American invasion – but war still not over for Iraqi people

Image: ” … infamous event of when the statue was pulled down in the center of Baghdad by the US Marines. ” … “It was right out front of the Palestine Hotel, which was conveniently where all the journalists were staying there were actually more journalists there, than people, ordinary people, and it was just completely 100% stage managed, what we would call a renter crowd.” – Donna Mulhearn, human shield, Baghdad, 23 March 2003.

Paradigm Shift 4ZZZ fm 102.1 2023-03-24

The 2003 American war in Iraq had a big impact, certainly on the nation of Iraq, which has never really recovered. Twenty (20) years on, it is still in chaos.Andy Paine interviews Donna Mulhearn who was in Iraq during the 2003 invasion. Donna Mulhern was there in Iraq at the time as a human shield: “” …. infamous event of when the statue was pulled down in the center of Baghdad by the US Marines. We would call it framing where you have a very close up shot, something that’s going on, which might tell one story, but if you just widen the shots and have a broader view, then it tells a completely different story.”

“Today we mark a very significant political anniversary – 20 years this week since the invasion of Iraq by the US/UK/Aus “coalition of the willing”. With the drums of war seeming to beat again, it’s worth reflecting on lessons learned from that war and the resistance to it. The resistance is what we’re going to talk about today – I speak to Donna Mulhearn who went to Iraq as a “human shield”, and Dave Burgess who painted “NO WAR” on the Sydney Opera House. Plus we play some of the many anti-Iraq war songs that were released back then.” – Andy Paine, Paradigm Shift, 4ZZZ fm 102.1, 24 March, 2023.

Yeah, it was early 2003 or cruising the latter part of 2002, George Bush and the US war machine had been building up in the Middle East. And of course, the Blair and Howard government here in Australia had been echoing messages of support for invading Iraq on the basis of weapons of mass destruction. Now, we all know the history of where that went. But as Christmas of that year, came and went, and we got into 2003. It was very clear that Bush was determined to go to war and his lackeys were determined to follow him. Public resistance was building and opposition was enormous. It seemed quite like a galvanizing moment in terms of community opposition to to a war. We all know the worldwide marches took place on February the 15th, which were, you know, the biggest protests, certainly Sydney and many other cities around the world has seen. And it took place in in that atmosphere of desperation. Bush had given Saddam his ultimatum. And over the weeks that led up to that the two or three weeks, my friend Will Saunders. The British astrophysicist working on joint projects for the Australian and British government said he had a bucket of paint, what should we do with it. So it all took place in that kind of political and social atmosphere. – David Burgess, opera house painter, 2003, just prior to the Iraq war.

0:00 Intro to the Paradigm Shift.
5:45 Mulhern as a human shield in iraq.
10:53 What was the importance of being on the ground?
17:44 Local punk rock from the early days of the iraq war.
25:14 Painted ‘no war’ on the opera house.
37:14 Bail conditions and the aftermath of the raid.
44:08 Dave Burgess painting the opera house in Sydney.
50:36 Dave’s resistance to the iraq war.

Songs
Le Tigre – New kicks
Bad Day Down – Happy Iraqis and Michael JacksonLOCAL
Combat Wombat- Human shieldsAUS
System of a Down – Boom!
Faithless -Mass destruction

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