Subject: Bombing of Baghdad - Calling All Comrades


Please distribute the attatched message as widely as possible, including to trade unions, and internationally

Waratah (Rosemarie Gillespie)

HUMAN SHIELDS IRAQ
E-MAIL:  andalus206@warkaa.net

PHONE: +964-1-816-4400 ext 4666
(it can take a long time to get through to us on the phone, be patient)

CALLING ALL COMRADES

Last night the United States bombarded Iraq with 1000 missiles. Three hundred and twenty of them hit Baghdad. One of them landed near the April 7 Water Treatment Plant where I am living. The missile struck at about 10pm. There was a deafening explosion, shaking the building where we sleep. One of the other human shields, Donna Mulhearn, also from Australia, was nearly blown off her feet from the impact of the blast.

The missile explosion set off a major fire, which sent a great cloud of smoke spreading across the sky above us, in much the same way billowing clouds of smoke spread across the sky during the recent Canberra bushfires. The fire spread. It took hours before the fire was brought under control. We could still smell the acrid smell of something burning as the night turned into dawn.

The missile had landed little more than a kilometer away from where we were standing. Just a small difference in the trajectory would have had the missile heading straight for us. There are thirteen Human Shields living at the site, three Australians, one American, two from Britain, three from Japan, one Norwegian, one Belgian, one Italian, and one Dane. If the US tries again, misses again and hits us instead, we will be just become an unrecognizable mass of bits of concrete, human flesh and broken furniture. Not only would the missile kill all of us, it would also destroy the water treatment plant, which processes water for three million people. To hit the site would also destroy the special unit run by the International Committee of the Red Cross which processes water for use in the hospitals of Baghdad.

The United States, by firing the missile that landed so close to us last night, close to a Red Cross installation, has committed an act of criminal recklessness. These missiles are themselves clearly weapons of mass destruction, part of a huge arsenal of weapons of mass destruction ready to be hurled at Iraq, its people, and us.

Howard is not listening to us. Blair is not listening to the people of Britain. Bush is not listening to the American people. They are living in a fantasy world of make believe that the war will be a quick act of penetration and Iraq will surrender. That is nonsense. How many people will die before they realize that, no matter how many weapons of mass destruction they throw at Iraq, the people will continue to resist the invasion?

Howard, Bush and Blair are acting like dictators. They are not listening to the people, they are taking their marching orders from the big oil companies. The only thing that will stop this war will be civil disobedience. FRIENDS AND COMRADES, WE ARE DOING OUR BIT HERE, PLEASE DO YOUR BIT AND STOP THIS WAR BEFORE ITS TOO BLOODY LATE!

Rosemarie Gillespie (Waratah) 22 March 2003