in Baghdad are not intimidated
by Bush's threats to bomb Iraq. All five are determined to remain in
solidarity with the Iraqi civilians who will suffer greatly from the
planned invasion of Iraq
The Five Australians Human Shields in Iraq are:
Ruth Russell, from Adelaide, and Donna Mulhearn, from Newcastle, both of
whom are at the Taije Food Silo, phone 885 2846-7.
Osama Al-Shaban, an Australian citizen who lives and works in North
Queensland, who is at the Daura Oil Refinery, telephone 7750300,
extension 4337
Patricia Moynihan, from Melbourne, and Rosemarie Gillespie (Waratah),
both of whom are at the April 7th Water Treatment Plant, phone 443 6039.
All these sites are in Baghdad.
RUTH RUSSELL:
Ruth is at the food silo site and staying there. The food storage site
is on the other side of the Tigris River from the Palestinian Hotel
where the Human Shields Office is. Ruth will be stopped from coming into
the Human Shields office if American, British or Australian bombers
destroy the bridges across the River. Her Statement is in the form of an
open letter to the Prime Miniature of Australia
OPEN LETTER TO PRIME MINISTER, JOHN HOWARD
MOMENT OF NATIONAL SHAME FOR AUSTRALIANS
Once again, Australia is being shamed as a nation which no longer
believes in international law, human dignity and peace.
Even yesterday, the UN Weapons Inspectors said that Iraq was compliant.
There has never been a convincing argument for military intervention.
I have come to Iraq as a human shield in deep despair and frustration
that alternative non-violent resolutions were never ever considered by you.
The question I am constantly asked here in Baghdad is "We thought
Australia was our friend - so why are they doing this?" There is no
possible answer that I can give.
I believe now that the big question for Australians at home is - How can
we change our Constitution so that we have a Prime Minister who must
listen to the -
* legal profession who say that this war is "illegal" ie.outside
international law
* medical profession, church leaders and humanitarian groups who say
this will be a humanitarian disaster on a massive scale
* Anzac "heroes" and Vietnam veterans who say that the trauma of war
lasts a lifetime
* The people of Australia who say this war and any future war is
unacceptable behaviour for a civilised society to engage in.
I am a mother who has come here to be a human shield protecting a UN
classified humanitarian site, the Taji Food Silo, North Bagdad, where
much of the Australian wheat is stored and distributed to feed 5 million
people.
If I am killed, then this will highlight the killing of innocent
civilians. My children will lose their Mother as will thousands of other
Iraqi families lose their fathers, husbands, mothers and children. We
refuse to be called "collateral damage" This is the ultimate insult and
what this new type of militarism means that the people of the world are
so opposed to.
As Australians we know that schoolyard bullying, domestic violence and
murder in our community is illegal and totally unacceptable. How can it
be acceptable then for Australians to kill strangers in a foreign land???
Make no mistake this war will be "armchair killing" of innocent people.
I feel very sorry for the Australian servicemen and their families as
they are placed in a very unenviable position- now being asked to do
something which is dishonourable.
NOT IN MY NAME will such an act of extreme violence be done.
Ruth Russell 17 March 2003
OSAMA AL-SHABAN:
My name is Osama Al-Shaban; I am 49 years old. I am an Australian
citizen living and working in North Queensland. I have a Diploma of
Engineering. For the last five years I have been working for Tableland
Concrete Blocks in Mareeba. I love my job and the people I work with. I
was born in Baghdad.
I came to Baghdad, the city of knowledge, as a Human Shield, to stand
side by side with the Iraqi people against the war. I know this war is
an unjustified war. Our mission is a peaceful mission based on truth,
justice and peace. The majority of the Iraqi people want peace. The
majority of Australians want peace. I would like to thank the Australian
people and the rest of the world for their solidarity and support for
our peace mission.
I would like to send a message to the United Nations, to do their best
to prevent the war from happening, and to apply the Security Council
resolutions about Palestine as rigorously as it has applied the
resolutions about Iraq. Britain and the United States are applying
double standards Also I ask the United Nations to save the children of
Iraq by lifting the sanctions. NO WAR FOR OIL!
ROSEMARIE GILLESPIE (WARATAH)
I am a 62 year old grandmother of Aboriginal and European descent and a
human rights lawyer, based at the April 7 Water Treatment Plant,
situated by the banks of the Tigris River where it passes through Baghdad.
I have given birth, and remember the passion and joy of bringing new
life into the world. In all my days I never thought that such a thing
that we are now facing could ever happen. The planned invasion of Iraq,
and the massive bombing campaign which will accompany it, is now only
days away. The rights of nations and peoples, enshrined in the Charter
of the United Nations, are about to be trampled on. As jet bombers go
screaming overhead, dropping bombs causing mass destruction, remember
the children of Iraq.
Despite the threats of mass bombing, I will stay, and stand with the
people of Iraq. I will defend with my life the rights of peoples and
nations to freedom from invasion, freedom from fear, freedom from war.
The Apri 7 Water Treatment Plant processes water for three million
people, more than half the population of Baghdad. The International
Committee of the Red Cross also has a presence there. The Red Cross is
producing thousands of litres of especially purified water for use in
the hospitals of Baghdad, which in turn take in patients from all over
Iraq.
If this site is bombed, it will be a war crime, a clear violation of
international humanitarian law. Bombing the water treatment plant would
cause many thousands of deaths, from people being left with no
alternative but to drink unsafe water. Little children, with their tiny
bodies, are most vulnerable to water borne diseases. Thousands of
children would die.
Please do what you can to stop this war. If the Howard Government will
not listen to the people, then it has betrayed the principles of
democracy on which it was elected, and become a dictatorship. Civil
disobedience, including industrial action, is the only thing that will
stop John Howard from sending in Aussie pilots to bomb us.
In love and peace, and if necessary, sacrifice.
DR PATRICIA MOYNIHAN
I am in Baghdad as a Human Shield for a number of reasons, specific and
general, all of which relate to the establishing of dangerous precedents
in international relations that in my view have to be contested.
The First is waging a war which meets none of the criteria for a "just
war". All objective assessments indicate that it is an invasion. Given
that 150,000 Iraqis died in the first Gulf War, it is likely that this
invasion will result in enormous cost in human life.
Second, it is a war without the support of the United Nations. Despite
American pressure placed on vulnerable nations, the democratic vote has
been consistently and overwhelmingly against war. The US and is allies
have treated democracy with cynicism and contempt.
Third, in tne absence of a balance of power, the policy of "pre-emptive
strike" makes all nations subordinate to the will of the American
government. A profile is being drawn of a future in which the internal
policies of countries will ultimately be subject to American control.
Fourth, here in the Middle East, geo-political relations are being
re-shaped with the explicit objective of installing pro-American regimes
that will be compliant with long term American interests. In the
meantime, a weakened American economy is being propelled towards
recovery by any number of advantages of the war (to America) - oil,
reconstruction, re-armament, the entry of corporations into a previously
"closed" economy. Iraq has become a political and economic prize.
In sum, the situation regarding Iraq is as serious as any faced since
the Vietnam war, and as such is a test of what we will allow to be the
case in our shared, global future
DONNA MULHEARN
34 years old, from Maitland in the Hunter Valley, near Newcastle, New
South Wales.
I'm still a young woman and I look forward to having a family in a world
where my children can grow up in an environment of peace and tolerance.
HUMAN SHIELDS IRAQ
E-MAIL: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
PHONE: +964-1-816-4400 ext 4666
(it can take a long time to get through to us on the phone, be patient)
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