Why we demonstrated
Posted by Matt Hardy,Monday, February 17, 2003
I am writing this in response to the postings by Guy Beech.
George Bush didn't have a foreign policy before 11 September 2001. I think it is fair to say that he knew very little about politics overseas. Since that dreadful day, the US has been on a war footing. First it was Afghanistan and the Taliban. While many of us had reservations, we could understand the US wanting to invade Afghanistan. It did make some sense. The main suspect and his supporters were based there.
However, what did Iraq have to do with 11 September? Nothing. The country has been led by a brutal dictators for 25 years. The people who kept him in power in the 80s were the US and British. They sold him all the arms he wanted while those on the left tried to campaign against this evil arms trade.
So why do we have to have a war against Iraq now? OK, he is a tyrant whose people would be much better off without him. But this can be said of dozens of other countries.
He may still have the horrific weapons we sold him. But what about Israel, and its nuclear weapons? And Korea?
He hasn't abided by UN resolutions. There are dozens more resolutions against Israel, and no-one is doing anything about this.
Rupert Murdoch is reported in today's Guardian as saying that there will be a great benefit to everyone if the US invades Iraq. The oil price will come right down to twenty dollars a barrell. And here we have the real reason for the war, the hypocracy and the double standards.
I was proud to be on the march. I looked around and saw beautiful people of all ages, classes, races and backgrounds united together. For once, I felt proud of my country. When Jesse Jackson asked us to hold hands with the person next to us, we did and it was magic.
People didn't just go on the demo on a whim, or because it was fun. It was freezing cold, we walked and shuffled for hours and we spent good money getting there. And for every person that went there are many others who were with them in spirit.