Hi,
The Stop The War movement was always for the removal of Saddam Hussein - I do not know anyone globally who was pro-Saddam Hussein. The Stop The War movement in UK was always about finding alternative ways of removing Saddam Hussein and empowering the Iraqi people.
This wasn't what Bush and Blair wanted as it seems they made a deal ages ago to go to war. This is being said by several prominent members of Mr.Blair's government, who also claim he lied and falsified information. These claims seem to be very credible.
Like I said before, and you may or may not have heard this, but there was a House Of Commons vote on whether to go to war or not. This came after a heavy military build-up and what appear to be a series of lies.
The days and evenings before the vote many top people in the Blair government were telephoning MP's pretty much saying that they were voting on their jobs as if the vote had gone against Mr.Blair it would have brought the government down. In the end Mr.Blair suffered the biggest rebellion of his career and the vote only got through with the support of the right-wing opposition - the Conservative Party. I suspect if the majority of MP's had been voting on what their hearts told them and what the people who voted them in wanted instead of voting on their jobs there would have been no British military presence in Iraq.
During the war itself many atrocities and war crimes were committed by the West (as I said before - the use of depleted uranium, cluster bombs, etc) and they have failed to find any WMD's or capture Saddam Hussein.
There are many Iraqis who consider themselves as worse off as they were under Saddam Hussein, some even worse.
I know people who went out as human shields who travelled around Iraq and witnessed atrocities carried over from the '91 war such as the birth defects caused by the use of depleted uranium - that was before the '03 war started.
Every day now there are huge protests all over Iraq urging Western troops to leave the country. This does not yet seem like freedom or liberation to me or many people around the world.
The most clarified, unified voice on earth right now is the voice of peace and is getting louder every day. The recent series of global events - far from increasing the popularity of Mr.Bush, Mr.Blair and Mr.Howard - has just consolidated and strengthened the global peace movement. Certainly Mr. Blair has managed to politicise a whole generation over here through the Stop The War movement. I know 12 year olds in this country who know more about the real political situation in Iraq than I do.
He has also managed to bring together people on the same wave-length and integrate many Muslims who now stand side-by-side in peace with people they were not likely to know or have contact with in the past.
I urge you to get 'Stupid White Men'. The facts I have read about American domestic and foreign policy in that book are fairly worrying (and that is just the facts - not Michael Moore's opinion). The title is spot on - too much is controlled by stupid white men, but this is changing rapidly. That is why I have massive hope for the future.
I feel some sympathy for the American people having to live under the propaganda of their media. The media is bad enough over here but appears to be much worse over there. Even the head of the British Broadcasting Corporation (the main TV and radio station in Britain) spoke out against the American medias' portrayal of the war. That is quite something!
Also, do you know about the 9/11 Families For Peaceful Tomorrows? Everyone who is in this group lost family in 9/11 but were against military action in Iraq and didn't want families in Iraq to suffer the way they have. Some even went to Iraq before the war to see families and see what was happening for themselves.
I am all for peace rallies to end dictatorships aswell - this is a good idea. Perhaps it should be made an international event.
It is true that people in higher positions do make decisions, but they also have to be put in those positions and, equally, can be removed from those positions if they are deemed unsuitable. Just like anyone else, if they are not doing their job properly they can be, and are, removed.
There are many things we can do for peace without becoming a politician (but then again everything is politics really isn't it? But that's another discussion!) and without going on a peace rally (some of which are sometimes not that peaceful!)
I may be tempted into politics in the future. Unfortunately I haven't got the time at the moment! And I might do some more research first!
We live in strange times, extreme yin/yang ('the conflict between the generations' as the saying goes on one tune) - on the one hand there is this old energy playing itself out, while there is this whole new vibrant energy simmering and waiting to burst through, not just in Britain but all over the world.
Also, remember - the state of 808 is one of peace and harmony and of
spreading love all over the world
'Dr.' Walsh
