PRESS RELEASE 28 January 2005
Voices in the Wilderness UK [A]
Contact 0845 458 2564 or 07952 354 722

MOCK POLL TO EXPOSE CHARADE OF IRAQ'S ELECTION
Whoever Iraqis vote for, the occupation will continue

US Embassy, Grosvenor Sq, 12 noon, Sunday 30 January: As Iraqis go to the polls this Sunday, peace activists will set-up a mock 'polling booth' outside the embassy, to highlight the fundamental flaw in the Iraqi election: whoever Iraqis vote for, the occupation will continue.

The protestors - including an Iraqi in traditional Iraqi dress - will display a giant tick-box polling card featuring pictures of US repression in Iraq, where all the options read: 'The Occupation Continues: US forces carry on killing, detaining and torturing Iraqis at will and with virtual impunity.' Smaller versions of the "polling card" will also be distributed to members of the public.

Under laws written "for" Iraq by the US, ordinary Iraqis will have no direct say in determining Iraq's new executive - where whatever real power the new government possesses will lie. A US official recently told Reuters that 'any [new] Iraqi prime minister w[ill] have to be palatable to Washington.' Despite some speculation that the 30 Jan election will lead to a withdrawal of occupying forces from Iraq, the US army expects to maintain its current troop strength in Iraq for at least two more years.

A spokesperson for the protest said: 'In so far as it does not allow Iraqis to change the most important political fact in their lives - namely, that their country is militarily occupied by foreign powers - today's election in Iraq is a cruel sham. Indeed, having already spent well over $100bn on the invasion and occupation - and with George Bush now requesting a further $80bn - the US is not about to leave Iraq without first achieving its objectives - most notably, control over the world's second largest proven oil reserves. Since the occupation will continue, so will all that that entails: more bombed cities, more dead civilians, more human rights abuses, more resistance, more maimed and brutalised soldiers, and the ever-increasing likelihood of civil war in Iraq.'

For more info. or to arrange an interview contact 0845 458 2564 or 07952 354 722

NOTES
[A] Voices in the Wilderness UK has been campaigning on Iraq for the last seven years.
[B] www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/iraq/20041217-0626-iraq-allawi.html
[C] www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33540-2005Jan24.html