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Derry Anti War Coalition Calls Protest Against Falluja Massacre

Saturday 13th November 2004

FALLUJA, GROSNY, GUERNICA, HIROSHIMA, TREBLINKA...

DAWC has called a rally in the Guildhall Square at 3pm this coming Sat. 13th November to protest against the horror of "the massacre happening in Falluja".

"As expected, the return of George Bush to the White House was the signal for an all-out assault on the Iraqi city of Fallujah", according to DAWC spokesperson Oisin Kehoe..

"The last assault in April on the city resulted in 600 - 900 deaths. This time the massacre is already a lot worse. No one knows how many people had already been killed in the intense bombardment of the city which began last weekend, raining bombs and missiles down on residential areas", he said.

Falluja is still home to thousands of civilians. Estimates of the numbers who have fled the city but, Oisin Kehoe argues, "there could be 100,000 or more still in their homes. Typically, as in any war, those who don't get out of the way are a mixture of the most vulnerable - the elderly, the poor, the sick; the unlucky, who left it too late to get away; and the insanely brave, such as medical staff. As one Iraqi internet ‘blogger’ wrote these are the people whose 'screams will not be heard'", says the DAWC spokesperson.

"Bush and Blair justified the invasion of Iraq on the basis of a fiction about weapons of mass destruction. The murderous assault on Fallujah is being justified by the fiction that someone called Al-Zaqarwi is single-handedly orchestrating the resistance to the US occupation from the town of Fallujah.

"This is another monstrous lie. Of over 2,500 attacks on the occupying forces over the last couple of months only about a dozen have been claimed by the group that is allegedly led by Al-Zaqarwi. The vast majority of attacks on the US forces result from a massive popular insurgency against an illegal and brutal occupation.

"The leaders of Fallujah have stated publicly that Al-Zaqarwi is not in the city and that he enjoys no support there. Bush and Allawi know this but don't care. Al-Zaqarwi is a pretext for the real agenda to murder in cold-blood huge numbers of Fallujans because they are resisting the occupation. The US hopes this will strike terror into the Iraqi resistance and pave the way for the sham elections they intend to hold in January.

"Iraq Occupation Watch points at 'the stated reason for the invasion of Falluja is to 'liberate' the city from insurgents so that its residents can participate in the upcoming elections. However, several groups have argued that an attack on Falluja would jeopardize the elections, fuel anger and resentment against the U.S., and actually swell the ranks of terrorist groups rather than eradicating terrorism.

"In an October 31 letter, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan also warned that another invasion of Falluja would only create more enemies and provoke an election boycott by Sunni Muslims. Already this week, the largest Sunni group resigned from the Interim Iraqi Government in protest at the vicious assault on Falluja.

"It is vital that those opposed to Bush's murderous war take to the streets to protest against this massacare and show our solidarity with the people of Fallujah. The DAWC has called an emergency protest in the Guildhall Square at 3pm this coming Sat. 13th Nov. The protest will be noisy and people are asked to bring drums, whistles, pots and pans! "We appeal to all opponents of this terrible war and occupation to join the protest if they can", said Mr. Kehoe.  





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