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Bring the Troops Home Now!

Immediately Withdraw US troops from the Persian Gulf!

Stop the Bombing! Lift the sanctions!

For Notices of Antiwar Protests, go to

Local demonstration / Events (Minneapolis)

USLAW web site has Links to other Antiwar coalitions

Based in New York City (listserv, open archives)

----------------

by Doug Mann, April 11, 2003

From Izvestia - Liberation news, appended to Russian Intel update of 6 April 2003 (morning)

From Liberation News -- with link to the web site where the reports originated

25 March to 6 April 2003 --

The US command's press releases greatly understate the Iraqi military's defensive capacity, which may help to keep combat spirit among US soldiers high and bolster support for the war effort in the US. However, as the war progresses the clash of war propaganda with reality is certain to soften support and harden opposition to the war among the troops and the folks back home. According to a Russian Intelligence report of 29 March 2003,

"...The majority of [US] troops remain confident in their abilities, while maintaining belief in the superiority of their weapons and maintaining reasonable confidence in the way the war is being fought."

"It should be noted, however, that the way the war is being fought did create a certain sense of disappointment in most of the troops. Many are feeling that they've been lied to and are openly talking about the stupidity of the high command and its gross miscalculations. "Those star-covered Pentagon idiots promised us a victory march and flowers on the armor. What we got instead were those damned fanatics fighting for every dune and the sand squeaking in your ass!" said one of the wounded recuperating at a hospital in Rammstein."

Edited version of a Green Party press release dated 17 March 2003

By Doug Mann, 20 March 2003 -- the original statement is posted at

http://www.greenpartyus.org/press/pr_03_17_03.html

by David Bacon, ILC News (reprint), 19 Feb 2003

Blix will say there is a prima facie case of breach against Iraq for testing the Samoud-2 missiles beyond the permitted 150km range, but that firing them an extra 33km [without a payload] is not significant, despite Tony Blair insisting yesterday that it was. Suzanne Goldenberg in Baghdad and Ewen MacAskill, The Guardian (UK), Friday February 14, 2003

Leaders of 5 of Britain's largest Unions warn of massive strikes over Iraq war, demand recall of Trade Union Congress - The Guardian Staff and Agencies -- Monday, February 10, 2003

Union leaders are calling for a special meeting of the Trade Union Congress to debate the Iraq crisis. Tory party is broadly supportive of the government's policy on Iraq. Liberal Democratic Party leader Charles Kennedy said "our case is a pro-UN case, not antiwar come what may." - BBC News, 10 February 2003

By William Rivers Pitt, truthout, February 7, 2003

BBC (UK) News, Friday 07 February 2003, 03:23 GMT

BBC, February 5th, 2003

Dan Plesch in New York, The Guardian UK, 05 Feb 2003

By William Rivers Pitt, truthout, 06 Feb 2003

William Russell, the great correspondent who reported the carnage of imperial wars, may have first used the expression "blood on his hands" to describe impeccable politicians who, at a safe distance, order the mass killing of ordinary people. : John Pilger :29 Jan 2003

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Iraq War Propaganda

--------------------

by Doug Mann, 07 Feb 2003

Why the Labor and Antiwar Movements Should Oppose the War Unconditionally The Bush administration's trick to manufacturing consent for the war is to frame the debate around the issue of how to deal with the 'Iraqi threat.' That is the framework for the debate in the UN Security Council, the US Congress, and in the American and European press. The Bush administration's motives for going to war are not seriously questioned. It's sort of like the story about the emperors new clothes. Nobody dares to tell the emperor that he's not wearing any. - by Doug Mann, 10 Feb 2003

1990 report says "no." A report by the U.S. Army War College released in the summer of 1990 contradicts US claim that Iraq gassed its own Kurdish civilians. - by Raju G.C. Thomas, Pulse of the Twin Cities, 12 Feb 2003

[Executive Summary by Doug Mann] The claim that Saddam gassed his own people is apparently based on interviews by Senate Foreign Relations Committee staffers with Kurdish refugees in Turkey, who reported a gas attack, but no evidence has been found to confirm that it happened. Another incident, the March 1988 bombardment with chemical weapons of Halabjah, an Iraq-Kurdish city, was blamed on Iraq. However, the US Army War College found evidence that indicated the attack on Halabjah was actually carried out by Iran. The claim that Saddam ordered the chemical weapons attack on his own people was put forward by the first Bush administration as a justification for the 1991 Gulf War and the subsequent disarmament of Iraq. This unsubstantiated claim that Saddam gassed his own people was used again by President Clinton as a justification for further bombing of Iraq.

-----------------------------

Labor & the Anti War Movement

-----------------------------

The struggle against war is a struggle to reclaim the party -- Statement published by The LINK: Open Forum of Labour Party Members and Trade Unionists to Reclaim the Party (UK) -- Press Release - Monday, February 17th

From: Daniel Gluckstein, ILC Coordinator, February 5, 2003

World-wide mass demonstrations planned for Feb 15 & 16

New Labor Group Organizing Union Opposition to War

Is Sweeney Feeling The Heat Of Rising Labor Antiwar Sentiment?

by David May, Socialist Appeal, February 5, 2003

Mainstream Press Reports on USLAW

by Charles Walker, Labor Tuesday! 21 January 2003

Peace Sentiment Echoes Ever Louder in Cleveland Labor Movement

by Jerry Gordon, Labor Tuesday! 21 January 2003

By Philip Dine, 01/15/2003, St. Louis Dispatch [Twin Cities Independent Media Center web site]

by Bill Onasch, OWC Campaign News -- 12 January 2003

-------------------------------

Antiwar Resolutions / Statements

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Adopted at Founding Conference of US Labor Against the War, January 11, 2003 in Chicago, IL.

NYCLAW Report, Jan 13, 2003

Resolution adopted by the San Francisco Labor Council (AFL-CIO) on August 26, 2002.

Press Release / Statement -- January 2003

Dated 9.20.2002 -- The Green Party clearly opposes "unilateral" military action by the Bush administration, unless it is approved by the UN security council.

Green Party Press release / Statement

-----------------------

The Antiwar Movement

-----------------------

A response to "Open Letter To Activists Concerning Racism In the Antiwar Movement"

by Doug Mann, posted 25 Feb 2003

Red baiting and demonizing unconditional opponents of war on Iraq

Salon.com, The Nation, Mother Jones, The New York Times - posted 13 Feb 2003

Redbaiters Oppose Our Unconditional “No” to War

by Fred Feldman, 25 Jan 2003, [link to] Labor Standard

MoveOn, an internet fundraiser for the Democratic Party launched the Win Without War Coalition, which advocates a multilateral approach to disarming Saddam, opposes war against Iraq unless it is approved by the UN, implores Bush administration to "give weapon inspections a chance." - Material from the MoveOn Web site - posted 13 Feb 2003

ilcinfo@earthlink.net (The Organizer) Feb 12, 2003

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Central Asia / Middle East

-----------------------

Links/Information, including a debate over whether the war is justified

Oread Daily -- 7 January 2003

A Middle East Primer for UE Members

By Andreu Camps, ILC News -- 8 January 2003

By Scott Wilson, Washington Post Foreign Service

By Andy McInerney, Liberation News

HANDS OFF VENEZUELA!

Urgent Appeal to the international Labor Movement

The US embassy is helping to orchestrate efforts to overthrow the

government of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. The situation there is

comparable to that facing the government of Salvador Allende in

The Chavez government instituted reforms that greatly improved

living standards for the working class, and put the Chavez

government at odds with right-wing politicians and their friends

at the US Embassy. Last April top army officers arrested and

detained Chavez in a coup attempt that was foiled by mass

demonstrations of workers and the poor. More recently the

management of Venezuela's state-owned oil company went on

strike, dramatically cutting oil production and government revenues.

And now employers, with the support of some right-wing trade union

officials are staging what amounts to a lockout, which the mainstream

press is advertising as a "general strike."

Please read, circulate, and obtain endorsements for the international

appeal to the labor movement entitled HANDS OFF VENEZUELA!

[Resolution, updated endorsement list, sample letters]

Initial endorsements from labor bodies in the US:

St. Louis Local Organizing Committee (LOC) of the Labor Party

[Originally posted on the laborpartyusa list, Dec. 19, 2002]

If you're happy and you know it bomb Iraq

A song by John Robbins

North Dakota found to be Harboring Nuclear Weapons


	Mann for School Board \| home More International News / Opinion \| Support US Troops, Bring Them Home Now \| House Members say "Give Weapons Inspection a Chance" \| Manufacturing Consent for Iraq War Plans \| Bush's War Disinformation Campaign \| Letter to Antiwar Activists \| Black National Congress Opposes War Against Iraq \| US Labor Resolution \| No New War Against Iraq \| Green Party Antiwar Statement \| US Green Party Policy Statement of 9.20.2002 \| Venezuela: Washington's Hand at Work \| DEMANDING DEMOCRACY \| Venezuelan Workers Defy Rightist Oil Blockade More International News / Opinion International News & Opinion News - Iraq War propaganda - Labor & the Antiwar Movement - Antiwar Resolutions / Statements - Antiwar Movement - Central Asia / Middle East - Venezuela - Links - Humor Bring the Troops Home Now! Immediately Withdraw US troops from the Persian Gulf! Stop the Bombing! Lift the sanctions! ----- Links ----- For Notices of Antiwar Protests, go to http://www.antiwarcommittee.org Local demonstration / Events (Minneapolis) US Labor Against the War USLAW web site has Links to other Antiwar coalitions Labor Against War Based in New York City (listserv, open archives) ---------------- News & Analysis ---------------- Iraq Occupation Quiz by Doug Mann, April 11, 2003 Russian Defence Ministry Intelligence Information Pops Up on the Internet From Izvestia - Liberation news, appended to Russian Intel update of 6 April 2003 (morning) Russian Military Intelligence Reports about the war in Iraq From Liberation News -- with link to the web site where the reports originated 25 March to 6 April 2003 -- The US command's press releases greatly understate the Iraqi military's defensive capacity, which may help to keep combat spirit among US soldiers high and bolster support for the war effort in the US. However, as the war progresses the clash of war propaganda with reality is certain to soften support and harden opposition to the war among the troops and the folks back home. According to a Russian Intelligence report of 29 March 2003, "...The majority of [US] troops remain confident in their abilities, while maintaining belief in the superiority of their weapons and maintaining reasonable confidence in the way the war is being fought." "It should be noted, however, that the way the war is being fought did create a certain sense of disappointment in most of the troops. Many are feeling that they've been lied to and are openly talking about the stupidity of the high command and its gross miscalculations. "Those star-covered Pentagon idiots promised us a victory march and flowers on the armor. What we got instead were those damned fanatics fighting for every dune and the sand squeaking in your ass!" said one of the wounded recuperating at a hospital in Rammstein." Arundhati Roy on the War Against Iraq Support US Troops, Bring Them Home Now! Edited version of a Green Party press release dated 17 March 2003 By Doug Mann, 20 March 2003 -- the original statement is posted at http://www.greenpartyus.org/press/pr_03_17_03.html Global Labor Rejects an Iraq War by David Bacon, ILC News (reprint), 19 Feb 2003 US ready to use Blix report as launchpad for Gulf war Blix will say there is a prima facie case of breach against Iraq for testing the Samoud-2 missiles beyond the permitted 150km range, but that firing them an extra 33km [without a payload] is not significant, despite Tony Blair insisting yesterday that it was. Suzanne Goldenberg in Baghdad and Ewen MacAskill, The Guardian (UK), Friday February 14, 2003 British Union leaders warn of strikes over Iraq war Leaders of 5 of Britain's largest Unions warn of massive strikes over Iraq war, demand recall of Trade Union Congress - The Guardian Staff and Agencies -- Monday, February 10, 2003 Union chiefs' war warning [United Kingdom] Union leaders are calling for a special meeting of the Trade Union Congress to debate the Iraq crisis. Tory party is broadly supportive of the government's policy on Iraq. Liberal Democratic Party leader Charles Kennedy said "our case is a pro-UN case, not antiwar come what may." - BBC News, 10 February 2003 Blair-Powell UN Report Written by Student By William Rivers Pitt, truthout, February 7, 2003 UK defends 'Copied' Iraq Dossier BBC (UK) News, Friday 07 February 2003, 03:23 GMT Reprinted at Truthout.org Leaked [British Intelligence] Report Rejects Iraqi al-Qaeda Link BBC, February 5th, 2003 US Claim Dismissed by Blix Dan Plesch in New York, The Guardian UK, 05 Feb 2003 Cross-examining Colin By William Rivers Pitt, truthout, 06 Feb 2003 Pilger: Blair is a Coward William Russell, the great correspondent who reported the carnage of imperial wars, may have first used the expression "blood on his hands" to describe impeccable politicians who, at a safe distance, order the mass killing of ordinary people. : John Pilger :29 Jan 2003 -------------------- Iraq War Propaganda -------------------- Bush's War Disinformation Campaign by Doug Mann, 07 Feb 2003 Manufacturing Consent for Iraq War Plans Why the Labor and Antiwar Movements Should Oppose the War Unconditionally The Bush administration's trick to manufacturing consent for the war is to frame the debate around the issue of how to deal with the 'Iraqi threat.' That is the framework for the debate in the UN Security Council, the US Congress, and in the American and European press. The Bush administration's motives for going to war are not seriously questioned. It's sort of like the story about the emperors new clothes. Nobody dares to tell the emperor that he's not wearing any. - by Doug Mann, 10 Feb 2003 Did Saddam actually gas his own people? 1990 report says "no." A report by the U.S. Army War College released in the summer of 1990 contradicts US claim that Iraq gassed its own Kurdish civilians. - by Raju G.C. Thomas, Pulse of the Twin Cities, 12 Feb 2003 [Executive Summary by Doug Mann] The claim that Saddam gassed his own people is apparently based on interviews by Senate Foreign Relations Committee staffers with Kurdish refugees in Turkey, who reported a gas attack, but no evidence has been found to confirm that it happened. Another incident, the March 1988 bombardment with chemical weapons of Halabjah, an Iraq-Kurdish city, was blamed on Iraq. However, the US Army War College found evidence that indicated the attack on Halabjah was actually carried out by Iran. The claim that Saddam ordered the chemical weapons attack on his own people was put forward by the first Bush administration as a justification for the 1991 Gulf War and the subsequent disarmament of Iraq. This unsubstantiated claim that Saddam gassed his own people was used again by President Clinton as a justification for further bombing of Iraq. ----------------------------- Labor & the Anti War Movement ----------------------------- The Struggle Against the War & to Reclaim the Labour Party The struggle against war is a struggle to reclaim the party -- Statement published by The LINK: Open Forum of Labour Party Members and Trade Unionists to Reclaim the Party (UK) -- Press Release - Monday, February 17th Letter to Antiwar Activists From: Daniel Gluckstein, ILC Coordinator, February 5, 2003 World-wide mass demonstrations planned for Feb 15 & 16 Labor Tuesday 2.4.03 New Labor Group Organizing Union Opposition to War Is Sweeney Feeling The Heat Of Rising Labor Antiwar Sentiment? by Charles Walker Opposition to war growing in the US by David May, Socialist Appeal, February 5, 2003 Labor Against War Mainstream Press Reports on USLAW by Charles Walker, Labor Tuesday! 21 January 2003 Peace Sentiment Echoes Ever Louder in Cleveland Labor Movement by Jerry Gordon, Labor Tuesday! 21 January 2003 Organized Labor Joining Anti War Movement By Philip Dine, 01/15/2003, St. Louis Dispatch [Twin Cities Independent Media Center web site] Trade Unionists Launch 'US Labor Against War' by Bill Onasch, OWC Campaign News -- 12 January 2003 ------------------------------- Antiwar Resolutions / Statements ------------------------------- US Labor Resolution Against the War Adopted at Founding Conference of US Labor Against the War, January 11, 2003 in Chicago, IL. Labor Bodies Represented At USLAW Founding Conference NYCLAW Report, Jan 13, 2003 No New War Against Iraq Resolution adopted by the San Francisco Labor Council (AFL-CIO) on August 26, 2002. Black Radical Congress Opposes war Against Iraq Press Release / Statement -- January 2003 Green Party Policy statement re US war against Iraq Dated 9.20.2002 -- The Green Party clearly opposes "unilateral" military action by the Bush administration, unless it is approved by the UN security council. No Blood for Oil - Stop the War Against Iraq Green Party Press release / Statement ----------------------- The Antiwar Movement ----------------------- Race-Baiting the Antiwar Movement A response to "Open Letter To Activists Concerning Racism In the Antiwar Movement" by Doug Mann, posted 25 Feb 2003 Anti-Antiwar Propaganda in the Liberal Press Red baiting and demonizing unconditional opponents of war on Iraq Salon.com, The Nation, Mother Jones, The New York Times - posted 13 Feb 2003 Letter to the Antiwar Movement Redbaiters Oppose Our Unconditional “No” to War by Fred Feldman, 25 Jan 2003, [link to] Labor Standard Antiwar Lite?: MoveOn & the Win Without War Coalition MoveOn, an internet fundraiser for the Democratic Party launched the Win Without War Coalition, which advocates a multilateral approach to disarming Saddam, opposes war against Iraq unless it is approved by the UN, implores Bush administration to "give weapon inspections a chance." - Material from the MoveOn Web site - posted 13 Feb 2003 Four Coalitions Respond to Michael Lerner ilcinfo@earthlink.net (The Organizer) Feb 12, 2003 ----------------------- Central Asia / Middle East ----------------------- Achives: 9.11 and the War Against Afghanistan Links/Information, including a debate over whether the war is justified Demanding Democracy [in Israel] Oread Daily -- 7 January 2003 Blood & Oil A Middle East Primer for UE Members ---------- Venezuela ---------- Venezuela: Washington's Hand at Work By Andreu Camps, ILC News -- 8 January 2003 Venezuelan President Warns of Coup Attempt By Scott Wilson, Washington Post Foreign Service Venezuelan Workers Defy Rightist Oil Blockade By Andy McInerney, Liberation News HANDS OFF VENEZUELA! Urgent Appeal to the international Labor Movement The US embassy is helping to orchestrate efforts to overthrow the government of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. The situation there is comparable to that facing the government of Salvador Allende in Chile during 1973. The Chavez government instituted reforms that greatly improved living standards for the working class, and put the Chavez government at odds with right-wing politicians and their friends at the US Embassy. Last April top army officers arrested and detained Chavez in a coup attempt that was foiled by mass demonstrations of workers and the poor. More recently the management of Venezuela's state-owned oil company went on strike, dramatically cutting oil production and government revenues. And now employers, with the support of some right-wing trade union officials are staging what amounts to a lockout, which the mainstream press is advertising as a "general strike." Please read, circulate, and obtain endorsements for the international appeal to the labor movement entitled HANDS OFF VENEZUELA! [Resolution, updated endorsement list, sample letters] Initial endorsements from labor bodies in the US: ATU Division #788 St. Louis Local Organizing Committee (LOC) of the Labor Party [Originally posted on the laborpartyusa list, Dec. 19, 2002] ------- Humor ------- If you're happy and you know it bomb Iraq A song by John Robbins http://www.commondreams.org/views02/1216-06.htm North Dakota found to be Harboring Nuclear Weapons http://www.theonion.com/onion3904/north_dakota.html (Comic relief)