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Snap demonstration- Bring the Troops Home!

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*** Please circulate widely. ***

DON'T LET DOUGLAS DIE - BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW

Snap demonstration

12.30-1.30pm

Wednesday 4 May

PM John Howard's Sydney Office

Phillip St (between Bridge and Bent Streets)

Called by the Stop the War Coalition

Dear all,

By now you would have all heard the disturbing news that Australian citizen Douglas Wood is being held hostage in Iraq where he was working as

a private contractor.

While our thoughts are with Douglas and his family at this very distressing time, there is a very obvious way that the Australian Government can save Douglas: bringing the Australian troops home.

While we do not in any way support the taking of hostages, we also do not support the Howard Government using the lives of people like Douglas and the hundreds of men and women deployed to Iraq as sacrificial pawns in its power game with the US for resource and geo-political supremacy.

Removing Australian troops from Iraq would not mean "giving in to the terrorists". Rather it would recognise that it is the presence of

occupying troops in Iraq that has augmented the violence in that country.

It would recognise the fact that, according to the US' own polling, over 95 percent of Iraqis oppose the occupation, with almost as many supporting active resistance of the occupation. It would allow Australian resources to be directed towards supporting real reconstruction of Iraq by Iraqis rather than legitimising the building of US bases and protecting foreign

multinationals seeking a piece of Iraq's economic pie.

In this climate it is clearly foolhardy to place Australian troops and contractors currently in Iraq in such obvious danger; it is positively

reckless to send additional troops to the same fate.

The Howard Government, as part of the Coalition of the Willing, already has the blood of over 100,000 Iraqis and hundreds of foreign troops on its hands. Don't let them add Douglas to the list.

Anna Samson

for the Stop the War Coalition

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this is a heated debate...

i hate to be a stick in the mud but no amount of protest would end in troops getting out of there.

unfortunately its a case of damned if you do damned if you dont... if u take them out you save one mans life but encourage them to kidnap more (because its successful)

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Lets face it the only reason Douglas Wood was in Iraq in the first place was $$$ big $$$ now the reason you can make big $$$ in Iraq is because most sane people don't want to risk their life for profit , but some do if offered enough money , just look at the 9 being held in Bali. Now if this guy was in Iraq for humanitarian reasons then i would be giving my full support , but he's not much more than a mercenary profiting from the war in Iraq , and unlike the 9 being held in Bali he can't even argue that he was forced to do it.So what to do ? Hmmmm... It bothers me that he will probably be executed , though the only reason he was there in the first place was " The price was right " no one in there right mind would want to be there at the moment , so more and more money is offered until someone says OK I'll do it .Let remember this point , he was not working with an NGO , he was working for a Halliburton style constuction company making huge amounts of money. Now IMO this is all about ransom , the company he works for (in fact i think it's his own company ? ) would be insured against kidnapping ,an they know it . But this will all depend on whether his kidnappers are after money or are doing it for ideology ? I think, like the reason he is there , if his kidnappers are offered enough $$$ they will release him , if not they will execute him and try to get some publicity for there "possie" and claim it was all about ideology. To say we should withdraw our troups for this reason , is IMO pretty lame.

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I have a better idea. Instead of us protesting that the army be removed for this guy, how about people like him stop going over there to earn a fast buck.

It drives me crazy. They go over there knowing full well the situation, with nothing but dollar signs in their eyes.

Don't tell me it was "for the people" if it was for the people how come they aren't working pro bono helping people in the ghetto of their own damn country.

They get kidnapped and suddenly everyone has to help them. What did you expect moron? You want your money, you fucking got it.

EDIT: wow 2b, we posted the same thing at the same time lol.

[ 04. May 2005, 07:28: Message edited by: apothecary ]

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thomas hamill, previous terrorist captive.

Hamill sold his dairy farm after fighting a losing battle to survive in the industry. With more than 11 percent of Noxubee County's workers unemployed and the median household income just over $22,000 - $9,000 less than the state median - he saw financial hope in the Halliburton job.

"With this job, he saw a way to help get us back on track," Kellie Hamill said in an interview prior to her husband's abduction.

The constrast between Hamill --driven to war by economic necessity-- and the wealthy chickenhawks in our government who are running this war, could not be more telling. How ironic is it that Hamill, a financially strapped Southern farmer, wound up in Iraq trying to take care of his family, while George W. Bush, a rich weekend "rancher", avoided service in Vietnam thanks to the machinations of his own well-connected family? How Ironic is it that Dick Cheney managed to avoid fighting in Vietnam by starting a family, three decades before Hamill found himself in a war zone trying to provide for his? How Ironic is it that Hamill wound up driving trucks for Halliburton, while Dick Cheney wound up as the company's CEO?

Or maybe "ironic" isn't the right word. Perhaps "unjust" is a better term.

Anyone see that documentary showing how low income parts of america are targetted by recruiters, promising them an education and a decent income.. keeping the poor, poor so they can send them to fight their wars.

[ 04. May 2005, 13:17: Message edited by: Endrogen ]

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Endrogen:

Or maybe "ironic" isn't the right word. Perhaps "unjust" is a better term.

Correct. None of those things are ironic :P .

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America is a Capitalistic Nation.

Those that are in the position, "Capitalize" upon those that aren't.

Nowdays, we have corporate capitalism that uses the

american government and military to achieve it's corporate goals.

(Hence a posable 9-11 theory.... )

Still, I don't feel too bad about whoever goes over there "to work"

This bi-national individual was living in a "well to do" neighborhood

in California USA

His cooperation further enables the aims of the bush administration,

even if he was "just accepting a paycheck."

Also we really don't quite know what he was doing there

Since not all the statements being made by this administrations officers are truthful.

[ 04. May 2005, 23:44: Message edited by: Flip ]

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Any capitulation to kidnappers only offers positive reinforcement to encourage their behavior. I realize this is easier to say when one is not personally connected to the hostage, but is a harsh truth either way.

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quote:

no amount of protest would end in troops getting out of there.

 


It did in Vietnam.

If the million people that protested in the lead-up to the invasion left work and stayed on the streets until the occupation ended, it would happen in a matter of days, patricularly with the support of the workers involved in supply.

The people, educated and united, always have the power to force change, it's only ignorance and apathy that stop it. Though that's a pretty big "only". More Australians get there news from Channel Nine than any other source (sigh).

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thats only if u have politicians that listen

i (and im sure many others here too) went to a few anti war protests at the start which had HUGE numbers of people...

and they didnt even bloody vote in parliament to send troops over... johnny just did it!

thats the worst part... its shit to send troops there in the first place but to withdrawl them now could potentially be worse...

another thing i dislike is how the war was "won" months ago... then why are soldiers still being killed?

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I think the efficacy of 'the protest' for altering the course of issues such as the Woods situation, or the bulk of other national/global problems, is zero; like optimistically attempting to reanimate a carcass whose death occured long before the decision to give it CPR was made. It seems to have become a token allowance; by the so-called 'democractic' governments of Oz, USA, and UK, for the people under such governments to give the impression that we do live in a freedom-loving society, however, as sometimes implied by the government you must remember that national/global issues handled by the government are far to complex for the protester to completely understand. So they MUST, in the name of freedom and democracy, "lead" the nation and make a decision even though a large/very large minority, sometimes going into the majority, of people disagree with the decision such as what happen at the start of the Iraq debacle where it seemed like the majority of the population of Oz, USA, and UK disagreed with their governments decision.

Though maybe i'm just demoralized or perhaps the way lies in individual change/alteration as opposed to force by majority OR minority though perhaps its a bit of both?

[ 06. May 2005, 03:17: Message edited by: alucinare ]

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quote:

and they didnt even bloody vote in parliament to send troops over... johnny just did it!

quote:

at the start of the Iraq debacle where it seemed like the majority of the population of Oz, USA, and UK disagreed with their governments decision.

 


The Australian people DID have a chance to vote on this - the goddamned federal election! And they made their choice, effectively saying "We are more worried about interest rates, which John Howard now apparently dictates, than we are about any fucking terrorist towel-head countries".

I don't know anything about this Wood character that I haven't read here, but I do think it's interesting that he's being held, while the anti-occupation SBS journalist was released unharmed.

lefty article about Martinkus

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