Bombing Iraqi civilians does not stop ISIS crimes

This video from Britain is called Lindsey German-Stop the War Coalition–The People’s Assembly – No More Austerity 21.06.14.

From daily The Morning Star in Britain:

Activists rally against Iraq bombing campaign

Monday 6th October 2014

OPPONENTS of Britain’s bombing missions in Iraq rallied in London this weekend, arguing that waging war would not bring peace to the Middle East.

The protest took place against a background of revulsion following the murder by Islamic State (Isis) extremists of aid volunteer Alan Henning.

Mr Henning, a taxi driver from Eccles in Salford, Greater Manchester, was beheaded and a video of the execution posted online by Isis.

His brother-in-law Colin Livesey has accused the government of doing too little to save him.

“They could have done more when they knew about it months and months ago,” he said.

“Just the same with David Haines as well — I don’t think they did enough for him either.”

Mr Haines was the first Briton to be executed by Isis after being kidnapped in Syria.

Saturday’s anti-war protest in London was organised by the Stop the War Coalition.

Demonstrators held placards saying “stop bombing Iraq” and “don’t attack Syria.”

Francis O’Neill, 36, from Oxford, said: “I just think it’s insane.”

He said he had “every sympathy” with Mr Henning’s family, but said dropping bombs is not the answer.

Mr O’Neill said Britain inflicts “equal barbarity” on the people of Iraq, but people in Britain feel “distanced” from it.

Josh Blakely, 35, from Berkshire, said: “The war is not in my name. It’s in MPs’ names. If we’re going to go to war then the whole country should get to vote.”

A special multi-faith church service for Mr Henning will be held in Eccles in the near future.

Imam Asim Hussain, of Manchester Central Mosque, said those responsible for Mr Henning’s death are “the most misguided individuals” who are “causing a huge amount of problems for the name of Islam.”

“They are not Islamic in any way, nor are they a state,” he said. “Neither do we as Muslims consider them to be Muslims.”

Mr Henning’s wife Barbara said: “Alan was a decent, caring human being. His interest was in the welfare of others. He will be remembered for this and we as a family are extremely proud of him and what he achieved and the people he helped.”

‘DON’T bomb Iraq! Don’t attack Syria! – How can we fund a war when we can’t feed the poor!’ Shouted marchers in the pouring rain on the 3,000-strong march ‘Stop the War’ march in London on Saturday: here.

“Ammunition transferred into Syria and Iraq to help stabilize governments has instead passed from the governments to the jihadists, helping to fuel the Islamic State’s rise and persistent combat power. Rifle cartridges from the United States, the sample shows, have played a significant role. ‘The lesson learned here is that the defense and security forces that have been supplied ammunition by external nations really don’t have the capacity to maintain custody of that ammunition,’ said James Bevan, director of Conflict Armament Research, the organization that is gathering and analyzing weapons used by the Islamic State.” [Story, Image via NYT]

In Fallujah, the US used poison gas, and phosphorus weapons and also depleted-uranium-tipped ammunition to kill large numbers of men, women and children. As in Vietnam, among the newly born children there are still the grossly deformed. Now the US imperialists are back, and their bombings of these cities will undoubtedly aid the ISIS movement which has not got the support of the Sunni masses in western and northern Iraq. In fact, there was no Al-Qaeda or anything like ISIS in Iraq under Saddam Hussein, and when they tried to impose themselves after the trial and execution of Saddam Hussein, they were driven out of the region by the ‘Awakening Movement’ of the Sunni tribes. In fact, the US had to come to the Sunni tribes, cap in hand, and pay them to do the job. So the appearance of US helicopter gunships and fighter planes attacking Fallujah and Ramadi can only strengthen the Islamists: here.

FORMER senior military commanders are runnng a campaign to strengthen the British army for a war in Syria: here.

In June, tens of thousands of Iraqi Security Forces in Nineveh province north of Baghdad collapsed in the face of attacks from the militants of the Islamic State (IS or ISIS), abandoning four major cities to that extremist movement. The collapse drew much notice in our media, but not much in the way of sustained analysis of the American role in it. To put it bluntly, when confronting IS and its band of lightly armed irregulars, a reputedly professional military, American-trained and -armed, discarded its weapons and equipment, cast its uniforms aside, and melted back into the populace. What this behavior couldn’t have made clearer was that U.S. efforts to create a new Iraqi army, much-touted and funded to the tune of $25 billion over the 10 years of the American occupation ($60 billion if you include other reconstruction costs), had failed miserably: here.