IN THIS NEWSLETTER:
1) WHY WE'RE MARCHING ON 20 SEPTEMBER
2) WHAT 'PROGRESS' LOOKS LIKE IN AFGHANISTAN
3) WHAT 'WINNING' LOOKS LIKE IN IRAQ
4) PAKISTAN INVADED: NOTHING SAID
5) INSATIABLE APPETITE FOR WAR
6) OBAMA AND McCAIN: SPOT THE DIFFERENCE
7) YOU COULDN'T MAKE IT UP: NO. 2761

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1) WHY WE'RE MARCHING ON 20 SEPTEMBER

What will British foreign secretary David Miliband say in
his speech to Labour's annual conference in Manchester? It's
all too predictable. 'We' are 'winning' in Iraq, making
'progress' in Afghanistan, defending 'democracy' in Georgia,
confronting Iran to protect world 'security' and waging
endless war against 'global terrorism'. 'We' stand "shoulder
to shoulder" with George Bush and whoever his successor may
be in following slavishly wherever US foreign policy takes
'us'.

There will be no place in Miliband's speech for the views of
the people of Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran and anywhere else
that the Bush wars have brought, or threaten to bring, mass
slaughter and destruction. Only last weekend a mass
demonstration of Iraqis took to the streets of Baghdad to
call for all foreign troops to get out of Iraq, confirming
country wide polls which show this to be the view of an
overwhelming majority.

And David Miliband will not have a word to say about the
large majorities in both Britain and the United States who
have consistently opposed the warmongering carried out in
their name and insisted that the US and British troops all
be withdrawn from Iraq and Afghanistan.

David Miliband, Gordon Brown and the rest of the Labour
government, who have so seamlessly adopted the war policies
of Tony Blair, hope that the ever dutiful mainstream media
will help delude people in this country into believing that
'we' are 'winning' and making 'progress' in our support for
illegal invasions.

This is why Stop the War, the Campaign for Nuclear
Disarmament and the British Muslim Initiative are organising
a demonstration at the Labour Party conference in Manchester
on Saturday 20 September, to ensure that the voice of the
anti-war majority that opposes the government's warmongering
is prominently represented.

Please publicise the details of the demonstration as widely
as you can and join us in Manchester on 20 September.
Leaflets are available for downloading or from the Stop the
War national office. Transport details for protestors
travelling to Manchester from outside London are available
on the Stop the war website (http://www.stopwar.org.uk) or
by calling 020 7278 6694.

MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD - STOP THE SPREAD OF WAR
DEMONSTRATE AT THE LABOUR PARTY CONFERENCE
SATURDAY 20 SEPTEMBER: ASSEMBLE 12.30PM
ALL SAINTS, MANCHESTER M15

TRANSPORT DETAILS: See http://tinyurl.com/696px8 or call 020
7278 6694
LEAFLETS: Call 020 7278 6694 or download at
http://www.stopwar.org.uk

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2) WHAT 'PROGRESS' LOOKS LIKE IN AFGHANISTAN

On 22 August, the US military reported that an airstrike in
Herat province in Afghanistan killed 30 militants and no
civilians. Local villagers said more than 90 bodies, mainly
women and children, were pulled from the rubble. When this
figure was confirmed by a United Nations investigator and
the Afghanistan government, the US military changed its
story to seven civilians killed. Now eyewitness evidence has
been backed up by an eight minute video shot by a doctor
with his cellphone. (See http://tinyurl.com/6xhgpy. WARNING:
The video has harrowing images.)

This is the consistent pattern of lying used by the US to
cover up the sharp increase in civilian deaths in
Afghanistan, which have tripled in the past year. A Human
Rights Watch report concludes, "There has been a massive and
unprecedented surge in the use of air power in Afghanistan
in 2008… in the months of June and July alone the US dropped
approximately as much as it did in all of 2006."

To which George Bush had his response this week, when he
said, ominously, "For all the good work we have done in that
country, it is clear we must do even more."

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3) WHAT 'WINNING' LOOKS LIKE IN IRAQ

REFUGEES: Displaced Inside Iraq: 2,255,000. Displaced in
Syria & Jordan - 2.1 million to 2.25 million

UNEMPLOYMENT: Between 27 and 60 per cent

CHILDREN SUFFERING FROM MALNUTRITION: 28 per cent.

PERCENT OF PROFESSIONALS WHO HAVE LEFT IRAQ SINCE 2003: 40
per cent, including one third of Iraqi physicians.

AVERAGE DAILY HOURS IRAQI HOMES HAVE ELECTRICITY: 1-2 hours.

NUMBER OF IRAQI HOMES CONNECTED TO SEWER SYSTEMS: 37 per
cent.

IRAQIS WITHOUT ACCESS TO ADEQUATE WATER SUPPLIES: 70 per
cent.

THE COST OF DEPLOYING ONE US SOLDIER FOR ONE YEAR IN IRAQ:
390,000 dollars.

For more about what 'winning' really means in Iraq, go to:
http://tinyurl.com/fzryo

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4) PAKISTAN INVADED: NOTHING SAID

Pakistan has been attacked four times in the last two weeks,
the latest attack destroying a school, killing at least
twenty-three people, including women and children.
(http://tinyurl.com/5v3n3w)

We're still waiting for George Bush (quote: "In the 21st
century nations don't invade other nations.") or Gordon
Brown or any other representative of the 'international
community' (also known as the USA and its acolytes) to
condemn this blatant violation of international law, the
consequences of which could be horrifying in further
destabilising a region already in upheaval.

These attacks on Pakistan were by the US military and are
yet another example of the breathtaking hypocrisy of George
Bush and his fellow aggressors. Let's hope it doesn't
escalate to the scale of the mass murder of civilians in
Cambodia and Laos, killed by carpet bombing and chemical
warfare during the Vietnam war, another occasion when the
USA spread war to the neighbouring countries of a country it
had invaded illegally.

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5) INSATIABLE APPETITE FOR WAR

David Miliband is showing how quick he is developing the
appetite for war and all the deception and hypocrisy that
requires. His absurd speech in Ukraine, in which he
threatened Russia -- the second most powerful nation on
earth -- with all manner of consequences if it didn't
capitulate to NATO demands, included this gem: "It is very
important that the principles on which our stability has
been based -- territorial integrity of countries, democratic
governance and international law -- are upheld."

Not a hint of course that Russia's action in South Ossetia
was provoked by Georgia's prior invasion. Or that the
instigators of the Iraq and Afghanistan invasions are hardly
in a position to lecture anybody about "territorial
integrity of countries". Or that maybe Russia has some
legitimate concerns about the way in which the US government
is using NATO to create a line of antagonistic countries in
Russia's Caucasus backyard, creating yet another arena for
more conflict and instability.

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6) OBAMA AND McCAIN: SPOT THE DIFFERENCE

There is a real difference between the two US presidency
contenders in their policies on Iraq. John McCain wants US
troops to stay in Iraq "until victory… for 100 years, if
necessary". Barack Obama is committed to withdrawing all
combat troops and US military bases from Iraq within 16
months of taking office.

On all other issues, the promise from both candidates is for
more war following George Bush's agenda. McCain and Obama
are united in wanting to escalate the war in Afghanistan, in
supporting the invasion and bombing of Pakistan, in
threatening Iran, in antagonising Russia by intervening in
the Caucasus and in giving undiluted support to Israel, the
country flouting more international laws than any other in
its barbaric policies towards the Palestinians in Gaza and
the West Bank.

It's clear that whoever succeeds George Bush, an active and
vocal anti-war movement will be as necessary as it has been
throughout the Bush-Blair-Brown years of endless war,
torture and attacks on civil rights.

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7) YOU COULDN'T MAKE IT UP: NO. 2761

When the US military claimed that all but seven of the
victims of its airstrike on Afghanistan on 22 August were
"Taliban terrorists", it cited for corroboration the
"independent journalist", Oliver North.

Could this be the same Oliver North who twenty years ago was
at the centre of the Iran-Contra scandal, under which
President Reagan's government used the proceeds from secret
arms sales to Iran to fund the Contra terrorists, trained by
the CIA to undermine Nicaragua's democratically elected
government? It certainly could.

Could it be the same Oliver North who organised cocaine and
marijuana trafficking from Central and South America into
the United States to help fund those same Contra rebels? It
certainly could.

In 1989, North admitted lying to the US Congress and was
indicted on 16 felony counts. But why should enlisting the
support of a convicted liar and instigator of mass murder
concern the US military, when it is scurrying around looking
for "corroboration" from an "independent journalist" to
dispute the evidence of yet another massacre of civilians by
a US bombing raid?

*************************************

MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD - STOP THE SPREAD OF WAR
DEMONSTRATE AT THE LABOUR PARTY CONFERENCE
SATURDAY 20 SEPTEMBER: ASSEMBLE 12.30PM
ALL SAINTS, MANCHESTER M15

TRANSPORT DETAILS: or call 020 7278 6694
LEAFLETS: Call 020 7278 6694 or download at

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