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By Fredrik S. HeffermehlNorges Fredsråd – Norwegian Peace Alliance September 11, 2003 Oslo, 9. Sept. 2003 Dear ambassador, I have today submitted the following column for distribution by the IPS Columnist Service in Rome. A.o. I express support for the French, German and Russian defense of the UN Charter. And I urge nations not to yield to US wishes on Iraq without clear and unambiguous promises to return to loyal membership of the UN and collective decisionmaking – see end of article. In view of the urgency of the matter I am sending this to you before it reaches the the editorial offices (about 2000, all over the world). Fredrik S. Heffermehl US – over or under the UN? Empire and imperialism, words with a negative ring for most of us, have come into open use as a laudable abmbition for neoconservative, Christian crusaders in the present US government. Fortunately...

An International Appeal to Oppose War Provocation in Korea and to Resolve the North Korean Issue by Peaceful Means By Forum of the June, Green Korea United , Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, Korean Federation of Environmental Movement, Korea Progressive Academy Council, Korean Professors Union, Korean Women’s Associations United, National Council for Peace on the Korean Peninsula, Peoples Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, Solidarity for Peace and Reunification of Korea, Women Making Peace August 26, 2003 For the past five decades, the horror of war has constantly dominated Korea, instilling mistrust, hatred, and confrontation in the people living in North or South Korea alike. This quasi war-state has also frustrated the efforts they have made to develop a peaceful Korea and a peaceful world. The era of confrontation must end now. As we mark the 50th anniversary of the armistice of the Korean War, we invite you to proclaim with us...

Falsehoods ranging from exaggeration to plain untruth were used to make the case for war. More lies are being used in the aftermath. By Glen Rangwala and Raymond Whitaker The Independent (UK) August 22, 2003 1) Iraq was responsible for the 11 September attacks A supposed meeting in Prague between Mohammed Atta, leader of the 11 September hijackers, and an Iraqi intelligence official was the main basis for this claim, but Czech intelligence later conceded that the Iraqi’s contact could not have been Atta. This did not stop the constant stream of assertions that Iraq was involved in 9/11, which was so successful that at one stage opinion polls showed that two-thirds of Americans believed the hand of Saddam Hussein was behind the attacks. Almost as many believed Iraqi hijackers were aboard the crashed airliners; in fact there were none. 2) Iraq and al-Qa’ida were working together Persistent claims by US...

By Walden Bello* July 27, 2003 NoteTFF advocates nonviolent struggle before anything else. We disagree with Bello’s view that “For a people under occupation, armed struggle is not one option. It is the only option.”We hope, however, that by bringing this to our readers, it will contribute to a much needed debate about the ways in which the Iraqis can liberate themselves from the occupation. In addition, many other perspectives in this article certainly merits our attention and reflection. Almost daily, we hear reports of American soldiers being picked off one by one by underground forces in Iraq. Since George W. Bush declared victory on May 1, over 30 US soldiers have died in combat. Soon, the number of Americans killed after victory will outstrip the number who died in the invasion.This speech was delivered at the UP Foundation Day Assembly on June 19, 2003) ” I would like, first...

By Margaret Owen Widows for Peace and Reconstruction July 26, 2003 18 June 2003 Dear Senator Clinton NEEDS AND ROLES OF IRAQI WOMEN IN POST-CONFLICT RECONSTRUCTION, DEMOCRACY AND PEACE-BUILDING I have often heard you speak about the human rights of women and children in developing countries in general, and in countries afflicted by armed conflict specifically. I have listened to you with admiration at the Beijing Conference of 1995, and at the UN Commission on the Status of Women in previous years. Aware of your commitment to justice for women, I am writing to you on behalf of Iraqi Women in the hope that you will be able to exert your considerable influence in the US Senate to ensure their human rights at this crucial time in their history. I am the Founder of the international, UK-based NGO (with consultative status at the UN) EMPOWERING WIDOWS IN DEVELOPMENT (EWD). After...

If Usama bin Laden is still alive – and the indications are that he is – he must be feeling very pleased with himself, because his terrible terrorist activities are beginning to bear fruit, and his main aim of polarising the world and creating a clash of civilisations is on the point of fruition. His call to the Muslims of the world “you are either with the faithful believers or with the infidels”, seems to have been echoed by President Bush’s insistence that “you are either with us or with the terrorists.” Last summer I visited the United States after many years. I was very pleased to find that the Americans have regained their composure after the dreadful events of 11th September and that they are the same positive, optimistic, friendly and hospitable people that they have always been. At the same time, I found some signs of hardening of...

By Majid Tehranian University of Hawaii and Toda Institute for Global Peace and Policy Research May 7, 2003 Wars work like narcotics; they produce illusions.  This is true for those who engage in wars and for those who become victims of war propaganda.  For war leaders, this means that they often have to fool themselves before they can fool others.  Instructed by his mentor Aristotle, Alexander was under the illusion that he is uniting Greek and Persian civilizations.   Napoleon believed that he is spreading the French democratic ideas of liberty, equality, and fraternity.   In his war projects, Hitler wanted to ensure the rule of the Aryan master race.  Saddam Hussein was on a mission to unite the Arab nation against the Persians, Jews, and Americans.   Ayatollah Khomeini wanted to unite the Islamic world against all domestic and foreign infidels.   Sharon is hoping to force the Palestinians into submission.  The suicide...

By Roula ZoubianeMiddle East CommitteeWILPF – Lebanon April 22, 2003 “The only thing we need to kill is the thought of killing”-BUDDHA Forty years ago, in 1962, the year of the Cuban missile crisis, the world was brought closer than it has ever been before or since to a nuclear war. Forty years later, in 2002, those who have witnessed those fearsome days, when the world held its breath and the fate of all the human kind hung in the balance, cannot but recall the year 1962. When America’s charismatic young President, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, with a grasp of international realities, stood eyeball – to – eyeball, with the Soviet Union’s older but unpredictable leader, Nikita Khrushchev, who finally took the wise decision to withdraw the missiles, with their nuclear warheads, which he had rashly installed in Cuban bases less than 150 kilometres from the southern coast of the United...

Heyerdahl Burns “Tigris” Reed Ship to Protest War  By Betty Blairai@artnet.net Thor Heyerdah with his international crew of 11 members had just completed a 5 month journey of 4,200 miles that began in the Tigris Valley. Here he sets his reed boat “Tigris” at Djibouti, Africa ablaze in protest of the numerous wars going on in the region which were fueled by Western and Soviet sales of military arms. Photo: April 3, 1978 © The Kon-Tiki Museum, Oslo, Norway. Used with Permission. April 2, 2003 Twenty-five years ago, on April 3, 1978, Thor Heyerdahl (1914-2002) was just completing a 4,200-mile voyage on a 60-foot reed ship known as the Tigris. His journey had started at the place many consider to be the birth of civilization – the verdant valley between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers in Iraq. Setting sail from the banks of the Tigris, Thor and his crew navigated...

Av Håkan Palm 24 mars 2003 Helsingborgs Dagblad 2 mars 2003 Den irakiska regimen står inte och faller med Saddam Hussein. Maktens trådar väver via klanerna djupt ner i samhället på ett komplicerat sätt. Många irakier har mycket att förlora på ett regimskifte. USA kan heller inte skaka fram en trovärdig ersättare över en natt, hävdar Khaled Bayomi, historiker vid Lunds universitet. Takhalof är ett arabiskt ord s om betyder “att hamna på efterkälken”. Det är ett viktigt begrepp i arabismens nationalistiska världsbild som används för politisk mobilisering, berättar Khaled Bayomi, expert på arabstaternas statliga propaganda. Takhalof är den sorgliga fortsättningen på en svunnen guldålder, det tillstånd av dekadens som infann sig sedan det arabiska världsväldet vittrat sönder och överflyglats av Europa och övriga västvärlden. Men tanken på come back i stor stil är ständigt levande. Drömmen om en pånyttfödelse är ett starkt retorisk instrument som arabiska och muslimska ledare...

by Peace Initiative of Turkey March 5, 2002 The Grand National Assembly of Turkey said “NO TO WAR” on Saturday, March 1st, 2003. This is tantamount to saying “YES” to the will of the people. With their votes, our deputies also said “NO” to – Dispatching our children to die, – Annihilating our neighbours, the people of Iraq – Submitting to the threats of the USA – Transforming Turkey from a relatively dependent country into a fully dependent one – Degrading our country to the position of becoming the subject matter of cartoons. We thank them We thank the members of the Parliament who displayed the dignity of taking this decision and the President of State and Speaker of Parliament who unrelentingly underlined the principle of “international legitimacy”, and we demand that they continue to uphold this determination in the days to come. Those who opt for war claim that...

19 februari 2003 Av ett TT-meddelande i Skånskan den 24/1 2003 framgick, att USA:s sändebud för krigsbrottsfrågor på Balkan, Pierre-Richard Prosper, ska fördubbla sina ansträngningar för att gripa den bosnienserbiske ledaren Radovan Karadzic och den militäre befälhavaren Ratko Mladic, båda åtalade vid Haag-tribunalen. Prosper har sagt, att de båda efterlysta måste gripas senast den 31 mars, annars kommer Republika Srpska, att gå miste om ekonomiskt stöd. Serberna på Balkan lever genom USA:s demonisering och sanktioner, i extremt fattiga områden i Bosnien eller i regelrätta fångläger i Kosovo. USA fick Europas stöd för att bomba Serbien. Återuppbyggnadsstödet till de serbiska områdena har varit minimalt och har ständigt använts till utpressning, främst av aggressorn USA, men även den svenska regeringen har villkorat den utlovade hjälpen till Republika Srpska och gör det fortfarande. I Kosovo bor nu bara en spillra kvar av den ursprungliga serbiska befolkningen. De kosovoalbaner som flydde under bombningarna har alla kunnat...