Citizens Against War and Occupation

Following is the statement made by the Citizens Against War And Occupation at the March 20 protest rally in New Delhi demanding End to the Occupation of Iraq:

EXACTLY one year ago, the US and its so-called allies immorally and illegally invaded Iraq despite worldwide opposition. US excuses about weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) and terrorist links in Iraq are now exposed as lies. US imperialism remains entrenched in Iraq as in Afghanistan and Palestine. We, the Citizens Against War and Occupation, demand an immediate end to the occupation of Iraq, and of Afghanistan and Palestine.

US Lies Exposed

• No WMDs were discovered in Iraq. In fact, it is the US and its cronies that have WMDs.

• No meaningful links between al-Qaeda and the Hussein regime have been discovered.

• US troops were not only not welcomed as liberators in Iraq there is strong continuing resistance to the occupation.

• The US did not invade to establish democracy, since it was the main supporter of the repressive Hussein regime for years.

 The Suffering in Iraq

• Even before invasion, US-led sanctions since 1991 killed some 15 lakh Iraqis including over 5 lakh children.

• The US has used radioactive Depleted Uranium weapons in Iraq, leaving behind high radiation levels, birth deformities and cancers.

• In addition to Iraqi soldiers, thousands of civilians have died or been injured in Iraq since last year, including unarmed demonstrators.

• Iraq today has mass unemployment, low wages; all trade union work is banned.

• Public services like electricity, water, health, public food distribution, and education systems are in shambles.

 The Evils of US Occupation in Iraq

• US imposition of a puppet regime and  the Interim Constitution, is designed to encourage ethnic and religious divisions in Iraq thus to facilitate long term US control.

• There are currently almost 2 lakh US-led troops in Iraq, and troop presence is to be made permanent.

• The US is auctioning Iraqi assets by grabbing Iraqi oilfields and selling Iraqi businesses to foreigners.

• Halliburton, Bechtel and other American companies are being given billion-dollar contracts in Iraqi ‘reconstruction’ by an Iraqi puppet government.

• The US is insisting that Iraq’s huge national war debt under Hussein regime cannot be cancelled – holding it over the heads of the Iraqi people as a weapon.

Larger Goals of US imperialism

• Iraq, Afghanistan, and Palestine: US imperialist forces want to dominate West and Central Asia geo-politically by setting up weak and regressive puppet regimes and permanent military bases so as to maintain control over the region’s oil and gas reserves.

• Brutal repression of Palestinians by Israel continues with US support. A Wall is now sought to be built shutting them out of their own land.

The Deceit of the Indian Government

• This Indian government desperately wants America’s strategic military alliance, and a share of the “reconstruction” contracts the US is promising. It has supported the UN capitulation, endorsing the occupation of Iraq without exerting any pressure for either withdrawal or elections.

• Throwing overboard the time-tested policy of support to the Palestinian cause opposing Zionism, the Vajpayee government has entered into the Indo-US-Israel unholy nexus. For the first time in Indian history, it invited killer Ariel Sharon, the prime minister of Israel to India.

The Way Forward

• The focus for peoples’ resistance today is the political defeat of the US in Iraq, as a first step in defeating the global US empire. We, the Citizens Against War and Occupation, declare our solidarity with the struggling peoples of Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine. We demand the following:

• AN IMMEDIATE END TO THE OCCUPATION OF IRAQ, AFGHANISTAN AND PALESTINE WITH FULL REPARATION TO THEIR PEOPLES

•  NO CONSTITUTION OR GOVERNMENTAL SYSTEM SET UP UNDER OCCUPATION TO BE CONSIDERED VALID

•   FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS IN IRAQ AFTER IMMEDIATE WITHDRAWAL OF OCCUPYING FORCES AND UNDER GENUINELY IMPARTIAL INTERNATIONAL SUPERVISION

• REVOCATION OF ALL CONTRACTS GIVEN BY THE OCCUPYING POWERS AND THEIR PUPPETS IN IRAQ

• CANCELLATION OF IRAQ’S DEBT

• AN INDEPENDENT WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL FOR IRAQ

• NO MILITARY COLLABORATION BY INDIA WITH THE US AND ISRAEL