Stop the War Coalition
Why we shouldn’t
bomb Iraq and Syria
1) The West’s last operation in Iraq
ended just three years ago. For those
with a short memory it didn’t go well.
More than half a million people died,
millions fled the country and Iraq’s
infrastructure was devastated. The
operation generated deep resentment
against the West.
2) The current chaos in Iraq – including
the rise of the reactionary Isis – is
largely the result of the eight years of
that occupation.
On top of the trauma of the
assault, sectarian division was built
into the operation. Elections were
organised along communal lines and
the authorities used sectarianism to
undermine resistance.
By 2006, Baghdad had been turned
from an integrated, modern city into
a patchwork of ruined communal
ghettoes. The open discrimination of
the Western-backed Maliki government
detonated a Sunni insurgency last year
that helped fuel the rise of Isis in Iraq.
3) Bombing always kills and terrorises
civilians. Recent coalition bombing
raids on Raqqa in Syria have brought
death and panic to its residents. One
civilian there told western reporters
‘I would not wish them on my worst
enemy’.
4) All three of Britain’s major military
interventions in the last thirteen years
have been disasters.
In 2001 we were told an invasion of
Afghanistan would rout the Taliban.
Thirteen years and tens of thousands of
deaths later the Taliban have grown in
strength and the country is broken.
The bombing of Libya in 2011 was
justified as essential to stop a massacre
by Gaddafi. After it began an estimated
30,000 were killed in a terrifying cycle
of violence. The country is now a failed
state with no real government.
5) The coalition that has been put
together for the bombing of Syria
– apparently in an effort to give the
attacks legitimacy – comprises some
of the most ruthless and benighted
regimes in the region.
Human Rights Watch reports that
nineteen people were beheaded in
Saudi Aarbia in August.
Qatar and UAE have notorious human
rights’ records that include the use of
forced labour. All three have funded
violent Jihadi groups in the region.
6) Bombing raids will increase hatred
of the west. One of the wider results of
the ‘War on Terror’ has been to spread
Al- Quaida and other terrorist groups
across whole regions of the world.
In 2001 there were relatively small
numbers of such militants, centred
mainly on Pakistan. Now there are
groups across the middle east, central
Asia and Africa.
7) The timing is cynical. David
Cameron has recalled parliament
to debate an attack on Iraq just two
days before the start of the last Tory
Conference before the general election.
This at a time when he is engaged
in pushing a right wing, nationalist
agenda for party political purposes.
8) Mission creep is almost inevitable.
There are already more than a
thousand US military active in Iraq
and senior US military figures are
arguing they should now be openly
involved in fighting.
In Britain a growing number of
voices from Tony Blair to Lieutenant
General Sir Graeme Lamb are
recommending British boots on the
ground.
9) The attack will cost money much
needed for other things.
One Tomahawk cruise missile costs
£850,000, enough to pay the annual
salary of 28 NHS nurses. The US has
already fired about 50 of these missiles
at Isis targets in Syria.
It is estimated Britain spent between
£500 million and one billion pounds
bombing Libya in 2011.
This was roughly the same as the
savings made by ending the education
maintenance allowance (EMA);
or three times the amount saved
by scrapping the disability living
allowance.
National demonstration >>
Stop bombing Iraq
Don’t attack Syria
Saturday 4 October, assemble 1pm
Temple Place, London WC2R 3BD
Called by Stop the War Coalition, CND, British
Muslim Initiative and Muslim Association of Britain
stopwar.org.uk l office@stopwar.org.uk l 020 7561 4830