'No justification for new war'

BY SUE BULL
& GRAHAM MATTHEWS

MELBOURNE — A public meeting against war on Iraq on September 26 attracted 250 people. The meeting was organised by the Victorian Peace Network.

Featured speakers at the meeting were Dr Scott Burchill from Deakin University, Dr Sue Wareham from the Medical Association for the Prevention of War, Dr Khairy Majeed, President of the Iraqi social club, and Father Bruce Duncan, from the Catholic Commission for Justice, Disarmament and Peace.

"The US is the only country to have used nuclear weapons against an unarmed population", Burchill told the meeting. "If the US is so concerned about Saddam's use of chemical or biological weapons, why did they help him acquire them?"

"In the 1991 Gulf War", Majeed pointed out, "Iraq didn't use chemical or biological weapons but the US did. The US used depleted uranium shells."

"There is no justification for the new war against the Iraqi people", Majeed said, citing the complete lack of evidence linking Iraq with the 9/11 tragedy.

"The coming war will be no different to any modern war, in that the victims will largely be innocent people", Sue Wareham told the meeting.

"I haven't yet found a single church leader in favour of military intervention anywhere in the world", Father Bruce Duncan told the meeting.

Discussion from the floor stressed the lack of majority support for a new war on Iraq, and that a major mobilisation against the war was critical.

From Green Left Weekly, October 2, 2002.

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From GLW issue 511