6 million protesters join marches

In a huge wave of demonstrations not seen since the Vietnam War, more than six million peace protesters took to the streets in 600 towns and cities from Cape Town to Chicago Saturday, calling on the United States not to attack Iraq.

The largest protests were in Europe. Estimates ranged from 300,000 demonstrators in France and 500,000 in Germany to one million in Italy and two million in Spain.

In Sydney, more than 200,000 people, some bearing banners asking “how many lives per liter?” thronged the streets Sunday, beginning a second day of global marches.

Muqtedar Khan, PH.D.

Article was so far featured in Aljazeerah (Middle East; January 06. 2003) and Foreign Policy in Focus (January 08, 2002), Counterpunch (Jan. 10, 2003), Nagasaki Post (Japan; January 12, 2003), The Daily Times (Pakistan; January 14, 2003), The Globalist (January 16, 2003), Scoop (New Zealand; Jan. 06. 2003), and Dawn International (Pakistan; January 18, 2003).

Have you ever seen an alcoholic preaching abstinence and advocating prohibition?

Bush wants war, Pentagon urges caution

By DOUG THOMPSON

Senior Pentagon officials are quietly urging President George W. Bush to slow down his headlong rush to war with Iraq, complaining the administration’s course of action represents too much of a shift of America’s longstanding “no first strike” policy and that the move could well result in conflicts with other Arab nations.

“We have a dangerous role reversal here,” one Pentagon source tells Capitol Hill Blue. “The civilians are urging war and the uniformed officers are urging caution.”

09 March 2003

You do not have the evidence. You do not have UN approval. You do not have your country's support. You do not have your party's support. You do not have the legal right. You do not have the moral right. You must not drag Britain into Bush's unjust and unnecessary war

The die is cast. President Bush says he will go to war with or without the backing of the UN. Tony Blair indicates he will support him. The senior UN weapons inspector, Hans Blix, asks to be given more time – a few more months at most. His request is brushed aside by the US and the UK governments.

The News: Jang (Pakistan) 8 March 2003

OPINION: Media Watch

The idea that we can invade Iraq to bring democracy and freedom is a confidence trick designed to draw western liberals into providing legitimacy for old-fashioned conquest.

We have been here before. In the late 19th century, Christian missionaries provided countless factual accounts of the barbarities of the heathen in Africa which were used to justify intervention and, in the end, the conquest, exploitation and partition of the continent.

Weekend protests worldwide by millions of anti-war activists delivered a stinging rebuke to Washington and its allies on their hard-line advance towards war.

The unprecedented wave of demonstrations, involving eight million to 11.5 million people, according to various estimates, further clouded US war plans a day after they suffered a diplomatic setback at the United Nations.

Significantly, some of the biggest rallies were held in countries which have strongly supported the pledge by US President George W. Bush to use force if necessary to strip Iraq of suspected weapons of mass destruction.

By Sean Gonsalves, Syndicated Columnist

How do you explain the president's threat to invade Iraq, in keeping with the "preventive" war prescription laid out in the September 2002 National Security Strategy Directive, while he talks about diplomacy in dealing with North Korea?

That United States policy-makers are preparing for war against an Iraqi military that analysts say we can easily crush while going the diplomatic route with North Korea -- a country we can't beat up on as easily -- is evidence of an ugly principle at work: might makes right.

By Stephen Zunes

The United States still appears determined to move forward with plans to engage in a large-scale military operation against Iraq to overthrow the regime of Saddam Hussein.

In the international community, however, serious questions are being raised regarding its legality, its justification, its political implications, and the costs of the war itself. Such an invasion would constitute an important precedent, being the first test of the new doctrine articulated by President George W. Bush of "preemption," which declares that the United States has the right to invade sovereign countries and overthrow their governments if they are seen as hostile to U.S. interests.

1. In the uk~ Call your MP/ The house of Commons and ask for your local MP to voice your local Oppsition to the Partcipation of UK in this war of terror.

In the US Call or Fax the White House to express your opposition to an invasion of Iraq. The United States Congress has voted for going to war with Iraq, failing in its duty to represent a deeply divided American public. But there are still ways to stop this invasion. Contact the White House at 202-456-1111 (tel) or 202-456-2461 (fax).

It is the Height of Political Naiveté and a crime against the Muslim Ummah, to do otherwise!

(Answering Hizb-ut-Tahrir - Part II)

As the drive for war comes closer, so does the reality of the impending slaughter of many innocents within Iraq. The United States is leading the true `axis of evil' against the Muslim Ummah.