Saturday October 25, 2014
2:30 pm
U.S. Consulate – 360 University Avenue (just north of Osgoode subway station)
Why we say NO to Canada’s war in Iraq
We have all seen the pictures and read the reports abut the brutal sectarian group ISIS in Iraq and Syria and many people want to “do something” to stop the terror. However, the US led bombing campaign, that Canada has just joined, is not going to help.
Here’s why we say no to the war in Iraq and Syria.
It will make things worse
– Every bombing campaign kills civilians and every civilian killed means more recruits for ISIS.
– The actions of the US and its allies are legitimizing ISIS as an anti-imperial force to people in the region.
– Already, the airstrikes have led opponents such as the Jabhat al-Nusra to join in common cause with ISIS. Bombing is making these groups stronger.
ISIS is a product of US-led war in the region
-The US invasion of Iraq in 2003 killed 1 million people, destroyed infrastructure and the economy and fueled sectarian divisions due to a US mandated constitution that gives power and resources to groups based on religious or ethnic identity.
-The US stoked sectarian divisions to halt a unified opposition to their rule.
-Western powers have flooded Syria with weapons which have now and will continue to fall into the hands of ISIS
It won’t work
-ISIS can simply melt into the heavily populated cities and hide.
-Many of the forces that have created ISIS were present in Iraq after the invasion in 2003 including former Baath party members and sectarian groups. Even with hundreds of thousands of troops on the ground, the US was unable to stop these groups.
-ISIS receives support from people in Saudi Arabia, a key western ally that beheads roughly 80 people a year. The response from the west to Saudi support for ISIS is to arm them. Canada sold them $10 billion in weaponry last year. Unless that source of money and weapons ends, ISIS will continue.
This is a continuation of George Bush’s war, a war based on lies
-The US went to war in 2003 based on fake intelligence about weapons of mass destruction. It was never about bringing peace or security, but about controlling oil resources.
This war is fueling Stephen Harper’s agenda to militarize Canada
-Under the Conservatives, military spending has reached its highest levels since World War II. There are now plans to expand Canadian military bases around the world. And the military is fast becoming a central thread in the fabric of society.
– Harper is using this moment to deport US Iraq war resisters from Canada so he can silence their calls for peace.
– 69 per cent of Canadians opposed the last war on Iraq in 2003. The only party to support the war then and now are the Conservatives.
Canadians were right to oppose war in Iraq in 2003. We need to stand up again and say no to perpetual war! Get Canada out of Iraq
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Filed under: Canada, Syria
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