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VOICES
NEWSLETTER # 53 (November / December 2007) Moreover, far from marking a break with his predecessor, Brown’s 8 Oct announcement that the number of British troops in Iraq will be ‘halved to 2,500 by next spring’ (Times, 9 Oct) was simply the continuation of the existing policy, begun under Blair, of redeploying most British forces to Afghanistan (see Voices 41 & 42). Furthermore – despite a 9-10 Aug YouGov poll, in which 74% said they wanted all British troops withdrawn from Iraq either ‘immediately’ (29%) or ‘within the next year or so’ (45%) - the deputy chief of the defence staff has stated ‘that significant numbers of British troops are likely to be based in southern Iraq for the foreseeable future’ (Guardian, 24 Oct). The “surge” By themselves, civilian death tolls – which do appear to have dipped - give only a very partial picture: the sectarian purging of Baghdad’s neighbourhoods has ‘helped bring down the number of violent deaths’ since ‘driving people out means that there are fewer … targets left for militias to kill.’ Hidden history ‘The hidden history of the past four years,’ veteran
Iraq journalist Patrick Cockburn notes, ‘is that the US
wants to defeat the Sunni insurgents but does not want the Shia-Kurdish
government to win a total victory. It props up the Iraqi state
with one hand and keeps it weak with the other … The US
is trying to limit the extent of the Shia-Kurdish victory, but
by preventing a clear winner emerging in the struggle for Iraq,
Washington is ensuring that this bloodiest of wars goes on, with
no end in sight’ (Independent, 7 Aug). The poll, conducted 12 – 19 Aug by Opinion Business Research (ORB, a polling company believed to have conducted past polls for the MoD) and barely reported in the British press, found that 22% of Iraqi households had had one (16%), two (5%) of three (1%) members die ‘as a result of the conflict in Iraq since 2003’ (tinyurl.com/2xlygm). Using data from a 2005 census, ORB calculated that over 1.2 million Iraqis had been killed since the start of the invasion. 52.1% (636,000) were killed by gunshots, 21.6% (264,000) by car bombs and 9.5% (116,000) by aerial bombardment. A further 1.1 million were estimated to have suffered injuries ‘as a result of the conflict.’ Together
with the results of the 2006 survey published in the Lancet
(which was
described by the MoD’s chief scientific
adviser as ‘employing methods … regarded as “close
to best practice” in this area’ – see Voices
51), the ORB poll suggests that tens of thousands of Iraqis have
died as result of air strikes since July 2006. “We will discharge our obligations to the Iraqi people” – Gordon
Brown, 2 Oct (tinyurl.com/2zp4h7) On 13 April Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Refugee Council wrote to Tony Blair, calling on the UK government to: *
provide a ‘substantial package of support’ to
those countries in the region that are sheltering the vast majority
of refugees from Iraq On 8 Aug, HRW noted that the UK had made ‘little effort … to address any of these elements’ (tinyurl.com/2shgxz). Almost nothing has changed since then. Support
for frontline states Unsurprisingly, these refugees are ‘placing a huge strain on [these countries] resources’, and their presence ‘may soon become unsustainable unless [Jordan and Syria] receive increased and long-term support from other states.’ The lack of such assistance ‘has resulted in Jordan and Syria initiating drastic measures to curb the large population flows.’ On 10 Sept, Syria introduced visa restrictions for Iraqis wishing to enter its territory, a measure that ‘effectively sever[s] the last open escape route for Iraqis’ (Jordan introduced a ‘severely restrictive border entry procedure’ earlier in the year). Jordan and Syria have both estimated their costs in hosting Iraq’s refugees at roughly $1bn / year. In April UNHCR convened an international conference to try and raise funds, yet by July both countries had ‘still received next to nothing in bilateral help from the world community’ (UNHCR, 6 July). In Sept Jordanian officials told Amnesty ‘that no direct bilateral assistance had yet been received’ (MiF). As of 9 Oct, the UK had contributed approx £15m to humanitarian agencies operating in Iraq and the region this year (DfiD, 9 Oct) – less than 0.5% of the roughly £5bn it has spent on military operations in Iraq over the past 5 years (FT, 27 Aug). Resettlement At present, it barely exists as an option for Iraqis: between 1 Jan and 21 Sept, UNHCR referred 14,934 Iraqis for resettlement, of whom a mere 1800 had actually departed by the end of September (UNHCR, Sept 07). The UK – with a population of 60 million – currently has an annual global resettlement quota of 500 (MiF). In Oct – following a campaign spearheaded by The Times – the UK announced that a small number of Iraqis who had worked for them (along with their dependants) would be able to apply for ‘exceptional leave to enter the UK’ or for resettlement here (Hansard, 9 Oct, Col 25WS). However, the offer will apply to at most 1,100 former employees (Guardian, 10 Oct) – a tiny fraction of even the estimated 20,000 Iraqis who have worked for the British since 2003 (Times, 10 Oct), let alone the millions who have fled the country. Destitution and deportation Moreover, ’The UK operates a harsh practice of cutting off assistance, including accommodation and benefits, for people who reach the end of the asylum process’, and ‘has been one of the key players in forcible returns of Iraqis’ [4], returning more Iraqis than any other European state (MiF). Amnesty ‘currently opposes all forcible returns to any part of Iraq due to the security and humanitarian situation, and the continued instability’ (MiF). As a consequence of these policies, the Refugee Council notes, large numbers of Iraqis ‘are now living in destitution, in a legal limbo, and under constant threat of removal’ (Independent, 9 Aug). Take
Action Notes [2] 23,610 people applied for asylum in the UK in 2006 (tinyurl.com/yr5t9a). [3] ‘[O]f the 310 Iraqis who sought asylum in the UK in the second quarter of 2007, only 30 were allowed to stay on their first application and a further 25 given leave to remain. The remainder were refused’ (Guardian, 7 Oct). [4]
The UK is known to have forcibly returned four groups of rejected
Kurdish asylum-seekers
to Erbil in northern Iraq in
Nov 05, Sept 06, Feb 07, and Sept 07, and ‘other flights
are planned to forcibly return further’ Iraqis (MiF). Many – perhaps most - are being held without trial, ‘with minimal access to the evidence against them and without their defence counsel having access to such evidence’ (UN Human Rights Report, 11 Oct). As at 10 Oct, the US was holding 860 under-sixteens, and the average length of incarceration was 300 days. Eighty-three per cent of inmates were Sunnis, 16% Shiite. Routine torture ’In addition to routine beatings with hosepipes, cables and other implements, the methods cited included prolonged suspension from the limbs … electric shocks to sensitive parts of the body … and severe burns to parts of the body through the application of heated implements.’ Take
Action On
12 Oct, in a petition faxed to the US State Department, 1,500
professional
journalists – including 9 Pulitzer Prize winners
and world-renowned photographer Sebastiao Salgado – issued
a call for his immediate release (www.freebilal.org).
To support this call, Voices has produced a campaign postcard
(see above) to send to
the US Embassy. Copies are available free from the
Voices' office. “We call on all people who want peace and organizations which opposed the war to help us in our struggle” – Hassan Juma’a Awad al-Asadi, President of the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions Iraqi civil society and the global anti-war movement scored a major victory against the occupation’s oil privatisation agenda this September, when Iraq's Parliament failed to pass a draft oil law. If passed, the law - which was written in secret under intense
pressure from Despite massive pressure from Washington to pass it in time
for General Petraeus' mid-Sept report to Congress, a combination
of grassroots opposition (esp. from the Iraqi oil unions) and
internal conflict (within the Iraqi Government) has derailed
the law, at least temporarily. Now, the Oil Ministry is saying that it hopes to sign contracts with foreign firms, law or no law, and with Iraq still under foreign occupation (Reuters, 24 Sept). Iraq’s
future is still being stolen, and its people still need our
support
to stop it. More
Info Sixty-three
per cent would prefer Iraq’s oil to be developed
and produced by Iraqi public sector companies rather than foreign
companies, with 32% of those indicating a strong preference.
Only 10% strongly preferred foreign companies. Moreover, there
were no ethnic, sectarian or geographical groups that preferred
foreign companies. Shockingly,
this poll is the first time that ordinary Iraqis have been
asked their views * 47% believe that coalition forces should leave now. Forty-four per cent believe they should stay ‘until security is restored’ (34%) or ‘until the Iraqi government is stronger’ (10%). *
81% believe that the presence of US forces in Iraq
is either ‘making
the security situation worse’ (72%) or
having ‘no
effect’ (9%). * 57% believe that attacks on US forces are “acceptable” * 79% strongly (53%) or somewhat (26%) oppose the presence of coalition forces in Iraq, including 84% of Shiites and 98% of Sunnis * 13% say that ‘unnecessary violence against citizens by US or coalition forces’ has occurred ‘nearby’ within the last 6 months (compared to 14% for ‘car bombs [or] suicide attacks’).* 98% say that ‘the separation of people on sectarian lines’ is ‘a bad thing for Iraq’Source:
17 – 24 Aug poll for ABC/BBC/DHK,
conducted by D3 Systems and KA esearch Ltd. RAF Tornados flying from a base in Qatar have been used to bomb buildings in Baghdad as well as targets in Basra, and British ‘commanders have ordered two more bombers to the Middle East.’ Black
sites & torture
return Following a 2006 Supreme Court ruling, President Bush acknowledged the existence of secret CIA jails and ordered their inmates moved to Guantanamo Bay and the CIA ‘halted its use of waterboarding.’ However, this Jul ‘after a [month-long] debate inside the administration, President Bush signed a new executive order authorising the use of what the administration calls “enhanced” interrogation techniques … and officials say the CIA again is holding prisoners in “black sites” overseas.’ Rise in Shiite attacks Though ‘British officials have concluded that the Taliban is too deep-rooted to be eradicated by military means’ (Guardian, 15 Oct), Britain looks set to dramatically escalate its war in southern Afghanistan next Spring. On 15 Oct, the Guardian reported that ‘[s]enior Taliban commanders in Helmand province’ – including a key aide to Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar – ‘ha[d] sent a list of demands to the [Afghan] government as part of tentative back-channel talks to bring a peaceful end to the conflict.’ Their demands – which the Guardian claimed were ‘unlikely to be taken seriously’ - included ‘control of 10 southern provinces, a timetable for withdrawal of foreign troops, and the release of all Taliban prisoners within six months.’ Afghans back negotiations All
three regular battalions of the Parachute Regiment – about
2,000 troops – will be deployed, alongside the Eurofighter
/ Typhoon, ‘equipped with new missiles for a ground attack
role’ (Guardian, 6 Oct), and for the first time UK special
forces – whose numbers are set to treble – will concentrate
solely on southern Helmand (Sunday Times, 30 Sept). Such forces
are alleged to have killed thousands of people in Iraq since
the 2003 invasion (Sunday Times, 16 Sept). According
to Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Seymour Hersh, ‘This summer, the White House, pushed by the office
of Vice-President Dick Cheney, requested that the Joint Chiefs
of Staff redraw long-standing plans for a possible attack on
Iran’ (New Yorker, 8 Oct). 15-tonne
bombs Most positive The Sunday Times claims that ‘British special forces have crossed into Iran several times in recent months as part of a secret war’ with Iranian special forces, and that there have been ‘at least half a dozen intense firefights between the SAS and arms smugglers’ (21 Oct). Take
Action Kathy co-founded Voices in the Wilderness US, sending scores of sanctions-breaking delegations to Iraq during the 90s and early 2000s, and has visited Iraq 26 times since 1991, including during the 2003 invasion. She has recently returned from spending four months in the Middle East, living amongst Iraqi refugees. She has also helped organize - and participated in - nonviolent direct action teams in Haiti (‘94), Bosnia (’92 & ‘93) and Iraq (Gulf Peace Team, ‘91). In 2002, she was among the first internationals to visit Jenin, following the massive Israeli attack on the West Bank refugee camp. In 1988 she was sentenced to one year in prison for planting corn on nuclear missile silo sites, and served nine months of the sentence in a Lexington, KY maximum security prison. In the spring of 2004, she served three months at Pekin federal prison for crossing the line as part of an ongoing effort to close the army military combat training school at Fort Benning, GA. In 2000 she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by the American Friends Service Committee. Kathy
will be speaking in London on 15 November at
the (free) world premiere of Children Against
the
War’s film ‘Giving
a voice to the children of Iraq’ (see here). She
will also be speaking in: Bangor (13 Nov, 7pm, Lecture
Room 4, Main Arts Building, University of Bangor), Hebden
Bridge (14 Nov, 7.30pm,
Trades Club, Holme St, HX7 8EE), Leeds (15 Nov,
12 noon - 1pm, Room MB.B11, University of Leeds, [Woodhouse Lane]
Parkinson building), Sherborne (16 Nov, 7.30pm,
Sherborne House, Newland, DT9 3JG) and Eastbourne (17
Nov, 1.15pm, Our Lady of Ransom Church,
2-4 Grange Rd, BN21 4EU), and taking part in an activists’ roundtable
discussion on war and resistance at 7pm, 17 Nov, London
Mennonite Centre, 14 Shepherds Hill, N6 5AQ (tube: Highgate). Stop the War has created a web-page where people can ‘ pledge to join a national campaign of action and civil disobedience, including city and town centre sitdowns, work stoppages and college and school walkouts’ ‘in the event of escalation towards an attack’ on Iran (tinyurl.com/2uaowv). The pledge also commits signatories to ‘join[ing] lunchtime protests and walkouts in workplaces, schools and colleges and mobilise for local protests in towns and cities across the country’ in the event on at attack. This is, of course, excellent news. However, if the anti-war movement is serious about conducting pre-emptive civil disobedience against a war with Iran it must start organising for it at the grassroots now. In particular, in must start holding direct action and legal workshops that can empower people to take part in such actions. If you are a member of an anti-war group and have signed the above pledge, then we urge you to organise such a workshop in your area. We strongly recommend the free workshops run by the Seeds for Change collective: www.seedsforchange.org.uk or 0845 458 4776. Court round-up On 2 Aug Margaret Jones – who, with Paul Milling, non-violently disabled three tankers used for refuelling the US bombers at RAF Fairford in the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq – was finally sentenced. Until the end of Jan 08 she may not leave her house between the hours of 7pm and midnight (except on Mondays and Sundays when she may attend religious meetings). On 21 Aug author and activist (and founder of Voices UK) Milan Rai was sentenced to 14 days imprisonment for refusing to pay fines for two “unauthorised” anti-war protests near Parliament: an Oct 05 reading of the names of Iraqis and British soldiers killed in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, and the Oct 06 “No More Fallujahs” peace camp in Parliament Square. On 18 Sept the remaining five “No More Fallujahs” defendants - Brian Barlow, Steve Barnes, Genny Bove, Rob Clohesey and David King – were all found not guilty at a 3+ hour trial, after the magistrate concluded that the prosecution had failed to prove the defendants had taken part in an “unauthorised” demonstration or that they were even in the designated area where such authorisation is a legal requirement. That same day a letter from the five appeared in both the Times and Guardian, noted that ‘It is not we who are the "serious and organised" criminals, but the politicians who have perpetrated this brutal, illegal war.’ Peace prisoners On 17 Oct two Catholic priests, Fr. Louis Vitale (75) and Fr. Stephen Kelly (54) were sentenced to 5 months in prison for attempting to deliver a letter to then-commander Major Gen Barbara Fast at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, denouncing torture and the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (which denies all non-citizens in US custody - anywhere around the world - the right to challenge the legality of their detention before an independent court). In a statement read to supporters who gathered outside the courthouse the pair declared: "The real crime here has always been the teaching of torture at Fort Huachuca and the practice of torture around the world’ (www.tortureontrial.org). Please send postcards of support (separately, for forwarding)
to: Louis Vitale #25803048, CCA, P. O. Box 6300, Florence, AZ 8523, USA Bournemouth Prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, ‘No War for Oil’ (and its variants) was a popular anti-war slogan. Just
as routine have been the official denials that oil played any
role in
the decision to invade. Indeed,
Foreign Office minister
Kim Howells recently denounced 'conspiracy theorists’ who
had the temerity to suggest that Britain had used its position
as an occupying power to 'skew’ Iraq’s draft oil
law (see p.5) ‘to suit western oil companies.’ Indeed, as Jon Sack describes at length in his excellent new comic book history Iraqi Oil for Beginners, it was Britain’s invasion of Iraq during WWI (and the subsequent occupation) that allowed western companies to seize control of the country’s oil – control that was not fully relinquished until the early 70s. Then, as now, the British proclaimed loftier motives for their actions. Spanning the period from Britain’s 1908 discovery of oil in Iran, right up to the current day, this is a dense but cleverly-laid-out work that manages to present a complex mass of material – material that should be part of every anti-war activists’ background knowledge - in as painless a form as possible. An ideal Xmas present for an anti-war activist, or anyone who likes comics … New
Film Sonia Azad, who is 12 years old, went to Amman in Jordan in August to film the desperate situation of Iraqi children driven from their homes by the brutalities of the US-UK occupation, and the violence it has spawned. In her new film, Giving a voice to Iraqi children, she highlights two of the stories she heard. Abeer, 15, is a bright, self-possessed teenager. She discovers she shares with Sonia an admiration for pop queen Shakira. Then, without turning a hair, Abeer recounts how she has witnessed and documented bomb blasts on her mobile phone. We meet Noor, 16, first in daytime, smiling in a white robe. Later, we see her at night, ghostly, as she tells the same story of hardship and humiliation, but now her bitterness spills out. Her family sits in a circle, hopeless. Her father worked for the occupation, is in danger of his life. Noor is the breadwinner of the family, looked down on by Jordanians. We hear her truth. Her truth has been brought back to us by a brave girl who refuses to turn away, who refuses to tire of the tragedy and the suffering, who is willing to take her own risks to enable us to hear and see and feel a small part of the tragedy we have helped to create. Weekly news and analysis
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