Cost of War in Iraq & Afghanistan $953,189,911,761  (click on figures for more detail) …………………………………………………………..

Did 9/11 Justify The War In Afghanistan?

By Prof. David Ray Griffin. 26th June 2010

“The official rationale for our presence in Afghanistan is a lie…. Besides never being legally justified, therefore, the war in Afghanistan has never been morally justified”.

“…This war, moreover, is an abomination. In addition to the thousands of US and other NATO troops who have been killed or impaired for life, physically and/or mentally, the US-led invasion/occupation of Afghanistan has resulted in a huge number of Afghan casualties, with estimates running from several hundred thousand to several million. But whatever the true number, the fact is that the United States has produced a great amount of death and misery – sometimes even bombing funerals and wedding parties – in this country that had already suffered terribly and that, even if the official story were true, had not attacked America. The fact that the official story is a lie makes our war crimes even worse….”

Read more:  http://www.countercurrents.org/griffin260610.htm　

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MERSEYSIDE  STOP THE WAR  COALITION BANNER  COMPETITION We invite artists or supporters to enter a competition to design a new banner for MERSEYSIDE STOP THE WAR COALITION.

The winning design will be adopted to create a new banner for Merseyside.

                               THE  PRIZE - a  £100  VOUCHER 

                                      from  Jacksons  Art  Shop

                closing date for entrants is Saturday 27th of February 2010

PLEASE FORWARD YOUR DESIGN IN WHATEVER FORMAT TO ANY OF THE FOLLOWING:-

by Email- merseystopwar@yahoo.co.uk

by post – News from Nowhere , 96, Bold street Liverpool L1 4HY

The winner will be announced  March14th . Artwork may be collected by arrangement if necessary after this date.

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MStWC & LFOP  “GAZA 15000 FUND”

We aim to raise £15,000 for the people of Gaza. We should remember the horrific attack on the people of Gaza by Israeli tanks and planes in January which killed 1400 Palestinians, 400 of whom were children.

Since then Israel has continued its medieval siege on the coastal strip denying the Palestinians water, electricity, food and medicines. The situation in Gaza is desperate and barely a day goes by without Israel dropping more bombs on the poor beleaguered people there. The number of people in Gaza who have died from lack of medicines and medical facilities is approaching 1000.  A high proportion of children are emaciated as a result of lack of nutrition.

It’s time for action and real solidarity and this is why we have launched this joint endeavor. To the people of Gaza we say you will never walk alone.

Events to date:

1. FACT in conjunction with Merseyside Stop The War Coalition held a special charity evening with legendary director Ken Loach, in aid of Medical Aid for Palestine on Monday 7 September.

Ken had chosen his 1993 classic RAINING STONES to be shown, which was followed by a Q&A session when the audience asked him about his career in filmmaking and his latest feature currently being shot in Liverpool. The event was a complete sell out and raised £1,143 for the charity Medical Aid for Palestine. Read the report on their website: http://map-uk.org/regions/uk/news/view/-/id/415/

2. A Public Meeting with Tony Benn, George Galloway MP, Tony Woodley (Unite General Secretary), Lindsay German (STWC) and Betty Hunter (PSC) was held at the Adelphi Hotel, Liverpool, on Tuesday September 15th. 

Although Tony Benn was unable to attend because of ill health, the 700 people who attended were compensated with, what some people described as, one of  George Galloway’s best speeches ever- and that says alot!

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Britain’s Neo-Conservative
The Case Against Tony Blair
By PATRICK COCKBURN 1st Feb 2009

The case against Tony Blair has revolved too much around his good faith and too little around his competence. The placards held up by protestors on Friday as he gave evidence should have read “sucker” and “dope” rather than “Bliar”.

Amateurs have a fluency denied to professionals because they see no “ifs” and “buts” which would interrupt the flow of their argument. It is this mixture of amateurism and evangelical conviction which made Blair such a lethally inept leader before and during the war in Iraq. His greatest weakness was not so much that he adjusted facts to support his policies, but that he had so little grasp of the facts in the first place.

Read more… http://www.counterpunch.org/patrick02012010.html 

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David Kelly Post Mortem to be kept secret for 70 years!
Doctors accuse Lord Hutton of concealing vital information

Campaigning Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker, who has also questioned the verdict that Dr Kelly committed suicide, said: ‘It is astonishing this is the first we’ve known about this decision by Lord Hutton and even more astonishing he should have seen fit to hide this material away.’

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24494.htm

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THE PEOPLE’S DOSSIER VERSUS THE DODGY DOSSIER

Have you submitted your question to Tony Blair for the
People’s Dossier, which Stop the War will be presenting to the
Iraq Inquiry? Hundreds of questions have been sent in,
including contributions from Hans von Sponeck, the former UN
coordinater in Iraq, musician Brian Eno and a number of
military families. For further details: http://stopwar.org.uk/content/view/1702/1/

Here is a question from a local activist:

Question for Tony Blair:

How do you justify years of harsh sanctions and a devastating war with Iraq on the grounds of suspecting the development of WMD and breaking a couple of UN Resolutions, yet favour “constructive engagement” and trade privileges for Israel, which has a massive nuclear arsenal and broken scores of UN Resolutions? Cannot you see this double standard is a major grievance and the cause of  terrorist acts against us?

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How conflicts are catalyzed—by way of deception.

Game theory war-planners rely on mathematical models to anticipate and shape outcomes with staged provocations. For the agent provocateur, the reactions to a provocation—as well as the reactions to those reactions—thereby become predictable within an acceptable range of probabilities.
With ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan poised to expand to Iran and Pakistan, it is time to take a closer look at how conflicts are catalyzed—by way of deception.

Read the article and view the videos here:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24428.htm

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Doctors call for children injured in Gaza conflict to be monitored for long term effects of new weapons

Message from Dr Derek Summerfield

Concern about possible use of new weapons by the Israeli Defence Force on Gaza have been expressed for several years now. I recall Jeff Halper, the Israeli anthropologist and anti-Occupation/house demolition activist speaking at the Royal Society of Medicine 3 years ago, saying that Israel regarded the trapped population of Gaza as a kind of laboratory for the development and testing of new weapons. Please read this BMJ report, below:

 
“We heard the shelling, we heard the bombing—they [injured patients] came in by the hundreds, walking and running, in private cars and ambulances, and it went on for three weeks,” remembers the Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert, who took off for Gaza as soon as he heard that the Israeli assault had started at the end of December last year.
At a talk in London he shows a video clip of a mass of frightened people converging on Al Shifa Hospital, carrying their injured loved ones, shouting and jostling to get them through the doors as quickly as possible.
Inside the draughty hospital—its windows blown out by the Israeli bombing of a nearby mosque, its basic medical supplies exhausted by the long siege of Gaza—surgeons worked ceaselessly, sometimes two or three to an operating room. “All the time we heard the drones—one, two, three at a time, 24 hours a day,” he said.
Dr Gilbert, professor and head of the department of emergency medicine at the University Hospital of North Norway in Tromsø, and his surgeon colleague Erik Fosse were among the few outsiders to witness the Israeli attack on Gaza at first hand. In the absence of western journalists, who were denied access, they found themselves besieged by foreign media outlets wanting information. Dr Gilbert was giving 15 to 20 interviews a day to tell the outside world what was happening.
Now he is showing the world his pictures of the wounded, many of them children: the boy with both legs and an arm blown off, the girl with a hole carved out of her back, exposing her spine. On 5 November he was at University College London, his talk sponsored by Medical Aid for Palestinians, the School of Oriental and African Studies’ Palestinian Society, and the school’s student union.
Hundreds of doctors and nurses from his hospital have gone to Gaza over the past few years, but Dr Gilbert has been targeted for criticism by supporters of Israel, who point to his far left politics and a statement he made displaying understanding for the attacks on the US on 11 September 2001, which he has since publicly said he regrets.
He and his colleagues work in war zones for the Norwegian Aid Committee (Norwac), a medical aid agency funded by the Norwegian government. He has been showing what he calls “medical solidarity” for 30 years, giving his services where they are most needed. “There is a direct line from health to politics,” he said, “and all doctors are politicians whether they like it or not.”
When the Norwegian doctors arrived in Gaza, Dr Gilbert recalls, “the first thing we saw was bread lines.”
He said, “When the attack started, it was not on a healthy society, it was on a society that had been forced to its knees by three years of merciless siege. Siege has been used by the Israeli army as a military tool.”
He characterises the Israeli attack on Gaza as “a deliberate, preplanned, man-made disaster.” Because so many of Gaza’s residents are children, “when the bombing started, it was like bombing a besieged prison—not only a prison but a child prison.”
He shows a picture of a 14 year old boy whose right leg is torn off at the thigh, his left foot at the ankle, his body covered with bruises but with no shrapnel wounds. The perpetrator, he believes, is a new type of weapon, the dense inert metal explosive (DIME) bomb.
“Anybody within a radius of 5 or 10 m will be killed or torn apart,” said Dr Gilbert. “He died between our hands within the next five minutes of our picture. We ask: is Gaza being used as a test ground for new weapons?”
He called for all Gaza amputees to be put on a register and to be followed up, concerned that DIME bombs, which contain a tungsten alloy, may be carcinogenic. In a study published by the US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, pellets of weapons grade tungsten alloy injected into laboratory rats produced rhabdomyosarcomas in all the animals (www.afrri.usuhs.mil/www/outreach/pdf/tungsten_cancer.pdf, doi:10.1289/ehp.7791).
A spokesperson for the Israeli embassy in London said: “Once again the fantastic tales of the notorious Mads Gilbert sound as if they were quoted from a conspiracy theory website. Mr Gilbert is peddling fanciful analyses in a field where he has neither experience nor knowledge. One should not abuse the prestige of the medical profession purely in pursuit of one’s own extreme political views.”
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b4664

CHRIS DAVIES’S LIB DEM MEP  NOTES ON AFGHANISTAN

 The fraudulent elections held in Afghanistan, and the further death and
maiming of British soldiers serving in the country, have forced me to
think hard about the situation.  I have written to Nick Clegg to give
him my views and I want also to share them with readers of these
occasional LIB DEM NOTES.

I believe that our troops should be pulled off the front line in
Afghanistan. The justifications for their continuing presence seem to
vary with the day of the week and the desperation of the advocate.  I am
not convinced by any of them, and I don’t know how we would even
recognise a ‘victory’ if it were to be claimed.

Our people are part of a NATO contingent involving troops from many
nations (though our numbers are second only to the Americans) that has
the support of the United Nations.  But we are easily portrayed as an
occupying force in a foreign land, fighting for one side in a civil
war as crusading imperialists seeking to impose our cultural and
religious beliefs on others. Radical Muslim men rally to the cause of
our opponents in consequence.

As we seek to avoid casualties we fall back on the use of technology
that allows us to attack and bomb from afar; all too often killing
innocent Afghans.  Support we may briefly have enjoyed from local people
turns to hatred.  None of this helps to make Britain a safer place.

I bow to no-one in my detestation of the Taliban and the perversion of
Islam they use to justify their suppression of women’s rights.  I would
love to see the country transformed into a benevolent liberal democracy,
free from corruption and a champion of liberty.  But the recent
elections demonstrated how removed that vision is from reality.  If we
are fighting for Karzai’s government are we sure it is a cause worth the
effort?  We cannot use the treatment of Afghan women by Afghan men as an
excuse for military intervention any more than we would use it to
justify an attack on a country where genital mutilation is still
performed on female children.

In any case, genuine defeat of the Taliban may prove impossible whatever
resources and lives are thrown against them.  Its various local
commanders can withdraw in the face of overwhelming odds, only to return
when troop numbers have been reduced.  Individual fighters can cut their
beards, bury their weapons, and pose as hard working farmers – which
indeed is what they may be.  The weapons can be dug up again at any time.

We can continue to train Afghan soldiers, but the Taliban have a role to
play in the country’s future and we should talk with them.  Can that be
so much worse than dealing with our current allies, the cruel and
corrupt warlords who care not a jot for human rights?  Our money at
least buys us some influence with the warlords; perhaps its provision
for development purposes can also be used to persuade the Taliban to
keep Al Qaida at a distance and curb the worst excesses of their
treatment of women.

To make Britain a safer place we have to win hearts and minds in the
Muslim world.  We have to address the causes of grievance used by our
opponents to bring people to their side.  Our attack on Iraq did us
great damage.  Our involvement in Afghanistan risks doing the same.  The
failure of Europe as a whole to address the injustice experienced by
Palestinians is a source of anger amongst Muslims that we consistently
underestimate.  We should learn our lessons.

Yes, we must be prepared to use force to defend our values when
necessary, but military action can only be taken when the objective is
clear.  That is very far from the case in Afghanistan.  We should
not allow more soldiers to be killed and maimed because politicians here
are too unwilling to lose face, too embarrassed to admit that lives have
been lost in vain, or too weak to challenge orthodoxy within NATO.

Afghanistan has defeated Britain in the past.  It has defeated the
Russians.  The present campaign is not going to result in a triumph for
America or its British and other allies.  If our troops are to remain
there it should be only to provide support and training for Afghans.
They should not be on the frontline.

I would welcome your views.

 CHRIS DAVIES MEP

11 November 2011

Why Afghans Oppose the Escalation
Leave Afghanistan to the Afghans
By PATRICK COCKBURN   Nov 9th 2009

The US is poised to send tens of thousands more soldiers to the country. The nature of the conflict is changing. What should be a war in which the Afghan government fights the Taliban has become one which is being fought primarily by the American and British armies. To more and more Afghans this looks like imperial occupation. ..

 Read more: http://www.counterpunch.org/patrick11092009.html

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SUPPORT GROWS FOR TROOPS OUT DEMAND
Every new opinion poll shows increasing numbers believe the UK should bring its
troops back from Afghanistan. There are majorities for withdrawal in every country whose troops make up the US and NATO forces fighting there.

The claim that the war is necessary to protect people in Britain was rejected by the leader of Britain’s biggest trades union Unite last week. Dereck Simpson, whose union gives financial backing to Labour, said, “all the reasons for terrorism are being encouraged by our presence in Afghanistan. We are an invading force and the Taliban can whip up the hysteria and generate the incentives to continue the terrorism.” The war is making matters worst.

Families of servicemen and women are becoming increasingly uneasy about the whole enterprise. Lance Cpl.Joe Glenton faces court martial for refusing to return to Afghanistan. The case for war in Afghanistan is falling to pieces. Now is the time to join the campaign to end the disastrous war in Afghanistan.

Stop the War is stepping up the activities to get the troops out of Afghanistan over the coming months. What you do can to help can make a difference.

WANT TO GET INVOLVED?
Local Stop the Groups campaigning to bring the troops home from Afghanistan are experiencing unprecedented levels of support, not least in the thousands who have signed our petition to Gordon Brown in recent weeks.

If you would like to get involved in a local Stop the War group, contact the national office for details of a group in your area: Tel: 020 7801 2768;  Email office@stopwar.org.uk

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FILM: PALESTINE’S HISTORY OF DISPOSSESSION AND OCCUPATION

How could the ruthless expropriation of an entire people happen? In a short film, John Rees, a national officer of Stop the War, presents the history of how the state of Israel was born out of terror, war, conquest and the dispossession of the Palestinian people.
SEE THE 20 MINUTE FILM HERE: http://bit.ly/4AaVhg

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STOP THE WAR IN THE MEDIA

The last few weeks have seen Stop the War gaining widespread coverage in the broadcast and print media, where we have been featured on all the major networks and in the national press,
particularly on the issue of Afghanistan.

Our views on the Afghan war have been reported more widely than at any time since the invasion in 2001, now that the reality of the unwinnable war has forced itself into the
headlines. Our involvement in the visit of Afghan MP Malalai Joya and our support for serving soldier Joe Glenton’s in his refusal to return to Afghanistan have received widespread
coverage. Here are a few examples:

BBC NEWS
* Soldier takes war protest to PM: http://bit.ly/p1dXg
* Afghan woman MP lists ‘enemies’: http://bit.ly/yHz3y

BBC RADIO 4: THE MORAL MAZE
Stop the War’s John Rees is interrogated on whether there is a moral case for the war in Afghanistan: http://bit.ly/19gfhn

SKY NEWS
* Interview with soldier Joe Glenton on why he won’t return to Afghanistan: http://bit.ly/PBPAc

MIRROR
*Afghanistan deaths: Is it still worth it? Stop the War’s Lindsey German debates with government minister Bill Rammell:
http://bit.ly/fynji

DAILY MAIL
Afghan veteran who deserted the Army marches on Downing Street: http://bit.ly/ZUj5z

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Lie used to push for war with Iran.

See this video and see the levels to which the war mongers sink in order to to scare the population into accepting war:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onNzrNEFs1E&annotation_id=annotation_86519&feature=iv 

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ANTI-WAR SONG OF THE WEEK

A very popular feature of Stop the War’s website is our anti-war song of the week. This week’s song is Oliver’s Army by Elvis Costello: http://bit.ly/3xKfWU.

To see the full list of the series so far and to hear past selections, go here: http://bit.ly/nsHxo

We welcome suggestions for future anti-war songs of the week, but please note that they need to be by well known artists. Much as we would like to, we simply don’t have the time or
resources to listen to songs by new bands or singers.

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 OVER 100 A WEEK JOINING STOP THE WAR ON TWITTER

In little over two months, at a rate of over 100 a week, close to 1200 people have chosen to follow Stop the War on Twitter. If you would like to join them, go here to sign up:
http://twitter.com/STWuk

ARTICLES

Half Life of a Toxic War
Iraq’s Wrecked Environment
By JEFFREY ST. CLAIR and JOSHUA FRANK
May 3rd 2009

The ecological effects of war, like its horrific toll on human life, are exponential. When the Bush administration (parts one and two) and its congressional allies sent troops to Iraq to topple Saddam Hussein’s regime, they not only ordered these men and women to commit crimes against humanity, they also commanded them to perpetrate crimes against nature. Former Chief United Nations Weapons Inspector Hans Blix, prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, said the environmental consequences of the Iraq war could be more ominous than the issue of war and peace itself. Blix was right.

Read more:  http://www.counterpunch.org/stclair05012009.html

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Watch this short video:

Impressive speech of an American veteran, Mike Prysner

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Peace, Tolerance and Transparency
Kant on War
Immanuel Kant, born in 1724, is considered one of the greatest philosophers in the history of Western Civilization. World leaders could well learn from his booklet on “Perpetual Peace” published in 1795.
Read more, by Flod Rudmin…http://www.counterpunch.org/rudmin01012010.html

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