Posted on 02/15/2003 3:12:38 PM PST by MaineVoter2002
Iraqi People To Protestors: "Not In Our Name!"
After your march, when you return to your cosy little house basking in a warm self-congratulatory glow at the thought of a job well done, perhaps you'd spare a minute or two to pen a letter to Dr Khalaf [see below] and explain to him why his fellow Iraqis should be left at the mercy of Saddam. I'm sure he'd appreciate it, he might even forward them to his relatives who are still in Iraq - I'm sure they'd be interested in your expert views.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/letters/story/0,3604,895397,00.html Dr B Khalaf
Friday February 14, 2003
The Guardian
I write this to protest against all those people who oppose the war against Saddam Hussein, or as they call it, the "war against Iraq". I am an Iraqi doctor, I worked in the Iraqi army for six years during Iraq-Iran war and four months during Gulf war. All my family still live in Iraq. I am an Arab Sunni, not Kurdish or Shia. I am an ordinary Iraqi not involved with the Iraqi opposition outside Iraq. I am so frustrated by the appalling views of most of the British people, media and politicians. I want to say to all these people who are against the possible war, that if you think by doing so you are serving the interests of Iraqi people or saving them, you are not. You are effectively saving Saddam. You are depriving the Iraqi people of probably their last real chance get rid of him and to get out of this dark era in their history. My family and almost all Iraqi families will feel hurt and anger when Saddam's media shows on the TV, with great happiness, parts of Saturday's demonstration in London. But where were you when thousands of Iraqi people were killed by Saddam's forces at the end of the Gulf war to crush the uprising? Only now when the war is to reach Saddam has everybody become so concerned about the human life in Iraq. Where were you while Saddam has been killing thousands of Iraqis since the early 70s? And where are you are now, given that every week he executes people through the "court of revolution", a summary secret court run by the secret security office. Most of its sentences are executions which Saddam himself signs. I could argue one by one against your reasons for opposing this war. But just ask yourselves why, out of about 500,000 Iraqis in Britain, you will not find even 1,000 of them participating tomorrow? Your anti-war campaign has become mass hysteria and you are no longer able to see things properly. Locum consultant neurologist, London
Those people are in our country also
Years ago I use to work with some folks that were from Iraqi and heard some of the stories that were done to innocent people at the hands of Saddam .. Saddam is an evil madman that needs to be stopped
My guess is that the media went to great pains to make sure any reports of protests did not contain the word Clinton, whenever they could get away with it. Whereas you would be hard-pressed to find ANY stories about Iraq that DON'T contain President Bush's name.
I can't prove this, but I suspect it. Maybe someone with Lexis-Nexis access can verify it.
Wonder why they don't display the truth?
Maybe they need some...er, COUGH additional protesters COUGH.
That is exactly correct.
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=anti+us%2E+demonstration+clinton+iraq+cruise+missile
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&q=anti+us.+demonstration+clinton+iraq+serbia+kosovo+cruise+missile&spell=1
You are the ones wanting to impose your thoughts and desires on others. You are the ones who do not care for the children and future generations in Iraq (despite your protest signs). You are the ones who will allow women and children to continue to be tortured, mutilated, raped and executed.
SHAME ON YOU!
The Guardian does a pretty good job of reporting the news. Where they go wrong - consistently - is in their interpretations and opinions.
Save the People.
Bomb Saddam.
This was from a news release from something called the International Action Network or some such in June 1999
10,000 March on the Pentagon on June 5 to Protest the U.S./NATO War Against Yugoslavia
In the largest national demonstration to date 10,000 anti-war protestors marched on June 5th from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in D.C. to the Pentagon. The Washington, D.C. demonstration coincided with similar protests in San Francisco, London, Prague, Aviano Air Base, Italy, Amsterdam, Mexico, Brussels, and Melbourne, Australia.
The call for the June 5th anti-war protest was issued by the New York-based International Action Center (IAC). The chairperson of the IAC, former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, demanded that, "the bombing of Yugoslavia be ended immediately and that NATO should be abolished permanently.
"We must abolish NATO. It is a relentless killing machine made up of the former colonial powers who enslaved Africa, Asia, and Latin America," Clark stated. He charged that Clinton and other U.S. officials are guilty of "crimes against peace for their role in the break-up of the Yugoslav Socialist Federation.
The demonstrators included delegations of students, labor unionists, anti-war organizations, religious institutions, and members of the Serb-American community.
"We have assembled here at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial to demand that the war against the people of Yugoslavia be ended, but also because we will constructing a Yugoslav Veterans Memorial unless the Pentagon war machine is stopped," said Sara Flounders, co-director of the International Action Center.
A number of Vietnam combat veterans also addressed the rally that was held adjacent to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. John Jones, a Vietnam combat veteran and long-time anti-war organizer, said young soldiers should resist orders to occupy Kosovo. "We need a ground war right here against poverty, racism, and the Pentagon," Jones declared.
John Kim of New York Vets for Peace and the National Association of Korean Americans asked: "Remember Panama? Somalia? Iraq? The U.S.-led war against Yugoslavia reminds me of the war crimes committed against Korea half a century ago."
Signs held aloft in the march carried slogans like "Pentagon: Racist, sexist, anti-gay," "Stop bombing Yugoslavia," and "150 schools, 18 hospitals bombed by NATO."
A giant drawing of President Bill Clinton charged, "Verdict: mass murder." Another sign showed the cartoon character Snoopy kicking a giant skull emblazoned with the word "NATO."
Many signs, T-shirts and buttons showed support for Black political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal, who has taken a strong stand against the war. Youths took up this popular chant: "Jail Clinton, jail Gore, free Mumia, end the war!"
Banners identified protesters from across the U.S.: "Cleveland Coalition to Stop the Bombing"; "Mid-Hudson, N.Y., National People's Campaign"; "Arizona Coalition for Peace in the Balkans"; "Alabama Stop the War." Buses and car caravans came from New York, Boston, Detroit, Minneapolis, Baltimore, Philadelphia and dozens of other cities.
Kadouri Al-Kaysi, an Iraqi American and member of the Committee in Support of the Iraqi People, helped to captain one IAC bus from New York. He told WW: "The bombing of Yugoslavia and Iraq is the same thing. They want to install a puppet government in Belgrade. Clinton says they are bombing to save Muslim people in Kosovo. Well, what about the 1.5 million Muslim and Arab people in Iraq who have been killed by sanctions?" he asked.
The Peace Agreement is Not About Peace: The demonstration at the Pentagon took place two days after the announcement that the Yugoslav government, led by Slobodan Milosevic, had consented to the occupation of Kosovo. Even with the tentative agreement, NATO missiles and bombs continued to rain down on Yugoslavia during the protest.
"How should we asses the June 3rd agreement?" asked Brian Becker, co-director of the International Action Center and the chairperson of the rally at the Pentagon. "This is not a settlement between two equal parties. No, this was nineteen NATO countries with a total population of 600 million carrying out 33,000 bombing attacks on Yugoslavia for more than seventy days. This so-called peace settlement is not about peace, but about the outright occupation by U.S./NATO troops of a sovereign country," Becker said. "U.S. imperialism has no right to dictate to the Yugoslav people who their leaders will be. We must reject this completely."
Many of the speakers asserted that the U.S./NATO war against Yugoslavia was being used by the Pentagon and members of Congress to widely expand the Pentagon defense budget over the next few years. They pointed out that the Clinton administration had asked for a $112 billion increase in defense spending over the next six years and that the Republicans had added an additional $37 billion on top of that. While military spending will increase there will be a dramatic slashing of spending for programs designed to meet people's needs. An expected cut of 20%-30% in spending on domestic programs, including veterans benefits, education, housing, health care, and food stamps, will take place during the same period.
Other speakers at the June 5th march included the Rev Lucius Walker, IFCO/Pastors for Peace; Rev Kyul Chung, Korean Congress for Reunification; Gordon Clark, Peace Action; Pam Africa, International Concerned Friends and Family of Mumia Abu-Jamal; Rev John Dear, Fellowship of Reconciliation; Clayton Ramey, Muslim Peace Fellowship; Monica Moorehead, Workers World Party; Nadja Tesich; Barry Lituchy, Coalition Against Western Intervention in Yugoslavia; Ricardo Jordan, Committee of Rescue & Development of Vieques, Puerto Rico; Teresa Gutierrez, International Peace for Cuba Appeal; representatives of Saint Sava Church in New York City; and others.
http://www.refuseandresist.org/other_fronts/061499protests.html
Like I said, the fringe's reaction tend to be pretty much reactionary anti-U.S. establishment, no matter if it's the dems or pubs in charge.
Remember, "search" is your friend.
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