Begin forwarded message:

From: Cardiff Stop the War <troopsoutcardiff>

Subject: Protest: No New War on Iraq!

Date: 26 September 2014 22:05:58 GMT+01:00

Only 43 MPs voted against the third Iraq War today. The government has won. For: 524 – Against: 43. Government majority: 481
All 4 Cardiff MPs voted for airstrikes, and only 5 Welsh MPs in total voted against: Sian James, Martin Caton, Jonathan Edwards (Labour) and Hywel Williams & Jonathan Edwards (Plaid). With no clear plan, it is likely that air strikes will be thin edge of a bloody wedge leading to “mission creep”, already some leaders are talking of a war that will last years. It is important to take to the streets –

NO NEW WAR ON IRAQ!
Sunday 28 September, 3 pm
Aneurin Bevan Statue, Queen Street
Bring placards, banners, signs etc

British forces will be back in action in Iraq just three years after the last troops were withdrawn from the catastrophic occupation of 2003-11. The development comes in the same week Tony Blair called for renewed bombing in the region and the possibility of boots on the ground. Some politicians say this new intervention could go on for years.

All the experience of the terrible wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya has shown that western military action only serves to kill innocents, destroy infrastructure and inflames violence.

Isis is a reactionary force, but it is in part a product of the disastrous occupation of Iraq by Western powers. Isis is funded by some of our main allies in the region, including Saudi Arabia. Escalating Western military intervention will do nothing to stop them but will create more suffering and further destabilise the region.

NATIONAL DEMO

National demonstation a week tomorrow, 4 October, London (see stopwar.org.uk for details in next 24 hours). Get in touch if you would like to go.

ARTICLES

Some recent articles exploring the politics, our website – www.stopwar.org.uk collects many anti-war articles from variety of perspectives and opinions also:

Useful Primer – “It is important for the masses of ordinary people to build an anti-war movement to halt the rush to greater and greater war. Towards that end, I would like to share some Q&A for those who are not well-versed in the complexities of the situation in the region.”
http://ansibleone.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/a-primer-on-newest-middle-east-war-by.html?m=1

‘Bombing will not destroy Isis, but win it sympathy – or even cause it to mutate into something worse. Only Iraqis and Syrians can defeat Isis. But the US remains determined to keep control of the Middle East, while being unable to find a stable way of doing it. So its response to every failure of intervention is more intervention. The US and its allies are at the heart of the problem in the Middle East, not the solution.’
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/18/another-western-war-spread-terror-isis-us-crisis

Paul Flynn MP writing on why he intended to vote No

“When the war drums are beating, party leaders change their personalities. Prime Ministers talk in a different way. They dust down the Churchillian rhetoric and boom out the war jargon. They walk in a different way and strut like petty Napoleons. This is their great chance to write their page in history. Sadly, it’s usually a bloody page with our soldiers making the sacrifices. As in all wars, politicians lie and soldiers die. Only now are we learning the full truth on the political horse trading and vanities that led to the deaths of 16 million people in WWI.”
http://paulflynnmp.typepad.com/my_weblog/2014/09/why-i-will-vote-no-on-friday.html

Plaid Cymru satement on why they would be voting No

“We believe that air strikes will almost certainly result in civilian deaths – as in the case of every other recent Western military intervention in the region and in Afghanistan – and radicalise the young and impressionable…..It is disturbing that the Prime Minister has said that we must not allow “past mistakes” to become an excuse for inaction. The shadow of the Iraq war still looms large – surely we should be learning from history, not forgetting it”
http://www.partyofwales.org/news/2014/09/26/plaid-cymru-urges-region-led-response-to-iraq-crisis/

Adam Johannes
Secretary
Cardiff Stop the War Coalition
www.stopwar.org.uk
07940108146