Selena Black, Sydney
"No-one is fooled by the US-orchestrated Iraqi elections: they will not bring peace and democracy to the country. Instead they have been the 'justification' for the more intense bombing, killing and torture campaign of Iraqis by the US-led occupation forces", Pip Hinman from the Stop the War Coalition said on January 28.
According to Anna Samson, also from STWC, "the carnage in Fallujah shows what the occupiers are prepared to do to impose 'democracy'".
Hinman described as "absurd" claims by Washington and Canberra that the election is a "step towards democracy" in war-torn and traumatised Iraq. She argued: "With Iraqis divided over whether or not to take part, the reality is that ordinary civilians will be risking their very lives to vote! What sort of free and fair election is this?"
"It is also dubious", added Samson, "that an occupying force has the legal right to change the composition of an occupied territory socially, culturally, politically or educationally. According to the League of Arab Lawyers, the election was based on the laws laid down by US 'viceroy' Paul Bremer, and is therefore entirely unconstitutional."
The official search for weapons of mass destruction ended on January 12, removing the official justification for the invasion of Iraq and polls reveal that majorities in the West are still angry about the war.
The International Crisis Group's December 24 report conceded that the US may have lost the war in Iraq. It says the US intention of making Iraq a democratic, free-market oriented and secular model for the region is "virtually out of reach".
Hinman and Samson argued that free and fair elections can only ever take place after the occupying forces leave Iraq.
The STWC will answer the international call to protest on March 20 — the second anniversary of the invasion — by organising a march and rally in Sydney on that day. Visit <http://www.stopwarcoalition.org.au> for details.
From Green Left Weekly, February 2, 2005.
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