The New Dark Age

7 August, 2010 — Stop the War Coalition

IN THIS NEWSLETTER:

1) WHEN DAVID BECKHAM WENT TO AFGHANISTAN: WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?
2) SUPPORT THE WIKILEAKS WHISTLEBLOWERS
3) VIVA PALESTINA AID CONVOY FOR GAZA: GET INVOLVED
4) REBRANDING THE OCCUPATION OF IRAQ
5) PROSECUTING TONY BLAIR
6) MAKE A DONATION TO STOP THE WAR

1) WHEN DAVID BECKHAM WENT TO AFGHANISTAN: WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?

The big news story on 22 May was footballer David Beckham’s visit to Afghanistan to give a morale boost to the British troops experiencing their worst year for casualties since the war began in 2001.

“There were cheers and smiles in Helmand Province when David Beckham met with hundreds of soldiers,” proclaimed the Ministry of Defence, keen to promote the pro-war message, when all the opinion polls showed an overwhelming majority of the British public want the troops withdrawn.

One soldier Beckham met isn’t cheering or smiling now.

Private Ryan Hewitt, just 18-years-old and a soldier for less than one year, was blown up just weeks after he was pictured next to Beckham.

He lost both his legs and fractured his spine, jaw and eye socket. His legs had to be amputated as he lay in agony after stepping on a booby-trap device.

Beckham said at the time of his visit, it was an “honour” to visit the troops; they were doing “an amazing job”, which made him “proud to be British”.

The job they are doing is killing and being killed in a war which has no purpose outside of desperate attempts by the warmongers to find a way of getting out of Afghanistan without admitting defeat.

A lot more soldiers and many more Afghan civilians will be sacrificed to save the face of politicians and generals, unless the voice of the anti-war majority mobilises on a scale that make it politically impossible to continue waging a pointless war that is clearly being lost.

PROTEST AT PARLIAMENT THURSDAY 9 SEPTEMBER 12 NOON MPs will debate and vote on Afghanistan for the first time on 9 September. Stop the War has called a protest outside parliament at 12 noon.

LOBBY YOUR MP We are asking all our supporters to lobby their MPs, calling for them to support a call to bring the troops home. You can do this on our e-lobby page, here: bit.ly/cJv5Id

NATIONAL DEMONSTRATION AFGHANISTAN: TIME TO GO SATURDAY 20 NOVEMBER LONDON Called by Stop the War, CND and the British Muslim Initiative, the demonstration will be on the day that Nato meets in Lisbon to discuss the war in Afghanistan. More details will be available soon. A leaflet for downloading and printing to help publicise the demonstration is available here: tinyurl.com/355lpda

2) SUPPORT THE WIKILEAKS WHISTLEBLOWERS

The US government and military are now making ominous threats against Wikileaks, following its release of over 76,000 secret US military documents which reveal that the US and its Nato allies are killing hundreds of Afghan civilians in unreported incidents and committing countless war crimes in Afghanistan.

The Pentagon has made the accusation that by publishing the documents, it is Wikileaks that has “blood on it hands”, endangering the lives of “our troops, our allies and Afghan partners”, rather than the politicians and generals who are waging an unjustified war which has slaughtered tens of thousands.

The Pentagon says that if Wikileaks does not “”immediately return all versions of all of those documents to the US government and permanently delete them from its website, computers, and records… we have to compel them to do the right thing.”

The aim is to use intimidation and fear to deter any future whistleblowers from revealing the truth about the failing war in Afghanistan. There can be no doubt that the Wikileaks editor-in-chief, Julian Assange, and his staff are in real danger.

As is Bradley Manning, the 22-year-old US army private who is already under arrest for the alleged leaking of the Iraq collateral murder video, published in May by Wikileaks (SEE bit.ly/9iUnkT). If he turns out to be the source of the Wikileaks documents published last week, he may face the death penalty for acts which have only served the causes of truth, peace and justice.

Just as the Vietnam anti-war movement was galvanised by Daniel Ellsburg’s leaking of the Pentagon Papers, revealing the reality of the Vietnam War which had been hidden from the American public, today’s anti-war movement needs to do all it can to support Julian Assange, Bradley Manning and all the whistleblowers who are so important to the campaign against the war in Afghanistan.

HOW TO SUPPORT WIKILEAKS: GO TO bit.ly/bBCaKg

HOW TO SUPPORT PRIVATE BRADLEY MANNING: GO TO bit.ly/b1U5Ox

3) VIVA PALESTINA AID CONVOY FOR GAZA: GET INVOLVED

The Viva Palestina aid convoy for Gaza, leaving Britain on 18 September, is part of a huge international initiative by land and sea to break Israel’s illegal siege of Gaza, which has brought such misery to the Palestinians confined in the world’s largest prison.

You can support the convoy in many ways, by fundraising, promoting it, or taking part yourself. Full details are available here: bit.ly/ce9C7U

4) REBRANDING THE OCCUPATION OF IRAQ

Barack Obama announced this week that he was meeting his target “as promised and on schedule” for withdrawing combat troops from Iraq. In fact he is doing no such thing, as Seumas Milne shows in his article titled, “The US isn’t leaving Iraq, it’s rebranding the occupation”

The truth is the uniformed soldiers are being replaced by private paramilitaries, and Seumas Milne describes how, rather than stabilising, the situation in Iraq is deteriorating sharply, with escalating rates of civilian deaths. (SEE bit.ly/baG2WH)

5) PROSECUTING TONY BLAIR

John Pilger thinks maybe there’s a glimmer of a hope that getting Tony Blair held to account for his Iraq war crimes may not just be wishful thinking (SEE bit.ly/ag0JxJ).

Blair will be doing a public book signing to launch his memoirs — for which he received a £4.5 million advance — at Waterstone’s, in London’s Piccadilly, on 9 September. More information on this soon.

6) MAKE A DONATION TO STOP THE WAR

Stop the War is now preparing for an intense period of activity leading up to and including the national demonstration on Saturday 20 November. We urgently need donations to help us fund these activities. Please consider making a donation, which you can do in three ways:

ONLINE: bit.ly/9seAbb BY PHONE: 020 7801 2768 BY POST: Send a cheque payable to “Stop the War Coalition” to: Stop the War Coalition, 231 Vauxhall Bridge Road London SW1 1EH

Email office@stopwar.org.uk Tel: 020 7801 2768 Web: stopwar.org.uk Twitter: twitter.com/STWuk