Call to protest Obama
"Think Obama is against war? Think again," said Stand Fast spokesperson and East Timor veteran, Hamish Chitts.
“Obama is not a force for progress, he is not a man of peace - from his first day in office over 12 months ago he has firmly placed himself in the camp of the warmongers and war-profiteers.”
Stand Fast, the Australian-based veterans group which is comprised of veterans and former military personnel who oppose the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, is calling on all people of conscience to protest the upcoming visit of Barack Obama in the 2nd half of March.
IRAQ - Obama's promise of troop withdrawal from Iraq by August 2010 has been changed to withdrawal once Iraq has established a stable, pro-US regime. If this is achieved Obama has still pledged to keep 50,000 US troops in Iraq for the foreseeable future. While there is little reporting in Western media the Iraqi insurgence continues to fight against the occupation of their land.
AFGHANISTAN - Under Obama the war of occupation in Afghanistan has been dramatically escalated. He has more than doubled US troop numbers surging from 32,000 at the start of 2009 to more than 68,000. He has pressured other occupying nations to increase their troop numbers and has doubled the number mercenaries used in Afghanistan. Obama's surge has cost many lives, including many civilians, and has only increased the number of people in Afghanistan willing to fight their occupation.
PAKISTAN - Obama has overseen the expansion of the Afghanistan war into Pakistan. His first military act as US president was to order two remote-controlled air strikes that killed 22 people in Waziristan, northern Pakistan. Obama is sending large numbers of mercenaries from Xe Services (formerly Blackwater) and DynCorp to protect huge US 'diplomatic' complexes in North-Western Pakistan and the capital Islamabad.
“The majority of people in this country oppose the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. When George W. Bush visited Australia in 2007 tens of thousands of people took to the streets to protest against these wars and Bush's leading role in them. Obama has not only inherited the command of these wars but he has expanded them. In his first year in office, he broke several war-making records of President George W. Bush – with the largest military budget in U.S. history, the largest one-year war supplementals and the most drone attacks on the most countries. The White House has indicated that the next military budget will be US$708 billion, breaking Obama’s previous record, “ Chitts said.
“The politicians are happiest when we stay at home complaining to our friends or on the internet. We need to take to the streets in March, in Canberra and wherever he goes - to remind Obama and the warmongers in this country the anti-war majority demands troops out of Iraq and troops out of Afghanistan now.”
For further information visit www.stand-fast.webs.com
