-IAWM ALSO CONDEMNS BROWN’S INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE AS ATTEMPT TO RE-BRAND IMMORAL AGHAN WAR.
The Irish Anti-War Movement (IAWM) will hold a demonstration this Friday January 29th at 5pm outside the British Embassy in Ballsbridge, Dublin. The protest has been organised to coincide with the appearance of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair before the Chilcott inquiry, where he will answer questions about his role in launching the war on Iraq in 2003.
The protest will coincide with a series of protests taking place in Britain at the Chilcott inquiry and on the previous day (Thursday 28th) at the international conference on Afghanistan, hosted by current British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.
The IAWM, like its British counter-part, the Stop the War Coalition, believe any serious inquiry into Mr Blair’s role in the Iraq war could only conclude that he told multiple and deliberate lies to justify an aggressive and illegal war.
Similarly, the British and Irish anti-war movements believe that the international conference on Afghanistan being hosted by Gordon Brown, the day before Mr Blair’s appearance at the inquiry, is a cynical attempt to re-brand the hugely unpopular war in Afghanistan as the "good war," when it is one equally as immoral as that fought in Iraq.
-IAWM ALSO CONDEMNS BROWN’S INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE AS ATTEMPT TO RE-BRAND IMMORAL AGHAN WAR.
The Irish Anti-War Movement (IAWM) will hold a demonstration this Friday January 29th at 5pm outside the British Embassy in Ballsbridge, Dublin. The protest has been organised to coincide with the appearance of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair before the Chilcott inquiry, where he will answer questions about his role in launching the war on Iraq in 2003.
The protest will coincide with a series of protests taking place in Britain at the Chilcott inquiry and on the previous day (Thursday 28th) at the international conference on Afghanistan, hosted by current British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.
The IAWM, like its British counter-part, the Stop the War Coalition, believe any serious inquiry into Mr Blair’s role in the Iraq war could only conclude that he told multiple and deliberate lies to justify an aggressive and illegal war.
Similarly, the British and Irish anti-war movements believe that the international conference on Afghanistan being hosted by Gordon Brown, the day before Mr Blair’s appearance at the inquiry, is a cynical attempt to re-brand the hugely unpopular war in Afghanistan as the "good war," when it is one equally as immoral as that fought in Iraq.
The IAWM will be calling for Mr Blair to be prosecuted for war crimes, the withdrawal of NATO troops from Afghanistan, and end to the use of Shannon airport by US troops travelling to participate in the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Richard Boyd Barrett, Chairperson of the IAWM and one of the organisers of Friday’s protest said:
"Tony Blair is a war criminal. He lied systematically about the evidence regarding WMD in Iraq, about the advice he received on the legality of the war and about the pledges of support he made to George Bush. He told these lies to pave the way for what was an illegal war for "regime change" and has lied ever since to cover up the truth about why the war was really launched.
Over a million Iraqi’s have lost their lives and Iraqi society has been devastated because of what Blair and Bush did. Seven years on, poverty, sectarianism and violence continue and large numbers of US troops remain in the country. If ever there was a cut and dried case for indicting someone for war crimes, the criminal actions of Blair and Bush in relation to Iraq are it.
The other terrible legacy of the Blair and Bush era is the bloody conflict in Afghanistan. Tens of thousands have lost their lives, millions have been made refugees, and the second poorest country in the world is more impoverished and stricken with violence and corruption than ever. The western supported government of Hamid Karzai was revealed to be up to its neck in vote rigging and electoral fraud in the election last year and remains in power despite having no democratic mandate.
The conflict has spread into neighbouring Pakistan, where US drones regularly bomb the border areas, threatening to destabilise the nuclear armed Pakistani state. In the last year the situation has worsened further with the number of western troops killed doubling and the number of civilian casualties increasing dramatically. The Obama administration is now escalating the conflict by increasing the number of US troops to 120,000.
Gordon Brown and Hilary Clinton want to brush the Iraq debacle under the carpet as a "mistake", so they can re-brand the Afghan war as the "good" and justifiable war. The timing of the International conference is aimed at precisely this end. They want to draw a line under the Iraq disaster and rehabilitate the reputation of western militarism in order to escalate the war in Afghanistan.
Yet all the polls show that a majority of Afghans, US citizens and British citizens now oppose the war and want western troops to leave. In the most recent poll in the UK 73% of people want British troops out of Afghanistan.
In Britain this Thursday and Friday, families of victims of the Iraq and Afghan conflicts, along with anti-war protesters from across the spectrum of British society, will demonstrate outside Brown’s international war conference and outside the Chilcott Enquiry when Blair gives his evidence.
The Irish Anti-War movement will be demonstrating in solidarity with these protesters, calling for Blair to be brought to justice and for an end to the occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq. Yet again, we will also call on our government to end it’s complicity with the US/UK war machine, by allowing thousands of US troops through Shannon airport every week on route to kill and be killed in Afghanistan and Iraq."
For more info/confirmation contact Richard Boyd Barrett 087-6329511
