Mukaradeeb. Wood engraving by Emily Johns.

POSTCARD TEXT

The US and UK governments claim that on the 28th June they transferred ‘full sovereignty’ to a so-called Iraqi Interim Government (IIG), ‘ending’ the occupation. In reality:

• The US/UK military occupation continues and the IIG has no meaningful control over the 145,000+ US/UK forces that remain in Iraq.
• The IIG was appointed by the US and its proxies and is headed by a ‘long-term protégé of the CIA and MI6’ (Observer, 30 May).
• The IIG’s key ministries are riddled with US advisers and it is forbidden from reversing any of the laws – including the illegal privatisation measures – passed by the US.
• Most power resides in the new US “embassy”, with 1700 staff and an annual budget of $1bn (AP, 21 March).

Since the occupation continues so will the abuses identified by Amnesty International (March 2004): civilians shot dead, arbitrary arrests, house demolitions and collective punishment, and the torture and ill-treatment of detainees – a pattern of repression that has dramatically escalated since April with the killing, by US/UK forces, of thousands of Iraqis, including hundreds of civilians (Guardian, 12 April, Washington Post, 26 June).

I demand that US and British forces stop killing Iraqis and end their military occupation of Iraq.

Copies of this card are available free on request from the Voices office: voices@voiceuk.org.