As the attack on Fallujah continues, we have asked our politicians to stand up and be counted. Two have honourably done this, Brian Coleman and Darran Johnson. We have not yet heard a word from others including our MPs so we have asked them some direct questions.
We must frankly state that the current assault by Coalition forces on the Iraqi city of Fallujah fills us with horror and appears to carry the war to new depths of barbarity. The destruction of a city cannot in any circumstances be carried out in the name of democracy. Comparisons are being made with the Syrian attack on Hama in 1981, the destruction of Grozny by the Russians in 1999 and Israeli attacks on Jenin in 2002 and Gaza earlier this year. Attempts by Donald Rumsfeld to describe Coalition weaponry as 'precision' in this context are a deception, with the use of heavy artillery and 2000lb bombs. What we are witnessing has many of the characteristics of a war crime in the making. In this light and taking into account that the attack -
- Is certain vastly to increase the toll of civilian casualties in Iraq (already estimated by a recent Lancet publication at 100,000 or more)
- Will not end but at most displace the insurgency
- Further entrenches what can only be described as a narrow and brutal response to the political insecurity created by the invasion
We have asked our MPs whether they personally support the action, whether they would support such attacks against other Iraqi towns & cities and how they justify the participation of British forces in all of this.
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