Party Vibe

STOP THE WAR COALITION
NEWSLETTER No. 2006/34
15 August 2006

Email office@stopwar.org.uk
Telephone 020 7278 6694
Web: http://www.stopwar.org.uk

IN THIS NEWSLETTER
1) WHEN IS A CEASEFIRE NOT A CEASEFIRE?
2) LONDON PUBLIC MEETING: HANDS OFF LEBANON
3) SATURDAY 19 AUGUST: DAY OF ACTION
4) TERROR PLOT: WHAT’S REALLY GOING ON?
5) ALL ROADS LEAD TO MANCHESTER
6) MILITARY FAMILIES PEACE CAMP
7) KEEP UP THE PARLIAMENT RECALL CAMPAIGN
8) WHAT PLANET IS GEORGE BUSH ON?
9) CIVILISATION’S FACE: DEPLETED URANIUM
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1 WHEN IS A CEASEFIRE NOT A CEASEFIRE?

If the UN Resolution 1701 helps stop the killing in Lebanon and Israel, it is to be welcomed. The chances are slim because the resolution was co-written by Israel and has all the elements needed for Israel to continue its barbaric attacks, which have killed over 1100 civilians in Lebanon, one third of them children, and destroyed much of the country’s infrastructure.

The resolution calls on Israel to end “offensive military operations” but Israel did not name its army the Israeli Defence Force for nothing. Throughout its history it has insisted that all of its military activities have been acts of “self defence”.

The resolution makes no mention of the countless war crimes Israel has committed over the past month, for example those under the Nuremberg Charter, which make Israel guilty of “crimes against peace” for “the wanton destruction of cities, towns or villages, or devastation not justified by military necessity” and guilty of “crimes against humanity” through the perpetration of acts of “murder,… and other inhumane acts committed against any civilian population, before or during the war…”.

FOR THE TEXT OF THE RESOLUTION AND A COMMENTARY ON ITS CONTENTS, GO TO:
http://tinyurl.com/mns4m

FOR NOAM CHOMSKY’S Q&A ON ISRAEL, LEBANON AND PALESTINE, GO TO: http://tinyurl.com/ms9rd

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2) LONDON PUBLIC MEETING: HANDS OFF LEBANON
The consequences of Israel’s war crimes for the Lebanese people will be described by OMAR NACHABE, when he speaks at the Stop the War public meeting in London on Friday 18 August (details below). Omar is a senior journalist from the Beirut newspaper Al-Akhbar and an eyewitness to Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon. Other speakers include Tony Benn and Jeremy Dear, General Secretary of the National Union of Journalists.

ALL-LONDON PUBLIC MEETING: HANDS OFF LEBANON
FRIDAY 18 AUGUST 6.30PM: FRIENDS MEETING HOUSE
EUSTON ROAD, LONDON WC1 (opposite Euston Station)
Speakers include:
OMAR NACHABE – eyewitness to Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon;
TONY BENN – Stop The War President;
JEREMY DEAR – Gen Sec National Union Of Journalists;
LINDSEY GERMAN – Stop The War Convenor.
See also: http://tinyurl.com/q3y4k

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3) SATURDAY 19 AUGUST: DAY OF ACTION

Hezbollah has said consistently that it will stop firing its rockets, if Israel stops its destruction of Lebanon and removes all its military from the country. Israel’s only response has been to intensify its aggression and it now has 30,000 soldiers occupying southern Lebanon. There can be no peace in Lebanon or Israel until there is an unconditional ceasefire and the complete withdrawal of all Israel troops. This is why Stop the War has organised a PROTEST AT THE ISRAELI EMBASSY in London

at 2pm on Saturday 19 August (see below), calling for Israel to get out of Lebanon and Gaza.

ALL-LONDON PROTEST: ISRAELI EMBASSY
ISRAEL OUT OF LEBANON AND GAZA
SATURDAY 19 AUGUST 2PM
HIGH ST KENSINGTON / KENSINGTON PALACE GARDENS W8 (Nearest Tube: High Street Kensington)

LOCAL DAY OF ACTION EVENTS
We are also calling on all Stop the War groups outside London to make Saturday 19 August a day of action against Israel’s continuing attacks and occupation of Lebanon.
FOR DETAILS OF LOCAL EVENTS, GO TO: http://tinyurl.com/q3y4k

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4) TERROR PLOT: WHAT’S REALLY GOING ON
How convenient. As the Bush/Blair wars in Iraq and Afghanistan sink ever further into mass slaughter and chaos, as the Bush and Blair supported Israeli attack on Lebanon achieves none of the warmongers aims and provokes worldwide revulsion and as Israel’s daily brutality against defenceless Palestinians in Gaza intensifies, without a hint of condemnation from Bush and

Blair, along comes “another 9/11”, aimed at justifying the “war on terror” and at diverting the media’s attention from the disasters of the Bush/Blair foreign policy.

Former British ambassador, Craig Murray, who knows from the inside more than most about the spin machine behind the “war on terror”, says, “This is more propaganda than plot. Of the over one thousand British Muslims arrested under anti-terrorist legislation, only twelve per cent are ever charged with anything. That is simply harassment of Muslims on an appalling scale.

Of those charged, 80% are acquitted. Most of the very few – just over two per cent of arrests – who are convicted, are not convicted of anything to do terrorism, but of some minor offence the Police happened upon while trawling through the wreck of the lives they had shattered. Be sceptical. Be very, very sceptical.” TO READ CRAIG MURRAY’S ARTICLE IN FULL, GO TO:

http://tinyurl.com/zuccr

Whatever the truth of the latest terrorism alert, George Bush and Tony Blair’s aim in the media frenzy they have orchestrated over the last week is, in the words of writer Jonathan Cook, “less about fighting terrorism and more about silencing those who dissent from the West’s endless wars against the Middle East.” TO READ JONATHAN COOK’S ARTICLE IN FULL, GO TO:
http://tinyurl.com/htwc9

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5) ALL ROADS LEAD TO MANCHESTER
The recent events in Lebanon and Gaza highlight yet again the necessity for ending Tony Blair’s slavish support for George Bush’s wars. The Labour Party’s annual conference in Manchester is where that message, representing the views of the majority of people in this country, can most pointedly be brought home. The TIME TO GO demonstration on Saturday 23 September, organised by Stop the War and CND is generating a huge response across the country.

Details of coaches bringing protestors from towns and cities, big and small, are now pouring into the Stop the War office.

Local demonstrations and public rallies are being organised by virtually every local Stop the War group, aimed at publicising the demonstration and mobilising the widest support. Tickets for the special London to Manchester train chartered by Stop the War are selling very fast, whether its trade unions booking whole carriages or Stop the War supporters buying individual seats (book yours now if you want to be sure of a ticket). FOR COACH AND TRAIN DETAILS, GO TO http://tinyurl.com/k7jhz

Leaflets, posters, badges and T-shirts publicising the TIME TO GO demonstration are now available from the Stop the War office. If you want to help publicise the demonstration or to get involved with your local Stop the War group, contact the national office: telephone 020 7278 6694 or email office@stopwar.org.uk.

Visit the Stop the War website to get demonstration updates, details of local public events building support, coaches rganised round the country, resources available for publicising TIME TO GO, etc: http://www.stopwar.org.uk

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6) MILITARY FAMILIES PEACE CAMP
Military Families Against the War (MFAW) will host a peace caomp to coincide with September’s TIME TO GO demonstration outside the Labour conference in Manchester. Already Military Families – both those who have lost loved ones in Iraq and Afghanistan and those with relatives currently on active service there — are signing up for the peace camp from around the UK. If you would like to take part in the peace camp, contact MFAW at peacecamp@mfaw.org.uk. If you would like to donate to the appeal fund to help finance the peace camp, you can do so here: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr

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6) KEEP UP THE PARLIAMENT RECALL CAMPAIGN
Over 140 MPs have signed the demand for a recall of parliament for an emergency debate on the Middle East crisis. Has your MP? If not, contact him/her now. Details of how to do so are here: http://www.writetothem.com/.

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8) WHAT PLANET IS GEORGE BUSH ON?
George Bush keeps on insisting that Iraq under the US/UK occupation is progressing towards democracy and stability. Here is the reality, as shown in the ever increasing level of attacks on the occupying armies by the Iraqi resistance:

When the US appointed an Iraqi Governing Council in July 2003, attacks by the Iraqi resistance averaged 16 daily. When Saddam Hussein was captured in December 2003, the average was 19. When the US handed-over “sovereignty” in June 2004, it was 45 attacks daily. When Iraq held its elections for a transitional government in January 2005, it was 61. When Iraqis voted in
December 2005 for a permanent government, it was 75. When US forces killed Abu Musab al Zarqawi in June 2006, it was up to 90.

The truth is, US and UK troops increasingly stay in their barracks, because Iraq is now one of the least safe and most insecure countries in the world, for the Iraqi people and occupying armies alike, and will remain so until the last foreign soldier is removed from Iraqi soil and the Iraqi people are free to decide for themselves how they want to govern their country and control their own resources.

FOR MORE DETAILS OF REALITY IN IRAQ, GO TO: http://tinyurl.com/fwbkl
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9) CIVILISATION’S FACE: DEPLETED URANIUM

One of the favourite weapons of the invading armies in Iraq is shells coated with depleted uranium. An estimated 130 tons of have been used in the Iraq war by America and Britain. A shell coated with depleted uranium pierces a tank like a hot knife through butter, exploding on impact into a charring inferno. It leaves behind a fine radioactive dust with a half-life of 4.5
billion years.

Depleted uranium can enter the human body by inhalation, the most dangerous method; by ingesting contaminated food or eating with contaminated hands; by getting dust or debris in an open wound, or by being struck by shrapnel, which often is not removed because doing so would be more dangerous than leaving it. Inhaled, it can lodge in the lungs. As with imbedded shrapnel, this is doubly dangerous — not only are the particles themselves physically destructive, they emit radiation.

Thousands of US army veterans, are suffering from crippling conditions, which they insist are due to their exposure to depleted uranium. In Iraq, doctors report significant increases in birth defects and childhood cancers. Depleted uranium also contaminates soil and water, and coats buildings with radioactive dust, which can by carried by wind and sandstorms. In 2005, the U.N. Environmental Program identified 311 polluted sites in Iraq. Cleaning them will take at least $40 million and several years, the agency said. Nothing can start until the fighting stops.

We need to remember this, every time we hear George Bush or Tony Blair say they are bringing “civilisation” to the Middle East.