NO TO ANOTHER GULF WAR!

Should people be bombed because their government is accused of developing weapons of mass destruction?

Should people be bombed because they live under an undemocratic regime which violates human rights and abuses minority populations?

Should people be bombed because their government's activities threaten the supply of resources to the Western nations?

If so, this is the logic of universal terror. For all the talk of precision targeting and surgical strikes, the truth is clear: what military jargon calls "collateral damage" is what plain speaking would call "bombing innocent people".

The kind of moral justification invoked for what is now being contemplated in the Gulf could be used to justify an endless series of military actions in almost every corner of the world.

Consequently, this type of thinking offers a license for arbitrary military aggression - by states such as those members of the Security Council which themselves have a record of military secrecy, of failing to comply with international agreements, and of threatening resource supplies when it suits them.

The U.S., Britain, and the U.N. inspection teams have put themselves in a position in which the conflict is more about power politics than practical and honest investigations of Iraqi weapons production.

The inspection teams should be more broadly based and not dominated by representatives of states hostile to Iraq.

War Resisters' International and its 70 affiliated organisations around the world reject all militarism and call for an alternative logic.

Sustainable peace in the Middle East will only be achieved through diplomacy, nonviolent direct action, and a cessation of U.S.-led aggression.

The real consequences

The Gulf War of 1991 destroyed large parts of Iraqi infrastructure and, combined with the U.N. sanctions of the last seven years, has caused enormous suffering on the part of the Iraqi people. It is the ordinary people who have been hurt - those who would most probably like to see the removal of the dictatorship. Saddam Hussein and his leadership are among the few who have not lost access to food, clean water, electricity, and proper medical care. More than half a million Iraqi children have died so far. There is no way more violence can be justified in the struggle to disarm the dictatorship.

Iraq is certainly not the only state in the Middle East with a troubling military record. Looking at the region as a whole, many states violate human rights wholesale and yet the Western states now threatening aggression still offer them inducements to accumulate more weapons.

The Turkish army continues to commit atrocities against the Kurdish population with only minor censure. Israel has acquired nuclear weapons with scarcely a reproach, and is failing to honour the Oslo accords with respect to the Palestinian entity. The case for singling out Iraq is not based on ethical or even security criteria, but on power-political calculations.

But U.S. and British hypocrisy goes even further. These two have been among the countries that delivered weapons, ammunition, and viral and chemical components to Iraq for years. The U.S. and Britain both have their own arsenals of mass-destruction weapons and have threatened their use in the current crisis. The U.S. is the only country to have used nuclear weapons in war, and has a proven track record of chemical warfare. NO country has the right to produce, store, threaten use of, or use such weapons.

The possibility for peace

The dictatorship in Iraq is a problem first of all for the people of Iraq. It may also be a potential threat to its neighbouring countries - as we saw with the invasion of Kuwait. But use of armed forces and military threats have so far only served to strengthen the position of Saddam Hussein. We should instead be strengthening the people of Iraq. Humanitarian aid, support of pro-democracy groups opposing dictatorships and armaments, and other acts of friendship and solidarity with the Iraqi people, could help facilitate the emergence of stability in the region. Bombing never will.

In the days to come, War Resisters' International affiliates throughout the world the world will be taking action to oppose military strikes against Iraq and to expose the duplicity and false logic of the thinking behind the hollow call to arms. The London office will be maintaining an Action Update List with news of mobilisation efforts around the globe. And we will be working in co-operation with Peace News and other media to document the growing resistance to another Gulf War.