Publisher’s Note: It is timely to remember the war crimes that were committed in Iraq in the name of democracy. Especially now that the putative leader of the British Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn wants to put former leader Tony Blair on trial for war crimes for his decision to invade Iraq in 2003.
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Press release from StandFast
25 July 2011
Protest planned for Blair’s Brisbane visit
Former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, will be addressing a $500/head gathering at Brisbane’s Convention Centre on Thursday, July 28 and protesters will be there to give this war criminal the “welcome” he deserves.
“Tony Blair has the blood of millions of people on his hands. He is a mass murderer who should be rotting in a jail cell, not jet-setting around the world earning millions,” said protest spokesperson Hamish Chitts.
Inquiries in the UK have shown that Blair conspired with the Bush Administration and knowingly lied to the world to justify the invasion of Iraq, causing over one million deaths, 4 million refugees, countless maimings and traumas.
Chitts said, “It was growing evidence of these lies that forced him to resign as Prime Minister in June 2007 but his infamy hasn’t ended there. He was rewarded for his crimes by being appointed Middle East for the United Nations, European Union, United States, and Russia.”
In January 2009 as special envoy Blair gave political cover to Israel’s invasion of Gaza, that for 22 days saw bombs and white phosphorous dropped on a trapped civilian population in one of the most densely populated places on Earth. 1400 people were killed during Israel’s attack on Gaza, including 352 children.
On February 2, this year, Blair hailed his old friend, Egyptian despot Hosni Mubarak, as “immensely courageous and a force for good” after Mubarak’s troops killed civilians protesting for democracy.
In response to Saudi Arabian troops joining Bahrain’s military in a murderous crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Bahrain, Blair supported his friends in the Saudi and Bahrain royal families.
“Blair continues to be a major cheerleader for the war on Afghanistan – a war that the majority of people in Australia and around the world want the troops removed from. Blair recently stated on Fox news that, “completing the mission should be the number one priority.”
The same tired line we hear from the Australian Government to justify their ongoing participation in the US war for oil and strategic real estate” Chitts said.
Protesters will be gathering at the Convention Centre on the corner of Merivale and Glenelg Streets at 6pm.
For more info:
phone Hamish 0401 586 923
or ‘Protest against Tony Blair’s visit To Brisbane’ on Facebook
Syriza comes to London, no, not Russell Brand, but in the unlikely form of Jeremy Corbyn:
https://youtu.be/kbSjvp_1bXM
https://youtu.be/_rZgtMGD_o8
This is not the first time that right-wing extremism and racism have combined to commit mass murder in Europe or the US
It is also not the first time that the world leaders, who conducted the so called war on terror at horrendous cost in lives, have been silent on a response to this growing menace world-wide. No less so the silence when Israeli troops kill unarmed Palestinian protestors seeking to exercise the right of return. Our leaders are revealed as warmongers and murderers
JosephM
Had not Anders Behring Breivik been responsible for the deaths of 93 people in Oslo* this week, conservative Australian politicians may well have looked kindly on his manifesto, “European Declaration of Independence”.
In “European Declaration of Independence” Breivik mentions favourably John Howard, former treasurer Peter Costello, Catholic archbishop of Sydney Cardinal George Pell, and conservative historian Keith Windschuttle released before he embarked upon his violent rampage.
Murdoch’s ”The Australian” newspaper states that 32-year-old described Mr Howard as “one of the most sensible leaders in the Western world” and commended the former government on its border protection policy and being “resistant to Political Correctness”.
“Luckily, not all Christian leaders are appeasers of Islam…” Breivik is reported to have written in his manifesto.
At the same time he took British politicians, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, to task for being “cultural traitors”.
Breivik’s ideas have been cultivated within the conservative establishment (he was a member of the right wing Progress party in Norway) and his actions in killing young reformist politicians at a labor party camp in Oslo appear to have stemmed from those ideas.
Meanwhile people like David Hicks who states clearly in his autobiography, Guantanamo, that he did not take up arms against anyone, was jailed and tortured by the US government without trial for five years.
Hicks may have been naive but at least he had the principles to support innocent people who had suffered in wars of terror in Iraq and in Afghanistan.
Ian Curr
July 2011
* The name given to the 1993 Oslo Accord that brought misery to Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied territories. The Oslo Accords are based on the 1978 Camp David Accords. Both ‘agreements’ enabled Israel to dramatically increase the number of settlers in the West Bank. These settlements have been the catalyst for extremist Israeli violence against people living under occupation in the West Bank.