Emergency Protest Against Iraq Occupation

GPJA is organising an emergency protest outside the US Consulate in Customs Street this Friday at 5pm.

The protest will express opposition to the foreign military occupation of Iraq and horrifying toll on the people of Iraq which was symbolised in the televised murder of a wounded, unarmed Iraqi last weekend by an American soldier.

Day by day the evidence accumulates that the invasion and occupation of Iraq has been a disaster for the Iraqi people. A recent authoritative survey estimates the increased civilian deaths since the invasion has reached a staggering 100,000!

The death toll from the slaughter in Falluja itself will never be known because the US does not count civilian deaths and also refuses to allow Iraqi organisations to gather this information. However the evidence is clear that the number runs into the many thousands with the city a shattered landscape of gutted buildings, crushed cars and charred bodies.

Over the past century the proportion of civilian deaths in war has risen from 50% to 90%. In Falluja it is likely to be even higher with massive and indiscriminate bombardment from the air and ground, making no attempt to avoid civilians.

From a wide range of reports it is clear that the murder of Iraqi people is a routine behaviour for American soldiers. To get to this point the first stage is to dehumanise the enemy (US army officers refer to the Iraqi resistance as fanatics, terrorists, murderers, haters, faggots, lowlifes etc). The second is to adrenalise the troops and the third stage – the killing – takes care of itself.

Foreign troops must leave Iraq. The puppet regime established by the US has no legitimacy and the only way forward is for the Iraqi people to determine their own future free of foreign occupation.

Mike Treen – (09) 3616989 or 0212547440 John Minto – (09) 8463173 (Hm) or (09) 2745764 (Wk) Geraldene Peters - (09) 3765994

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