VOICES NEWSLETTER # 42 (August / Sept 2005)

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'A potentially endless war'
Torture and death squads
Karabila, Tal Afar & beyond: the war continues
Cold blooded murder
Body Counts
Job cuts, hunger and the IMF
From Iraq to Afghanistan
London bombings
Campaign update
Resources

'A potentially endless war'
‘What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?’ - Mahatma Gandhi

The 7 Jul atrocities in London - three of which took place not from far voices’ office in King’s Cross - rightly horrified people around the world. Yet the even greater carnage being wreaked every week in Iraq – ‘[m]ost of [which] is today a bloody no-man’s land beset by ruthless insurgents, savage bandit gangs, trigger-happy patrols and marauding government forces’ (veteran Middle East corres-pondent Patrick Cockburn, Independent, 28 Jun) - appears to have largely receded from public view or concern.
Nonetheless a just response to the London attacks - whose relationship to British foreign policy is analysed on p.4 - requires us to make connections that go beyond the boundaries of the British Isles.

Familiar images
In an insightful commentary published on 8 Jul, Professor of Peace Studies at the University of Bradford, Paul Rogers, noted that images from last November’s US-led assault on Fallujah – which left ‘a good deal more than 1,000 people killed or injured, half the dwellings wrecked, almost every school, mosque or public building destroyed or damaged, and most of the population fleeing the city as refugees’ – and of other “degraded” towns and cities across Iraq, are ‘as familiar in the Middle East as … those of the London bombings in the British press’ (OpenDemocracy.org). Furthermore, US-led forces were the number one cause of death for civilians reported killed during the first two year’s of the occupation (see p. 3).

‘A potentially endless war’
As Rogers notes, failure to start ‘the serious and difficult process of rethinking the conduct of this “war on terror”’ – and, we would add, British foreign policy more generally - offers the ‘prospect … of a potentially endless war, involving thousands more deaths and tens of thousands maimed, in a bitter cycle of violence. Breaking that vicious cycle will be immensely difficult but it has to be done. If we don’t succeed, then the suffering in London will be just one more part of a widening human disaster.’


Torture and death squads
Mass detentions and indiscriminate torture appear to be the main tools [being] deployed to crush the insurgency’ (FT, 29 Jun) with ‘[u]p to 60% of the estimated 12,000 detainees in [Iraq’s] prisons and military compounds fac[ing] intimidation, beatings or torture that leads to broken bones and sometimes death,’ according to Saad Sultan, head of a board overseeing the treatment of prisoners at the Human Rights Ministry (LA Times, 19 Jun).

Furthermore, Iraqi forces at the centre of the US’ counterinsurgency strategy appear to be the main culprits.

Operation lightning
As US-led forces mounted a series of offensives in Anbar (see p.5) Iraqi troops backed by US forces stormed through Baghdad’s predominantly Sunni Arab neighbourhoods, arresting at least 1700 people (AP, 11 Jul), ‘spark[ing] fears … that Iraq’s new rulers are cut from the same cloth as many other authoritarian Middle Eastern regimes’ (FT, 29 Jun).

Mustafa Mohammed Ali, a wall painter from the Sunni Arab town of Abu Ghraib, was one of those detained: arrested at his home on 22 May by members of the Interior Minstry’s feared Wolf Brigade (FT, 29 Jun), the brainchild of a three-star general from the old regime (Knight Ridder, 21 May).

Electrical torture
During his 26-day detention, commandos from the brigade ‘attached electrical wires to his ear and his genitals, and generated a current with a hand-cranked military telephone’ (FT, 29 Jun). Before his release, he and other detainees were addressed by the commandos’ second in command, Gen. Rashid Flayeh - a veteran of Saddam’s security apparatus (see Voices #41) - who told them that they should think of their detention “as a punishment for those who sympathise with the terrorists.”

‘Although his story could not be independently verified, many details are similar to an account from another resident of the neighbourhood arrested in the same operation, as well as the Iraqi security commander’s own version of the sweep,’ the FT noted.

Hot irons & electric drills
Other forms of torture inflicted on detainees by the security [sic] forces have included ‘pulling out .. fingernails’, ‘burning … with hot irons’ (Times, 7 Jul), and ‘the apparent use of an electric drill to perform a knee-capping’ (Observer, 3 Jul).

An investigation by the Observer also revealed: a ‘ghost’ network of secret detention centres across the country … where torture [wa]s taking place’; claims that ‘serious abuse has taken place within the walls of the [Interior Ministry]’ itself; and evidence that UK and US military aid to the Iraqi police was finding its way into the hands of ‘paramilitary commando units accused of widespread human rights abuses, including torture and extra-judicial killings.’

Death squads
According to one Iraqi official the US-trained paramilitary police ‘regularly disposed of the corpses of its victims by throwing them in the river … add[ing] that while the de facto death squads were not part of government policy, little was being done to counteract them’ (Times, 7 Jul).

‘Among the worst offenders are the Interior Ministry police commandos, a force made up largely of former army officers and special forces soldiers drawn from the ranks of Saddam’s dissolved army’ (Times, 7 Jul).

The same force is currently at the forefront of America’s military strategy for Iraq, advised by a US military adviser who spent part of the 1980s ‘train[ing] front-line battalions … accused of significant human rights abuses’ in El Salvador (see Voices #41).

Karabila, Tal Afar & beyond: the war continues
Whilst suicide bombings – estimated to have killed over 1500 Iraqis since 28 April (NYT, 14 Jul) – have continued to dominate coverage of Iraq in the British media, US forces launched at least four more major military operations in Iraq’s western Anbar province in June/July, killing scores of people and forcing thousands more to flee.

Operation Spear
‘Operation Spear’ - launched 17 Jun and targeting the Iraqi cities of Karabila and Qaim - involved warplanes, helicopters and 1,000 marines with tanks and amphibious assault vehicles (Guardian, 18 Jun). According to the US military, US F-16 fighter planes dropped nine 500lb bombs on the first night of the offensive, ‘two of them targeting suspected rebel safe houses near the town of Qaim’ (Reuters, 17 Jun). Two RAF GR4 ground attack tornados also took part in the offensive, ‘fl[ying] several sorties from their base in the Gulf to provide close air support’ - though the British military denies the planes bombed targets themselves (Guardian, 20 Jun).

The chief doctor at the area’s main hospital in Qaim, counted at least 17 civilian dead during the offensive (Reuters, 20 Jun) while the director of Ramadi hospital ‘said he had taken possession of at least 50 bodies discovered in and around Karabilah’ including three women and four men with Egyptian passports (LA Times, 1 Jul).
“no americans, no insurgents”

According to a member of the Karabila city council ‘about 16 houses were destroyed and 71 were damaged’ and ‘three mosques, two schools and a medical clinic for children and pregnant women were wrecked’ (Washington Post, 22 Jun).

In Qaim, ‘[w]hole streets were obliterated’ and ‘[e]very house was searched, often only after the front gate had been blown off with explosives’ and ‘weapons caches were detonated on the spot bringing houses down around them’ (Reuters, 20 Jun)

Thirty-nine-year-old Suleiman Salim Hussein, whose brother’s nine-year-old daughter Ulla Tahir was killed on the first day of the attack when a US shell crashed into her house explained: “We don’t want anybody. No Americans, no insurgents. What we need is a government. An army. Police stations. We need a city.”

Dagger, Sword & Scimitar
Little information is available about the other three offensives: ‘Operation Dagger’, targeting ‘insurgent training camps’ in the southern part of the Lake Tharthar area in Central Iraq (Independent on Sunday, 19 Jun); and Operations ‘Sword’ - involving 1,000 US troops and 100 Iraqi soldiers (Washington Post, 1 July) - and ‘Scimitar’, which began on 7 Jul with raids in Zaidan, 19 miles southeast of Fallujah (AP, 9 Jul).
However, on 28 Jun the UAE daily al-Khaleej ‘quoted Iraq’s deputy health minister Jalil al-Shammari as warning of starvation among the refugees who fled and continue[d] to flee al-Qaim and surrounding areas to avoid [the] massive U.S. military operations’ and claiming that ‘US and Iraqi forces ha[d] banned ambulances and humanitarian aid from entering’ the city (United Press International, 28 Jun).

The LA Times subsequently reported the Iraqi Red Crescent as ‘say[ing] that 6,000 families ha[d] been displaced … by the fighting’ and were now ‘suffering in temperatures that regularly surpass 110 degrees’, while ‘medical teams [we]re watching for cholera outbreaks caused by bodies buried in the rubble’ (1 Jul).
On 21 Jul CNN.com reported that residents of Tal Afar – which was subject to a devastating US assault last Sept (AP, 13 Sept 04) - were ‘flee[ing] in fear of an imminent attack by American and Iraqi forces’ following the construction of a wall around the city by US soldiers.

Terrifying the population
According to Middle East expert and Professor of History at the University of Michigan, Juan Cole, ‘the massive force employed [in places such as Qaim] clearly announces that a subsidiary goal is to terrify the Sunni Arab population and to “encourage” them to report on the guerrillas from now on’, noting the close resemblance to Saddam-era tactics (juancole.com, 29 Jun).

That this is the policy should come as no surprise. Earlier this year a military source involved in the Pentagon debate over the employment of the so-called “Salvador Option” in Iraq – ie. the creation of indigenous death squads - told Newsweek that ‘new offensive operations [we]re needed that would create a fear of aiding the insurgency’, explaining that “[t]he Sunni population [wa]s paying no price for the support it is giving to the terrorists. From their point of view, it is cost-free. We have to change that equation” (8 Jan).


"Cold blooded murder"
A recent report by Iraq’s Ambassador to the UN, accusing US marines of the ‘cold blood[ed] murder’ of an unarmed civilian, provides a rare glimpse of the realities of the US military campaign in Anbar province.

Samir Sumaidaie claims that his cousin Mohammed (21) was killed during a raid on the village of Al-Shaikh Hadid near Haditha on the morning of 25 Jun, during which Mohammed had been asked if there were any weapons in his father’s house. He had explained that they had one rifle but no live ammunition and, while the rest of the family was kept in the hall, led some of the marines into his father’s bedroom where the rifle was. ‘A short time after going into the bedroom a thud was heard’ and Mohammed’s younger brother Ali was ‘dragged by the hair by a marine into the corridor leading to the bedroom and was beaten.’

Mohammed was later ‘found dead and laying in a clotted pool of his blood’, a single bullet having penetrated his neck.

Please write to the US Embassy (24 Grosvenor Sq, W1A 1AE) to demand a full investigation into the killing of Mohammed Al-Sumaida’ie.


Body counts
A comprehensive analysis of over 10,000 press and media reports has concluded that 24,865 civilians have been reported killed in Iraq in the first two years of the invasion and occupation of Iraq (A Dossier of Civilian Casulaties 2003 – 2005, IraqBodyCount. org, Jul 2005). US-led forces were the #1 cause of death for civilians reported killed during this period.

Indeed, US-led forces were identified as sole killers of 37.3% of victims, with criminals responsible for a further 36% and anti-occupation forces 9%. A further 1.3% were placed in a separate category of [Iraqi Ministry of Health]-defined ‘terrorist attacks’ and 11% as caused by ‘unknown agents’ (defined as ‘those who appear to attack civilian targets lacking a clear or unambiguous link to the foreign military presence in Iraq’).

The report also found that:

- 18.4% of those killed were women, children or babies.

- 30% of deaths occurred during the invasion phase before 1 May 2003 and that post-invasion almost twice as many civilians were killed in year two (11,351) as in year one (6,215).

- ‘US-led forces alone’ killed 6,882 civilians during the invasion phase, 292 civilians between 1 May 2003 and 31 Mar 2004 and 2,096 civilians between 1 Apr 2004 and 19 Mar 2005. A further 1,047 ‘crossfire’ deaths also involved anti-occupation forces.

- ‘Post-invasion deaths caused by US-led forces peaked between April and November 2004’, whilst ‘[d]eaths caused by anti-occupation forces, crime and unknown agents have shown a steady rise over the entire period.’

- 4.3% of deaths were caused by suicide vehicle bombs and 3.4% by non-suicide vehicle bombs.

- More than half (53%) of deaths involved explosive devices and ‘air strikes caused most (64%) of the explosives deaths.’

Hard copies of the report are available for £5 from the Oxford Research Group, 51 Plantation Rd, Oxford, OX2 6JE.

Job cuts, hunger and the IMF
Despite an unemployment rate of 18.4% (UN Development Programme, May 2005) Iraq’s Government may soon be forced to slash budgets, government jobs and popular subsidies for electricity and oil products, in order to meet the terms of a debt-reduction scheme sponsored by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) (LA Times, 6 Jun).

Voices has long warned that Iraq’s debts were likely to be used to control Iraq’s economic future and to impose programmes likely to increase poverty and hardship in Iraq.

Painful cuts
In words that will have pleased ideologues in Washington – if not slum-dwelling Iraqis – Iraqi Government spokesperson Laith Kubba ‘said that shrinking the government and allowing the private sector to expand would solve many of Iraq’s financial troubles’ and that Iraq ‘was obligated to reduce public spending under a debt-reduction scheme sponsored by the International Monetary Fund.’

Though he did not say how many jobs would be eliminated, Kubba told a news conference that “[m]any government ministries c[ould] carry out their duties with only about 40 to 60% of [their] employees” and that the budget cuts “w[ould] be painful.” As much as half of Iraq’s 6.5 million-strong workforce is employed by the state.
‘important issues’

According to the FT ‘Bush administration advisers are concerned at the Iraqis’ lack of progress on economic reform’ and US deputy secretary of state Robert Zoellick recently identified ‘Iraq’s subsidies on food and fuel, including electricity and petrol’ as ‘important issues’, noting that ‘[c]hanges to the subsidy structure were required to qualify for IMF [International Monetary Fund] standby facilities’ (7 July) – the program that Iraq must adopt in order to qualify for further debt relief.

Last Nov, the Paris Club – made up of 19 of the world’s richest countries – reached an agreement to cancel 80% of the $38.9bn owed to it by Iraq. 30% was to be written off immediately, a further 30% when Iraq agreed an IMF program and the final 20% in 2008 upon completion of the latter (Reuters, 21 Nov).

However, according to Oxfam (May 03) ‘much, and perhaps all’ of Iraq’s debts are odious – lent by creditors who knew that the money was being used to finance activities damaging to human welfare, to a regime with no popular mandate - and Iraqis should not be forced to pay them.

Shrinking rations
Though an IMF program has not yet been agreed, a 29 Sept 04 press release from the Fund announcing the approval of a $436.3mn loan to the unelected, US-appointed Iraqi Government of Ayad Allawi, noted, with approval, that the Iraqi budgets for 2004 and 2005 had made provision for only the ‘minimum adequate level of social support.’
One in four Iraqis ‘remain highly dependent on food rations’ (UN World Food Programme (WFP), 28 Sept 04) and the WFP recently reported “significant countrywide shortfalls in rice, sugar, milk and infant formula” (LA Times, 16 Jul).

The reasons for the shortages are unclear, though the effects are not. ‘After his American employers left, and monthly food rations began to shrink, Hussein Hadi started selling his furniture,’ the LA Times reports. ‘His bed was the last thing to go. Now Hadi, his wife, sister, mother, two brothers, three children and a nephew sleep on his living room floor in Baghdad, their blankets sewn from flour sacks. Some nights, they fall asleep hungry.’

Under the IMF’s tutelage Iraqis can expect more of the same.


From Iraq to Afghanistan
Confirming reports cited in our last newsletter, a leaked MoD memorandum has revealed ‘a clear UK military aspiration’ to reduce the UK’s deployment in Iraq ‘to around 3,000 personnel’ by mid-2006 (Mail on Sunday, 10 Jul). This is not the beginning of the withdrawal of British forces the anti-war movement has been calling for though but, rather, a preparation to increase Britain’s military role in Afghanistan, which ‘[m]ilitary commanders … [say] the US wants to leave as soon as possible’ (Guardian, 6 Jul).

Meanwhile ‘US military commanders have prepared plans to consolidate American troops in Iraq into four large air bases’ with ‘a more permanent character’, apparently ‘reflect[ing] [their] judgement ... that American forces are likely to be in Iraq for some years’ (Washington Post, 22 May).

‘No option’
According to one senior officer, the British Defence Secretary John Reid ‘ha[s] no option but to recall 3,000 British troops in October [2005] as Britain has already promised to send an extra 3,000 personnel to southern Afghanistan to replace US soldiers’ (Mail on Sunday, 10 Jul). In June the Guardian reported that British Harrier jets ‘equipped with laser-guided bombs [had] provided air support’ during a day-long US-led assault on a ‘mountain hideout’ in Afghanistan that left more than 76 ‘Taliban guerillas’ dead (23 Jun).

Back on the agenda
As we noted in our last issue, such a redeployment – which would maintain British military and political support for the occupation and free up US forces in Afghanistan for military activity elsewhere – will not benefit the people of Iraq. Nor, in the long run, is it likely to benefit the people of Afghanistan, where what remains in effect a US-installed government (see voices #38) contains ‘numerous high-level officials and advisors … implicated in major war crimes and human rights abuses [from] the early 1990s’ (Human Rights Watch, 7 Jul).

The anti-war movement must start to put Afghanistan back on its agenda, and start to seriously push for an end to British involvement in both occupations.

Voices has produced a petition calling for the withdrawal of UK forces from Iraq and Afghanistan by the end of the year. See here.

The London bombings: a link with Iraq?
After weeks of denial, the British Government is beginning to face up to reality, confronted with massive public disbelief, damning leaked reports from the heart of government (including the crucial ‘Young Muslims and Extremism’ report), and stinging criticism from the foreign policy establishment.

On Wednesday 20 July, Jack Straw said flatly: ‘It may be a comfortable thought by some people to think all this follows the military action in Iraq. It does not.’ Asked four days later whether the link existed or not, the Foreign Secretary retreated: ‘It’s impossible to say for certain.’ (FT, 25 July, p. 3)

The resistant public
Why the change of heart? Firstly, the public is not buying. The Guardian/ICM poll published on 19 July showed that, after weeks of almost unchallenged propaganda, ‘33% of Britons think the prime minister bears “a lot” of responsibility for the London bombings and a further 31% “a little”.’

64% in total think there is a connection. ‘Only 28% of voters agree with the government that Iraq and the London bombings are not connected.’ <http://tinyurl.com/b58zz>

The angry establishment
Secondly, the foreign policy establishment has come out swinging, as though the pent-up fury of diplomats, spies, soldiers and civil servants had been crystallized into the measured but damning phraseology of the Royal Institute for International Affairs, better known as ‘Chatham House’.

A Chatham House report published on 18 July found that, ‘The UK is at particular risk [from al Qaeda] because it is the closest ally of the United States [and] has deployed armed forces in the military campaigns to topple the Taleban regime in Afghanistan and in Iraq...’

On the war: ‘There is no doubt that the situation over Iraq has imposed particular difficulties for the UK...’

On the “war on terror”: ‘Riding pillion with a powerful ally has proved costly in terms of British and US military lives, Iraqi lives, military expenditure, and the damage caused to the counter-terrorism campaign.’

‘A key problem with regard to implementing ‘Prevention’ [of al Qaeda-style terrorism] and ‘Pursuit’ [of such terrorists] is that the UK government has been conducting counter-terrorism policy “shoulder to shoulder” with the US, not in the sense of being an equal decision-maker, but rather as pillion passenger compelled to leave the steering to the ally in the driving seat.’

The spies
Then came a series of leaks and briefings that revealed intelligence warnings over the war in Iraq.

The day after the Chatham House report (18 July) came the Guardian poll (19 July).

The day after that, a foreign intelligence service revealed a secret report from the month before, in which British intelligence warned Tony Blair that ‘events in Iraq are continuing to act as motivation and a focus of a range of terrorist-related activity in the UK.’ (Guardian, 20 July <http://tinyurl.com/7nocw>)

This warning was contained in a Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC) report in June 2004. JTAC compiles intelligence from MI5, MI6, GCHQ (phone tapping, etc), the Scotland Yard Anti-Terrorism Branch, the Foreign Office, and others.

Before the event
British intelligence gave a stronger version of this warning before the invasion of Iraq. The Joint Intelligence Committee, the top level of British intelligence, warned Tony Blair on 10 February 2003 in the following terms:

‘The JIC assessed that al-Qaida and associated groups continued to represent by far the greatest terrorist threat to Western interests, and that threat would be heightened by military action against Iraq.’

(We learned this in the government’s Intelligence and Security Committee report on ‘Iraqi weapons of mass [destruction]’, <http://tinyurl.com/3phe2>, p. 34, emphasis added.)

The same warning was given in blunter terms by former Chancellor of the Exchequer Kenneth Clarke later that same month (26 February 2003): ‘The next time a large bomb explodes in a western city, or an Arab or Muslim regime topples and is replaced by extremists, the Government must consider the extent to which the policy [of invading Iraq] contributed to it.’ <http://tinyurl.com/7uzmf>

Young Muslims and extremism
The question gripping the nation is: how young men who have grown up enjoying the freedoms and rights of Britain can have come to the decision to blow up their fellow citizens, at random and without warning.

There is in fact joint Home Office/Foreign Office research into this burning topic, which resulted in the (secret) report ‘Young Muslims and Extremism’. Leaked to the Sunday Times (10 July 2005), the report has a list of factors causing ‘extremism’ amongst young British Muslims.

The first named factor is ‘foreign policy’, mentioning Israel/Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan in particular:

‘It seems that a particularly strong cause of disillusionment amongst Muslims including young Muslims is a perceived “double standard” in the foreign policy of western governments (and often those of Muslim governments), in particular Britain and the US.’

‘This perception seems to have become more acute post 9/11. The perception is that passive “oppression”, as demonstrated in British foreign policy, eg non-action on Kashmir and Chechnya, has given way to “active oppression” - the war on terror, and in Iraq and Afghanistan are all seen by a section of British Muslims as having been acts against Islam.’

The public thinks there’s a connection between the bombings and the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Chatham House thinks so. The intelligence services think so. The Home Office and the Foreign Office think so. Ministers who are wavering must be forced to admit this elementary truth.

Milan Rai, Justice Not Vengeance
<www.j-n-v.org>


Campaign Updates

Geneva fast for economic justice for Iraq
On 16 June a international delegation of activists began a two-week fast and vigil outside the UN’s office in Geneva to demand the cancellation of Iraq’s debts & war reparations and full funding for a reconstruction of Iraq focussing on the social needs of the Iraqi people, directed by and for Iraqis, with no strings attached. The event, organised by Jubilee Iraq and Voices US, was timed to coincide with the final meeting of the UN Compensation Commission (UNCC) – which was set up in 1991 to award “reparations” against Iraq for its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

Despite widespread poverty, medical shortages and acute malnutrition rates among Iraqi under-fives of 8% (BBC, 30 Mar), Iraq is forced under existing UN resolutions to use 5% of its oil revenues to pay-off more than $30bn in outstanding reparations awarded by the UNCC.

The fast – joined by former UN Humanitarian Co-ordinator for Iraq Hans von Sponeck – generated extensive coverage for what would otherwise have been a media non-event, with reports on the BBC, Al Jazeera, Reuters Alertnet, Asia Times and Interpress Service amongst others.

For more info about the campaign for economic justice for Iraq see www.jubileeiraq.org

'Adopt a detainee' campaign
The Christian Peacemaker Teams (www.cpt.org) - one of the few groups of international activists with a presence in Iraq – are still running their Adopt a Detainee Campaign (begun in Feb 2004), matching individual Iraqi detainees with union, church, peace and anti-war groups around the world who then organise their members to write letters on the detainee’s behalf to the US, British and Iraqi authorities.

‘The number of detainees in US military prisons in Iraq has nearly doubled in the past year to about 10,000, and the [US] military is spending about $50 million to expand prison capacity to hold up to 16,000 people by February [2006]’ (AP, 28 Jun). Most are held without trial. Instead a board consisting of three US officials and six Iraqis reviews each prisoner within 90 days of arrival to decide whether or not they can be released, using criteria such as “expressed philosophy” and ‘military training or electrical skills that could be put toward making bombs’ (LA Times, 26 Jun, emphasis added).

One of CPT’s ‘adoptees’, Indries Younis Nuri, a twenty-year-old accounting student, was recently released after spending over 18 months in detention. Greg Rollins from CPT-Iraq notes that Iraqis are ‘grateful that letter writers have continued to write … even when the issue of detainees does not capture the same [level of] attention in the news as it once did.’

To join the campaign contact Rick Polhamus: 001 937 313 4458 or jrp@cpt.org

Repression of anti-EDO campaign
Activists campaigning against EDO MBM – ‘[a]n arms components company that makes bomb parts that were used in the Iraq war’ (Guardian, 11 Apr) – have been facing a campaign of ‘legal’ repression.

On 16 Jun peace activist Paul Lesniowski was remanded in Lewes prison for allegedly breaching a controversial temporary injunction obtained by the company in April. This is believed to be the first time that a political activist has been remanded under section 3 of the Protection from Harassment Act. He had been arrested the previous day ‘for filming the director of Guardian [S]ecurity (employed by EDO MBM to enforce the injunction)…[who] had crossed the road to confront protestors. Both men [had] refused to identify themselves when asked’ (press release, SmashEDO.org.uk, 16 Jun). He was subsequently remanded on bail pending trial.

A second activist, Jaya Sacca, spent a week on remand in July after he was ‘detained’ by Guardian Security for allegedly stepping onto the road that constitutes the ‘no protest zone’ and is alleged to have ‘assaulted’ one of the security guards when four of them ‘arrested’ him as he attempted to leave the area.

Following a demo. in Brighton city centre on 13 Aug, a week-long peace camp will be set up near the EDO factory (see here).

This November - Remember Fallujah
Voices, JNV, Brent Stop the War and Iraq Occupation Focus are among the groups supporting a call for activists to organise events this November to mark the 1st anniversary of last year’s US-led assault on Fallujah. An action pack and copies of the short film ‘Testimonies from Fallujah’ should be available from the office by early Oct and voices is also hoping to host a tour with a speaker with personal experience of the US attacks on the city. Please contact the office (0845 458 2564) if your group is interested in hosting such an event. More info here.

Parliament protest ban
The new Serious Organised Crime and Police Act makes all unauthorised protests within 1km of Parliament commencing after 1 Aug illegal (www.parlia-mentprotest.org.uk). Brian Haw - whose epic four year 24-7 peace vigil in Parliament Square was one of the principal targets of the law - recently won a temporary reprieve due to a loophole in the wording of the Act. However, the Act is now up and running and will affect all other activists and campaigners from now on.

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MASS ACT OF DEFIANCE
A mass act of defiance to the new legislation will take place in Parliament Square on 7 Aug. Assemble 12 noon. Bring your banners, leaflets, placards and campaigns for peace and justice to this action to defy the Act and defend the right to protest! Called by the Mass Act of Defiance Group. For more information email massactofdefiance@fastmail.fm.

PLEASE NOTE THAT :
- Anyone taking part in this protest will be liable to arrest and - if found guilty - a fine of up to £1000.
- This is a peaceful protest: participants should not harm or dehumanise any human being at this event.
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Resources

Books
Baghdad Burning: Girl Blog from Iraq by Riverbend (Marion Books, 2005, £9.99).
Wonderful collection of posts from the popular web-log Baghdad Burning (http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/) written by a young Iraqi woman (and former computer programmer) living in Baghdad. Indispensable as a record of what the occupation feels like from an Iraqi perspective. Smart, funny, feminist and heart-rending.

Al-Qaeda: The True Story of Radical Islam by Jason Burke (Penguin, 2004, £7.99).
‘Based on careful on-the-ground investigation and penetrating inquiry, this fine study, the most illuminating I know, gives remarkable insight into Islamic militancy, its root causes, its evolution and likely future. It is essential reading for anyone who hopes to understand the “network of networks” loosely termed Al-Qaeda, and its complex interactions both with the West and with the societies it intends to reshape. Burke’s achievements are of particular importance for those who hope not only to understand but also to seek constructive initiatives to developments that are sure to cast a long shadow over the years to come’ (Noam Chomsky).

New report
Iraqi Hospitals Ailing Under Occupation by Dahr Jamail, June 2005. Available on-line at http://dahrjamailiraq.com/. Reviewed by Salih Ibrahim.
This report was submitted as evidence to the Jury of Conscience during the culminating session of the World Tribunal on Iraq, Istanbul 23-27 June 05. From April 2004 through January 2005, the author surveyed 13 hospitals though, because of the horrendous security situation, he had to confine himself primarily to hospitals in and around Baghdad, including Fallujah. The report includes case studies on equipment and medicine shortages, US military interference with medical care, lack of water and electricity, corruption and crime, the brain drain, reconstruction work in limbo and sections of the Geneva convention (I, III, IV of 1949) relevant to health rights and health care.

DVDs
Counter Terror, Build Justice (20 mins, JNV, 2005).
Written and directed by Milan Rai, this video explains clearly why the UK Government’s “war on terror” is not only wrong but has endangered UK citizens. By showing how al-Qaeda draws upon legitimate grievances to create a reservoir of support, it also indicates what a real “counter-terrorism” strategy, draining that reservoir, would actually involve. Available from the office for £6.50 incl. p&p (see p.8).

A Letter to the Prime Minister: Jo Wilding’s Diary from Iraq (Year Zero Films, 71 mins, Julia Guest, 2005). Documentary following activist Jo Wilding on her remarkable journey in solidarity with the people of Iraq: challenging the legality of the devastating economic sanctions imposed on the country in 1990, witnessing the destruction of the lives of ordinary people during the 2003 bombing campaign and and travelling into Falluja, when even Al Jazeera had pulled out, to stand alongside the civilians trapped and targeted by US forces in April 2004.

The film can be purchased on-line at www.alettertotheprimeminister.co.uk or via the voices office for £18 (incl. p&p) and can be freely used for non-profit screenings. Contact info[at]yearzerofilms.co.uk if you’re interested in trying to organise a commercial screening in your area.

New badge

‘Salaam Aleikum’ is Arabic for ‘peace be upon you’, and is the standard greeting used by Muslims. JNV has designed this badge for both non-Muslims and Muslims to wear, to help dispel fear of Islam. 10 badges for £4.00 + 50p p&p or 20 for £8.00 postage free. Cheques should be made out to ‘JNV’, to JNV, 29 Gensing Road, St Leonards on Sea, East Sussex, TN38 0HE.

New petition
According to an April 2005 poll 60% of Britons want to see British troops withdrawn from Iraq by the end of the year (Independent, 26 Apr). The British Government, on the other hand, is planning merely to reduce the number of British troops in Iraq while substantially increasing their numbers in Afghanistan.

Now is therefore the ideal time to try to turn public sentiment into real political pressure for the withdrawal of UK forces by the end of the year. A new petition calling for such a withdrawal can be downloaded here.

Used in conjunction with local lobbying and media work, large numbers of signatures could have a substantial impact on your MP.

Web-sites
Justice Not Vengeance – www.j-n-v.org
Essential source of analysis and action re. the “war on terror.” Currently producing an indispensable ‘Media Review’ in the wake of the 7/7 attacks in London.

Electronic Iraq – www.electroniciraq.net
Regularly updated news portal drawing on a wide-range of high-quality sources (mainstream and other).

Postcards
Voices is currently running two postcard campaigns: one to Tony Blair – featuring pictures of Iraqis injured in US attacks on Fallujah - calling for an end to the US/UK military occupation of Iraq; and a second, to the Canadian High Commissioner, calling for Canada to grant sanctuary to US soldiers who have applied for asylum there. Copies of both cards – ideal for stalls, mailings etc - are available FREE from the office: voices@voicesuk.org or 0845 458 2564.