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Howard Iraq troop increase is focus for Palm Sunday rally and march for peace23 February 2005The Sydney Peace & Justice Coalition has condemned the Howard Government’s move yesterday to treble the number of Australian fighters on the ground in Iraq, and will make the protest against this decision a focus of its Palm Sunday Rally and March for Peace and Justice in Iraq, to be held in Parramatta on March 20. "This decision will endanger the lives of the troops concerned. They will have a more dangerous role than the troops protecting the Embassy in Baghdad and are likely to get caught up in incidents where they wound or kill unarmed Iraqi civilians," said Bruce Childs, a convenor of the Sydney Peace & Justice Coalition. March 19-20 is a global day of action on the second anniversary of the invasion of Iraq by President Bush and his 'coalition of the willing'. "The driver behind Howard's decision is the unravelling of President Bush's 'coalition of the willing', a desperate move to cope with the abject and tragic failure of the occupation of Iraq," said Bruce Childs. "Prime Minister Howard is getting Australia in deeper, when he had led us all to expect Australian troops to reduce from current levels. "We call on the entire Australian peace and anti-war movement to rise to this challenge, to stand up for peace, justice and the rule of international law, and to make the Palm Sunday a powerful protest at the government's move," he concluded. "Howard's decision follows many months of pressure from the Bush Administration to send more troops. The Prime Minister could not refer to any Iraqi government request in the post-election transition, when that should be the only appropriate process. Further, the Australian troops will be guarding Japanese engineers who are doing work that Iraqis can easily do for themselves. It is these issues that spur the hostility of the Iraqi people to all foreigners, and thus deepen the crisis," said Rev Dr Ann Wansbrough, also a convenor of the Sydney Peace & Justice Coalition. The United Nations mandate to the US-led multinational force in Iraq ends definitively in December 2005, or earlier, at the request of the elected Iraqi government. Send Us Your CommentsContact DetailsRev Dr Ann Wansbrough Ph: 02 8267 4280 info@nswpeace.org http://www.nswpeace.org |
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© Walk Against the War Coalition 2003. |
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