Iraqi Resistance Solidarity Network January 5th 2004 Updates! : LA IMC

1.Iraqi Resistance Report for Thursday, 1 January 2004 through Sunday, 4 January 2004. Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member, editorial board the Free Arab Voice.

http://www.geocities.com/iraqiresistancesolidarity/IraqiResistanceReport.html

Thursday, 1 January 2004.

Iraqi puppet police announced that one Iraqi was killed in an Iraqi

Resistance bomb attack on New Year's morning. The blast occurred on

the side of the road between Kirkuk and as-Sulaymaniyah. Major

Khudayr Ahmad Hassun of the puppet police in Azadi, north of Kirkuk,

said that 'Abbas 'Umar Muhammad, 30, had been driving his car along

the road, but stopped by the side of the road at about 6:00am and the

bomb went off as soon as he stepped out of his car, killing him

instantly.

This route is extensively used by US occupation troops based in

Kirkuk and those on leave in the hotels of as-Sulaymaniyah controlled

by the collaborationist Kudish chauvinist Patrotic Union of

Kurdistan.

A source in the puppet so-called Iraqi civil defense force reported

its members defused a bomb planted by the side of a road frequently

used by US occupation convoys. The puppet force set up a roadblock

after its discovery.

The source said that the Iraqi Resistance planted a land mine

underneath the bomb, which was placed as a decoy so that bomb

disposal technicians, attempting to disarm the decoy, would fall

victim to the mine underneath. This is what happened in a bombing on

Friday, according to the source.

A source in the Iraqi puppet police, Yaser Karim, said that one Iraq

was injured by shrapnel from an exploding bomb detonated by US troops

near Baaqubah, in northeast Iraq. The device, he said, was

constructed from two artillery shells packed in TNT and wired to a

remote-control detonation device, and planted by a roadside

frequently passed by US occupation convoys.

In a separate incident, the puppet so-called civil defense forces

reported that they had disarmed another bomb in the same area near

Baaqubah.

A spokesman for the US occupation forces said that an American

military helicopter made a forced landing in northern Iraq after

what, he said, appeared to be a mechanical failure. Several soldiers

aboard the helicopter were injured. The spokesman for the 101st

Airborne division said that the helicopter came down at about 12:30

GMT, but tried to minimize any suspicion that the craft had been

brought down by hostile fire. The spokesman said that the landing

was "largely precautionary" despite the fact that injuries resulted,

and said that it was "probably the result of mechanical failure."

Asked if the craft could have been downed by Iraqi Resistance fire,

he replied that "there is nothing to indicate that at the present

time."

Iraqi Resistance bombs damaged electric supply towers in the area of

Kirkuk after noon on New Year's day, causing an electric power outage

in the areas adjacent to the city, according to an official in the

city's electrical establishment. Yaljin 'Adel said that a bomb

exploded on the road between al-Huwayjah and Bayji (west of Kirkuk),

totally destroying three electric power towers. 'Adel said that the

towers, located 75km west of Kirkuk, linked the oil refinery at Bayji

to the electric grid in al-Fat-hah and az-Zab in the same region.

Iraqi puppet police announced on Thursday that they had discovered

the body of the dean of a college in Mosul University the apparent

victim of fatal gunshots. On Wednesday, unknown persons had

kidnapped the man whom the press describes as a "former member of the

Baath Party."

Haytham 'Abdallah, an officer in the puppet police said that the body

of Dr. 'Abd al-Jabbar Mustafa, dean of the college of political

science, on Thursday in the Kafa'at neighborhood in the center of the

city. The officer said that the professor, who did not have a high

post in the Baath Party, was kidnapped by unknown persons from his

home in al-Muthanna neighborhood. 'Abdallah said that an

investigation with the purpose of finding the professor's killers had

been opened, indicating that investigatons of several similar crimes

was already underway.

Kirkuk has been the scene of continued ethnic and sectarian clashes,

following the shootings by collaborationist Kurdish chauvinist

Peshmergah militiamen of Arab and Turkoman demonstrators on

Wednesday, 31December 2003. Puppet police collaborating with the US

occupation reported that a Kurd had been killed in retaliation for

the Wednesday shootings. After dark, there have been battles between

armed groups of Kurds, on one side, and Arabs and Turkomans on the

others have been.

Sources: al-Arab al-Yawm daily newspaper, Amman, Jordan, Friday, 2

January 2004.

Friday, 2 January 2004.

The Iraqi Resistance brought down a US occupation helicopter on

Friday, killing one American occupation soldier and wounding another

according to US admissions. In Baghdad, US army Brigadier General

Mark Kimmitt, after speaking to the 82nd Airborne Division, said

enemy fire likely brought down the copter. The OH-58 Kiowa Warrior

crashed near al-Fallujah.

"We were in a joint patrol with US troops to remove land mines and I

saw a helicopter hovering in the sky which was hit by a missile,"

puppet policeman Muhammad Abd al-'Aziz told Reuters. "It was split

into two and went down in flames."

Eyewitnesses described how the craft was blasted in two in mid-air,

showering helicopter parts on the streets and houses over a wide area

of al-Fallujah.

After that Resistance victory, US occupation forces closed off the

area of the attack and then swept through the city of al-Fallujah,

blocking off streets and raiding and searching shops and homes as

helicopters hovered overhead.

General Kimmit said that as soon as the helicopter was downed, five

individuals wearing masks on which the word "press" written, showed

up at the crash site in a blue Mercedes and opened fire with rocket-

propelled grenades at the helicopter wreckage, then left the area.

Kimmit claimed that the US occupation troops pursued the attackers

and captured four of them.

This claim by the American general aroused some confusion, however,

since Reuters news agency reported that its team at the scene was

fired at by US aggressor troops and three of their journalists were

later detained by the military occupation forces.

The Reuters team was led by Iraqi cameraman Salem 'Uraybi, who was

filming from a checkpoint using a camera on a tripod and was wearing

a flak jacket clearly marked "press," the agency said. "We were

fired on and we drove away at high speed," driver 'Ala' Nuri said. He

said a second car driven by another Iraqi journalist had been fired

upon in the same incident. One of the cars remained in al-Fallujah,

Reuters said. Kimmitt said attackers in two cars fled the scene and

that soldiers doing a sweep through the town, with helicopters

circling overhead, tracked down one of the cars and arrested

four "enemy personnel."

In another helicopter incident, an American spokesman acknowledged

that one US soldier was injured when another US helicopter was forced

down near the Bayji oil refinery. The US spokesman said that neither

the pilot nor the crew, a total of seven persons, were injured.

Friday, a truck traveling toward Baghdad International Airport

flipped on its side, killing one US soldier and injuring six others,

the US military occupation declared. The cause was under

investigation. American occupation forces frequently try to hide

losses due to Resistance attacks by claiming that the American

occupation troops died in "traffic accidents."

The Iraqi Resistance attacked a passing American military convoy

causing an oil tanker to erupt in flames near a US military

occupation base on the road to the western town of ar-Ramadi on

Friday. Witnesses told Associated Press Television News that a rebel

rocket or roadside bomb hit the convoy. Eyewitnesses said that some

of the Americans in the convoy were wounded in the attack.

The 5,000-gallon oil tanker erupted in flames and the US occupation

authorities later reported that it was in a convoy attacked with a

roadside bomb, a grenade and small arms fire. Three American soldiers

suffered burns and shrapnel wounds, the American officials claimed.

Al-Jazeera TV's correspondent in Iraq reported that one Iraqi citizen

was killed and another wounded by American gunfire after the

Resistance attack as the US invaders, as is their habit, opened fire

indiscriminately at a civilian car, after the attack in ar-Ramadi.

About 500 demonstrators gathered outside the Baghdad mosque of Ibn

Taymiyah, (formerly known as Masjid Umm at-Tubul) to condemn the

American occupation troops' desecration of the Muslim place of

worship on Thursday. The protestors demanded the release of about 34

people whom the invader forces arrested during their raid on the

mosque, including the representative of the Salafi trend in the

recently established Consultative Council of the Sunnis of Iraq,

Mahdi as-Samida'i. The demonstrators also chanted slogans against

the US occupiers.

Shaykh 'Abd as-Sattar al-Jannabi, deputy chairman of the Supreme

Iraqi Board for Propagation, Guidance, and Fatwas, denied that the

Americans found any weapons or bombs during their search of the

mosque. In an interview with al-Jazeera Shaykh al-Jannabi accused

the Americans of ransacking the mosque and wrecking mosque property.

US occupation forces justified their raid on the grounds that it was

based on information that they had been given by Iraqis who claimed

that there were weapons in the building, including sticks of dynamite

and explosives. US Brigadier General Mark Kimmit claimed that the US

occupation forces found such weapons but denied that US invader

troops tore up copies of the Qur'an or ransacked the mosque contents.

US aggressor troops in Samarra' blew up the house of Talib Saleh, who

is accused of orchestrating attacks against US the occupation,

witnesses said. They said the American troops arrested Saleh's wife

and brother and said they would not be released until Saleh

surrenders. The American military had no immediate comment.

US forces also claimed to have arrested four persons including one

whom they described as "foreign" on the suspicion that they were

helping fighters get into Iraq to join the Resistance struggle. The

arrests reportedly took place in ar-Rabtah in al-Anbar Province.

US invaders also reported capturing ten Iraqi Resistance fighters

whom they described as "terrorists" in the city of Baaqubah.

Meanwhile tension continues high in the city of Kirkuk after American

occupation forces announced that they had found the bodies of two

Kurds who had been stabbed to death. Meanwhile the deputy commander

of the city's puppet police said that one Arab was killed and two

others wounded by the puppet "security forces" south of Kirkuk where,

he claimed, armed Arab and Turkoman groups were gathering to attack

Kurdish chauvinist targets. Representatives of the three communities

had earlier met together to try to reduce tension. Meanwhile the

Turkoman Islamic Movement rejected what it called "feverish attempts

and plans being carried on to draw the Turkomans into bi-ethnic or

tri-ethnic federalisms." In a statement, the movement called on the

puppet so-called Interim Governing Council to respect the rights of

Turkomans and to recognize them in the framework of a unified,

parliamentary, constitutional, democratic Iraq.

Sources: al-Arab al-Yawm daily newspaper, Amman, Jordan, Saturday, 3

January 2004.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?

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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?

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http://www.aljazeera.net/news/arabic/2004/1/1-2-13.htm

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?

tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040103/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq&cid=540&ncid=716

Saturday, 3 January 2004.

The American occupation forces in Iraq have apparently come to a

point where they no longer even make gestures towards respecting

international norms in their treatment of the Iraqi civilians

subjected to their occupation. The rising power of the Iraqi

Resistance has thrown them off balance and they are now resorting to

brutalizing the unarmed civilian population – women and children –

not distinguishing between them and armed fighters.

On Saturday US aggressor forces in Iraq committed two heinous war

crimes. In Tikrit the invaders killed four Iraqi civilians,

including a woman and child, and injured one other. The Iraqis were

riding in a civilian car and tried to pass a column of US occupation

forces when the aggressor troops opened fire on the car, spraying it

with 27 bullets, according to the chief of the puppet police in the

city.

Tikrit's puppet police chief, Usamah Adham 'Abd al-Ghaffar said "the

car, a gray Chevrolet Caprice, was hit by 27 bullets that entered the

windshield and exited the back window killing four persons, including

a woman and nine-year-old child. The car swerved off the road after

being struck by the gunfire," explaining that "the car was trying to

pass the military column."

In a separate American aggressor war crime, this one in the area of

al-Buwayhat, near al-Hadithah, west of Baghdad, the invaders fired a

tank shell into a private house killing four Iraqi civilians and

wounding five others, including women and children, all of them

belonging to one family. The massacre occurred in the course of

American house-to-house raids and searches in the area.

Local people

Otherwise, the aggressor forces admitted Saturday that three American

invaders were killed and five others wounded in two attacks by the

Iraqi Resistance.

One Iraqi Resistance attack consisted of a mortar assault on an

American occupation base north of the village of Balad, and the other

was a bombing in Baghdad.

In the first of those two deadly attacks, Iraqi Resistance fighters

fired mortar shells at a US occupation base in central Iraq, killing

one US soldier and wounding two others, according to a US military

occupation spokesman on Saturday.

The mortar shells struck a base of the American occupation army's 4th

Infantry Division near Balad, about 50 miles northwest of Baghdad on

Friday night, Sergeant Robert Cargie said. One of the shells exploded

near a trailer used as a bedroom by troops, and a soldier standing in

its doorway was killed. Two other soldiers were struck by shrapnel

and taken to a combat support hospital, where they were in stable

condition, Cargie said. Occupation forces set up road blocks in the

area and began searching cars after the attack.

Iraqi Resistance fighters also attacked a train with rocket-propelled

grenades in the west of Baghdad, blowing the train off the tracks and

crippling it.

A US military occupation statement on Saturday disclosed that

Resistance fighters attacked a train with anti-tank weapons (RPGs) in

the area of west Baghdad, blowing the train off the tracks. The 82nd

Airborne Division declared that "a train was on its way to al-

Habbaniyah" home of a major base of the occupation forces. Forces of

the US aggressor 1st Infantry Division arrived on the scene of the

Resistance attack after the fighters had dispersed and Iraqi puppet

police secured the area for their American masters.

In the suburbs of Baaqubah on Saturday, an American occupation patrol

came under rocket-propelled grenade attack by the Iraqi Resistance.

In response the American aggressors opened fire on a group of their

own Iraqi puppet police. The incident occurred about 400 meters from

the puppet police station in the town of Bahraz, 4km south of

Baaqubah. Puppet police Lieutenant Muhammad Ibrahim, a member of the

puppet police in the village of Bahraz, 4km south of Baaqubah, who

was injured in the incident, said that the five injured puppet

policemen were taken to hospital with American gunshot wounds.

Puppet police Lieutenant Ibrahim said that the American occupation

troops, tore down the barbed wire surrounding the police station and

gathered there and then began to fire indiscriminately in all

directions, wounding five puppet policemen. The incident was

reported on Sunday by the AFP.

In Kirkuk, the Iraqi puppet police announced that two Sunni Arabs and

a Turkoman were wounded on Saturday in two armed incidents in the

city. The puppet police said that two Sunni Arabs were wounded by

gunfire when they tried to launch a lightly armed attack a puppet

police patrol in a south Kirkuk neighborhood. Captain Sirzad Rif'at

Qader told Agence France Presse (AFP) that two Sunni Arab Iraqis were

wounded in their attempted attack on the puppet police in the

neighborhood of al-'Urubah. He said that the two Resistance fighers

fired at the puppet police patrol which then returned fire. He said

that the wounded men were taken to the General Hospital in the center

of town. He ascribed the attack to the desire of the Arab population

of Tikrit for revenge after Kurdish chauvinist collaborators opened

fire on a crowd of Arabs and Turkomans on Wednesday, killing seven.

In the second incident in Kirkuk, an officer in the local puppet

police named Khattab 'Abdallah 'Aref said that 'Awad Muhammad was

wounded in a shooting incident as he stood guard outside the

headquarters of the Turkoman National Party. 'Aref said that "unknown

persons" fired at the headquarters, wounding Muhammad.

'Aref also reported that "unknown persons" threw a hand grenade at

the home of Sabah Zaydan, an Arab member of the Provincial Council,

but Zaydan was unhurt.

Meanwhile the occupation forces continued to bombard the area of ad-

Durah at the southern edge of Baghdad with tank fire, heavy weapons,

and aerial bombs on the grounds that they are attacking areas that

they suspect are Resistance fighter positions. Observers say that

the occupation forces have resorted to these highly destructive

weapons in order to impose their aggressor version of "security,"

while at the same time, the use of these weapons is a reflection of

the inability of the invaders actually to impose their will on the

capital or the country. US spokesman claimed that the area was

sparsely populated, and that the intense bombardments were in

retaliation for the successful downing by Iraqi Resistance fighters

on Friday of a US helicopter in which at least one US occupation

soldier was killed.

The US military spokesman said the shelling of ad-Durah neighborhood

was part of an offensive dubbed Operation Iron Grip. Residents said

it appeared US aggressor fire was targeting fields in the

neighborhood.

A captain in the Iraqi puppet police reported that US occupation

forces had discovered two bombs in the area of Baaqubah and disarmed

them Saturday morning.

Meanwhile, high ranking occupation military sources disclosed that

dozens of Bulgarian soldiers who were slated to be deployed to Iraq

as part of the occupation forces have refused to go, in the aftermath

of the killing of five of their countrymen in a recent martyrdom

attack.

The Chief of Staff of the Bulgarian Army, General Nikolai Kolev said

that about 25 or 30 soldiers of the 2nd Bulgarian Division have

refused to leave for Iraq. Hitherto, all the Bulgarian soldiers who

went to Iraq were said to have been volunteers. The troops who have

refused to deploy to Iraq will be required to refund the costs of

their training and medical examinations, Kolev said.

Sources: al-Arab al-Yawm daily newspaper, Amman, Jordan, Sunday, 4

January 2004. Al-Arab al-Yawm daily newspaper, Amman, Jordan,

Monday, 5 January 2004.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?

tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040103/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq&cid=540&ncid=716

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?

tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040103/ap_on_re_eu/bulgaria_iraq_1

Sunday, 4 January 2004.

An armed battle between Iraqi Resistance fighters in Tikrit on Sunday

left one American aggressor wounded and three Iraqi Resistance

fighters martyred. A spokesman for the American occupation forces

said that the battle erupted between Iraqi Resistance fighters and

the American invaders after the Resistance fighters set up an ambush

for the US aggressor troops.

In Balad, 75km north of Baghdad, US aggressor troops reportedly

opened fire on two Iraqi Resistance fighters who had shot at the

occupation troops. According to the American occupation account, the

Resistance fighters died as martyrs. Eleven persons were detained

and 30 AK-47 Kalashnikov assault rifles were seized in the course of

that battle, the American sources claimed.

In Mistal, 30km east of Tikrit, one Iraqi was killed by the American

occupation forces, who suspected him of supplying Resistance fighters

with weapons. The Iraqi patriot approached the American aggressors

carrying a Kalashnikov, and the Americans shot him dead on the spot,

according to the invader statement. Five other individuals were

captured in the operation.

A former colonel in the Iraqi army who had been pursued by the

American occupation forces was captured in Kirkuk on Saturday,

according to an American aggressor statement.

In Mosul, northern Iraq, two Iraqis died, apparently as martyrs, and

a Jordanian was injured on Saturday in a roadside bombing, according

to a report by the Iraqi puppet police. Puppet police Lieutenant

Samir Najm al-'Azzawi told Agence France Presse (AFP) that the two

Iraqis died and the 25-year-old Jordanian, whose name was 'Izz ad-Din

Ibrahim, was wounded in a blast in their Brazilian-made, German label

car - a type of car used as taxi cabs. The explosion occurred in al-

Ansar neighborhood in the east of the city. Al-'Azzawi said that the

occupation authorities were interrogating the injured Jordanian, who

had been taken to hospital, to learn more of the details of the

case. The puppet police spokesman indicated that he believed that

the explosion was the result of the detonation of materials being

carried inside the car.

Meanwhile the British newspaper, The Independent on Sunday, published

an article based on a British internal investigation that revealed

that British forces beat an Iraqi prisoner to death in September.

The article also disclosed that the British investigation admitted to

seven other cases of the torture of Iraqi detainees by the British

occupation forces in Iraq. The British occupation forces have a

reputation for being much less brutal and more civil with their

prisoners than are the American aggressors, and the fact that similar

investigations have never apparently been undertaken within the

American occupation military would tend to confirm their brutal

reputation, and arouse the suspicion that American treatment of

prisoners would be qualitatively worse than that revealed in the

British newspaper report.

The Independent on Sunday disclosed that Baha' Musa died as a result

of strangulation during his detention, according to medical records

published by the British military occupation. The article, written

by well-known British journalist Robert Fisk, went on to say that

after Musa's death, British authorities launched an investigation but

no charges were ever filed against the two British troops charged in

the case and they were released.

The article can be read at:

http://fairuse.1accesshost.com/news1/fisk10.html

Iraqi puppet police in Kirkuk reported that American invader forces

arrested five Iraqi Arab Sunnis on the grounds that they were sowing

ethnic tension and attempting to attack the local puppet police.

Puppet police Colonel Khattab 'Abdallah 'Aref told the AFP that the

Sunni Arabs were arrested in al-Wasiti neighborhood and the

celebration square in the south of the city of Kirkuk.

Sources: al-Arab al-Yawm daily newspaper, Amman, Jordan, Monday, 5

January 2004.

http://fairuse.1accesshost.com/news1/fisk10.html

2.Newsletter From the International League of People's Struggle, formed by Comrade Jose Maria Sison, former head of the New People's Army of the Philippines (PDF)

http://www.geocities.com/iraqiresistancesolidarity/ilps.pdf

100,000 people marched through the streets of Washington,

D.C. on Oct. 25 in the largest anti-war protest since

George W. Bush’s May 1 speech on the U.S.S. Lincoln

aircraft carrier where he proclaimed “Mission Accomplished.”

The demonstration was co-sponsored by the

A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition (Act Now to Stop War & End Racism)

and United for Peace and Justice. The demonstration

continued to grow throughout the day, reaching its peak

only around 2:30 p.m., when the last busses arrived in the

area of the Washington Monument grounds. By the time

the front of the march reached the Justice Department the

last demonstrators were only leaving the assembly area.

The march stretched more than 20 city blocks filling them

curb to curb including Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington's

eight lane boulevard.

More than 145 cities participated in organizing transportation,

bringing busses and car caravans to the demonstration.

March organizers said that the dramatic increase

in the turnout, compared to the first demonstration against

the occupation of Iraq on April 12 (estimated by the police

at 30,000) is evidence that a growing number of people in

the U.S. believe that the Bush administration’s rationales

TWO YEARS AFTER 9/11:

US IMPERIALISM IN A QUICKSAND

By Prof. Jose Maria Sison

General Consultant

International League of Peoples' Struggle

11 September 2003

By unleashing wars of aggression against Afghanistan

and Iraq and using weapons of mass destruction, the US has

committed far more monstrous acts of terrorism than those of

September 11, 2001 and has gained the condemnation of the

broad masses of the people of the world.

US military forces have massacred tens of thousands of

Afghani and Iraqi civilians and destroyed the social infrastructure,

including schools, hospitals, water and power systems,

office buildings and so on. The US has used the most

lethal weapons of mass destruction, including various types

of bombs and ammunition tipped with depleted uranium. These

kill civilians in large numbers immediately and long after hostilities.

November 2003

continued on p.2

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2

for the war and occupation have been exposed as lies.

The Washington demonstration was also the largest

mass mobilization in opposition to the Patriot Act, which

was signed into law two years ago this weekend, and

the protestors marched to both the White House and

the Justice Department. A sister action in San Francisco

drew 20,000 people into the streets demanding an

end to the occupation of Iraq and calling for troops to

be brought home now. #

US Imperialism and Terrorism

There is clear evidence that intelligence agencies of

the US and some governments friendly to the US had

advance knowledge of the terrorist plot leading to 9/11.

At least five of the 19 hijackers came under surveillance

by US intelligence agents. But no effective counteractions

were taken to foil the terrorist plot.

There is also clear evidence that long before 9/11 a

cabal of “neo-conservatives” had launched the Project

for a New American Century and had agitated for an

opportunity for the US to use overwhelming military

force, demonstrate the “unchallengeable” superiority

of US power and gain control over the strategic resources

of the world. Their neo-conservative pipedream

is to spread “democracy” and “free market” under Pax

Americana.

Top officials and covert operatives of the US Central

Intelligence Agency have long collaborated with

Osama bin Laden and his followers since the anti-Soviet

campaigns of the 1980s. In fact, some of the 9/11

hijackers had pilot training in US air bases. The Bush

and bin Laden families are close friends and co-investors

in the Carlyle Group.

Filipinos are familiar with US instigation of terrorist

groups and activities. The US Central Intelligence

Agency was responsible for recruiting some Moros for

jihad against Soviet troops in Afghanistan in the l980s

and for forming the Abu Sayyaf terrorist gang in 1992.

The CIA agent Michael Terrence Meiring and General

Angelo Reyes have been implicated in terrorist bombings

in Mindanao in recent years.

The US has used 9/11, like Hitler used the burning

of the Reichstag, as the pretext for proclaiming a “global

war on terrorism”, for launching wars of aggression

and for whipping up repression on a global scale. It has

used the “terrorist” label to demonize countries asserting

national independence, national liberation movements

and progressive leaders.

High Material Rewards for the US

The material rewards for the US in pursuing a phoney

war on terrorism have been high. With the conquest

of Afghanistan, the US has tightened its grip

over sources of oil and gas in Central Asia and Caspian

Sea. It can build the pipelines from Central Asia to the

Indian Ocean via Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The US is discouraging the construction of pipelines from

Russia and Central Asia to China. It is tightening its encirclement

of both Russia and China even as the regimes in these large

countries are still friendly and pliant to US monopoly interests. It

is driven by imperialist greed to stay on in Afghanistan and in

the regions of Central and South Asia.

From its conquest of Iraq, the US has gotten far bigger material

rewards than from that of Afghanistan. It has seized the

second largest oil reserves in the world and has gained direct

control over the entire OPEC more than ever before. The US

dollar remains secure as the currency of oil transactions.

The US has long nurtured the plan to occupy Iraq and reshape

the entire Middle East politically and economically under

US hegemony. The US military bases in Iraq are now at the heart

of the entire region. The Palestinian and Arab people are being

told to accept the US-made “road map” and other dictates of the

US and the Israeli Zionists.

The US arrogantly demands that Syria and Iran submit completely

to US hegemony or else suffer the fate of Iraq. US strategists

calculate that one way or the other they can soon take full

control over Iran and Syria. They are also threatening the feudal

oligarchies of Saudi Arabia and the emirates with loss of their

feudal rights if they do not yield further to US economic and

military demands.

US Imperialism in a Quicksand

So far, Iraq is the biggest prize that the US has gained under

the pretext of warring on terrorism. The reason is clear why the

US cannot walk away from Iraq so easily even if more and more

US troops are killed and injured. The US cannot abandon the

oilfields and all the reconstruction contracts that the US companies

have snatched up. Thus, it has veritably placed itself in a

quicksand.

Just as the US is hell-bent on occupying Iraq indefinitely, the

Iraqi people are determined to wage a people’s war for national

liberation against the US and its foreign and local puppets. It is

now the turn of the Iraqi people to use to their offensive advantage

rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, mines, improvised bombs,

mortars and the like.

It is the turn of the US to hold ground, secure fixed structures

and have so many of its troops on the defensive. Such US high

tech weapons as cruise missiles, airplanes and long columns of

armor, which were effective in the blitzkrieg invasion of Iraq, are

An Iraqi man

detained for

shouting slogans

praising Saddam

Hussein refuses

to sit down when

ordered by a U.S.

Army soldier in

central Baghdad

October 15, 2003.

The sign at rear

reads in Arabic,

‘We will win’.

...from p.1

...from p.1

continued on p.10

3

We, the undersigned, are

happy to announce the official

establishment of the International

Campaign against US Overseas

Military Bases under the initiative

of the International League of People’s

Struggle, as the main accomplishment

of the international anti-bases conference

held on 20-22 September 2003 in

Chania, Greece.

The delegates attending the conference

included representatives from Denmark,

England, Greece, Italy, Philippines,

Turkey and Scotland. Delegates from

Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bolivia,

Fiji, Indonesia, Japan, Nepal, Netherlands,

Thailand and the US were unable

to attend for various reasons. In addition

there were many massages of solidarity

and support to the conference

from, various anti-imperialist, peace, human

rights groups and national liberation

movements.

The conference mandated the members

of the initiative committee to act as

the coordinating committee to oversee

the implementation of planned activities

of the campaign reach out to more organizations

and forces and prepare the

holding of a future conference to facilitate

greater and broader participation.

It is the hope of the conference to build

a powerful worldwide movement to oust

US overseas military bases throughout

the world.

The conference affirmed that the

peoples struggle to throw out the US

military bases from all countries in the

world has become especially important

under the current world conditions. The

wild aggressiveness of US imperialists

for world domination, the frequent military

interventions in various countries

Communiqué

No to US Bases,

No to Occupation!

International Campaign Against US Overseas Military

Bases Launched in Chania, Greece

and regions that are of strategic importance

to US interests and the recent invasion

and occupation of Iraq, more than

ever bring to the attention the issue of

the struggle against US military bases.

It is now evident to all the peoples

across the world that these military

bases are used as instruments to facilitate

the imperialist powers in their unjust

wars to occupy countries and regions

and to impose complete imperialist

domination. The US uses these military

bases to make the hosting countries

economically, politically and militarily

dependent, lead them, through the

local bourgeoisie to greater subjugation

and blackmails them to act as “willing”

participants in the US plans. After September

11th the US has intensified its

military presence and installed new

military bases within regions considered

as strategic, such as Eastern Europe,

the Balkans, Central and Western

Asia (Middle East).

It is under such anti-peoples and

reactionary developments and the imminent

dangers poised against humanity

by the US belligerence, which

the need for common action and

struggle of the peoples to throw out

US military bases from every country

and region becomes an urgent task.

The struggle against the military bases

is a basic element of the anti-imperialist

struggle and an important factor in

the struggle to defeat US imperialism

and can bring hope and victory to the

peoples’ struggles everywhere.

The installation of US military

bases and their military presence in

the hosting countries create the reactionary

political conditions that

strengthen the rule of the most reactionary

and tyrannical regimes in order

to continue to implement antipeople,

anti-worker policies. From this

point of view, the struggle against the

military bases is at the same a struggle

in support of the national and social

liberation struggles across the world.

The massive anti-war wave of opposition

that was recently displayed

in every corner of the planet against

the US shows the anger of the peoples

worldwide and their will to fight

against imperialism and war. The great

wish of the peoples is to live in peace

and brotherhood, without the horror

of war, without exploiters and oppressors.

continued next page

ILPS Newsletter November 2003

4

tAddressing the Palestinian people’s plight, the

conference condemns the US backed Zionist state

and the occupation of Palestine and expresses its

support and solidarity with the Palestinian people’s

just struggle and resistance against the occupation

forces. The Conference condemns the genocidal

policy of the Bush-Sharon criminal gang against the

Palestinian people.

The conference resolutely condemns the criminal

and illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq by

the US and British imperialist forces and calls upon

peoples everywhere to expose the crimes and atrocities

of the US and British occupation forces against

the Iraqi people. Further, the conference expresses

its support for the resistance of the Iraqi people to

liberate their land from the US-British imperialist occupation.

The conference calls on the American people,

especially the working people and families of servicemen,

to resist the hypocritical “war on terror”

policy of the Bush regime and demand the immediate

withdrawal of all US military personnel from foreign

soil. Furthermore, the conference calls on all-peace

loving people to oppose and bring pressure upon

their own governments not to send troops and stop

collaboration with the US in its wars of aggression

and occupation.

The conference calls on all democratic, anti-imperialist

and anti-war organizations, groups and activists

to intensify their struggle against the presence

of US overseas military bases and to join the

international anti-bases campaign to bring about an

effective internationally coordinated and sustained

campaign against US bases and other forms of US

military presence overseas.

International Participants:

Philippines: Philippine Peace Center , Cordillera

Peoples’ Alliance; Turkey: ILPS Turkish Section,

Leather Workers’ Union In Tuzla/Istanbul; Gernmany:

ATIK; ILPS: ILPS Secretariat, ILPS General Secretary; England:

Vice-chair of the CND (Campaign of Nuclear Disarmament) - Helen

John; Scotland: Scottish CND (also Sc.Soc.Party) - Brian Qail;

Denmark United Peoples - Ole Larsen; Italy: Campo Antiimperialista

Greek Participants:

Akrotiri Committee Against the Expansion of the Bases, Antiwar

Anti-imperialist Initiative of Thessaloniki, Anti-war Committees

of Epirus, Anti-war Anti-imperialist Committee of Karditsa,

Peace Committee of Chania, Labor Center of Chania, Social Security

Foundation Pensioners’ Union, Teachers Union of Primary and

Infant School of Chania, Teachers Union of Secondary Education

of Chania, Greek Social Forum, Greek-Kurdish Friendship Association,

Doctors Association of Chania, Communist Party of Greece

(marxist-leninist), League of the Left of the Movements and of

Ecolology, Communist Organization of Greece

Messages of Solidarity:

Bangladesh: BAFLF, NGWF, YOUTH Aproach For Development

& Cooperation; Belgium: For Mother Earth; Italy: Bastaguerra;

New Zealand: ABC Antibases Campaign; England: Fairford Peace

Watch, Campaign Of The Accountability Of American Bases; USA:

National Lawyer’s Guild/Military Law Task Force; Australia Australian

Anti-Bases Campaign Coalition; Fiji Islands: PCRC; Thailand:

Compatriot Network Group, Non-Violence Center International

Net; Japan: ICOM (Intern Communication Center); Nepal:

World Peoples’ Resistance Movement, Nepal Trade Union Federation,

Anti-Imperialist Revolutionary Forum; Netherlands: Organization

For Peace Solidarity Right And Justice; Bolivia Accion

Andina; Indonesia: National Students Front (FMN); India: AIPRF,

MR2004.

For more information please contact:

International Campaign Against US Overseas Military Bases.

tel. +30 210 3303639

fax. +30 210 3815597

e-mail: antibases03@yahoo.gr or info@ilps2001.com

5

ILPS and Other Progressive Organizations Launch MR 2004 Against

Imperialist Globalization and War Parallel to the World Social Forum

ILPS Newsletter November 2003

The International League of

Peoples’ Struggle together

with other democratic and

anti-imperialist organizations is holding

a counter-forum to coincide with

the World Social Forum to be held

on January 16-21, 2004 in Mumbai,

India. This counter-forum is Mumbai

Resistance 2004 or MR2004:

“Against Imperialism and War”.

The so-called globalization has

become exposed as a big swindle.

The imperialist countries are the only

dubious winners; while the underdeveloped

countries have sunk deeper

into the morass of poverty and backwardness.

It could not be otherwise.

The real purpose of the economic

prescriptions under the banner of

“free market globalization” was to

open up the markets and natural resources

of underdeveloped countries

to the plunder of the imperialist economic

giants. No technology transfer

to develop self-reliant economies

in underdeveloped countries has

occurred. In fact, industries in the

so-called “emergent economies”

have caved in to unfair competition.

Local agriculture in many underdeveloped

countries have been ruined

by trade liberalization and the dumping

of products from the US and Europe.

Loans given to the economically

backward countries were only

meant to finance imports from the

imperialist countries or pay for outstanding

debt.

Having failed to solve the ever

worsening crisis of the world capitalist

system through this “free market

globalization”, the US is resorting

to militarization to revive the US

economy from its doldrums and grab

economic territory at the expense of

its imperialist rivals. Its wars of aggression

in Afghanistan and Iraq

have aroused massive opposition

from the people of the world and intensified

the contradictions among

the imperialist countries.

MR-2004 is intended to gather organizations

in India and from around the

world who are genuinely opposed to

imperialist plunder of the world’s resources

and the wars of aggression that

the imperialist countries led by the US

wage to grab resource-rich territory and

impose their will on other sovereign nations.

The MR-2004 is a four-day international

event, scheduled for January 17-

20, 2004. It is independent of and will

run parallel to the World Social Forum

(WSF) in Mumbai.

It is part of the process of building a

strong worldwide anti-imperialist movement

going beyond the limits of WSF

towards organised resistance.

MR 2004 has a clear and unambiguous

anti-imperialist focus. Through

sharing experiences and analysing imperialist

strategies, it aims to develop a

perspective that will take the movement

forward, and unite all struggling forces,

irrespective of the forms of struggle they

may choose, to confront and ultimately

defeat imperialism.

MR 2004 stands for a concretely defined

alternative socio-economic structure

built on the basis of self-reliance

and a socialist perspective.

MR 2004 will hold a two-day seminar

and a series of workshops on issues

that affect the lives of the people, a day

of cultural resistance on January 19th

and a mass rally on January 20th.

We call on all those in favour of a

militant and sustained struggle against

imperialism and imperialist wars to join

us on these days of mutual sharing and

solidarity.

For more information, go to the

MR2004 website: http://

www.mumbairesistance.org.

Nearly 100 organisations from

different parts of India and other

countries have come together to

organize the ‘Mumbai Resistance

2004 against Imperialist

Globalisation and War’, an anti-imperialist

conference to be held between

January 17-20, 2004 at

Mumbai. The event will consist of

a two day seminar, a day of cultural

resistance and a massive antiimperialist

protest march on 20th

January , which will culminate as a

public protest meet at American

Consulate.

The main Theme of the rally will

be against American Occupation

of Iraq. It will be held parallel to the

World Social Forum (WSF) Mumbai

programme.

Details of the perspective and

the broad outlines of the

programme were finalised at a two

day all India meeting held at

Mumbai on November 8 and 9,2003

which was attended by over 100 delegates

representing about 50 of the

participating organizations.

The constituents of the event

include several struggling people’s

organizations at the international,

all-India, state and local levels representing

different sections of society.

Around 100 organizations have signed up for MR2004

6

t

work, which is coordinating the parallel

activities in Cancun, is Antonio

Tujan of IBON Foundation.

Rafael Mariano, chairperson of

the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan

(BAYAN) and Kilusang Magbubukid

ng Pilipinas (KMP), is a guest speaker

of Via Campesina, a Mexican-based

international network of peasant organizations.

Joan Carling of the Cordillera

People’s Alliance (CPA) has been invited

by the International Farmers

and Indigenous Peoples Forum to

give a situationer on the Philippines,

while Ferdie Gaite of the Confederation

for the Unity, Recognition and

Advancement of Government Employees

(COURAGE) has been invited to

speak on trade union internationalism.

This writer was invited to speak on

the Philippine experience on transnational

corporations, trade and corruption.

Around 15 other Filipino activists arrived

here, representing labor, farmers

groups and various NGOs.

They joined around 10,000 protesters

who tried to march to the WTO convention

site but were blocked eight kilometers

away by 10-foot steel barricades and

a phalanx of riot police.

Another march was scheduled on the

13th, coinciding with anti-WTO protests

in at least 22 other countries, including

the Philippines. #

Filipino activists hold

up banners of Bayan

and the International

League of Peoples'

Struggle at anti-WTO

march in Cancun,

Mexico.

Filipino activists join protests against WTO in Cancun

by Teddy Casino

Bagong Alyansang Makabayan

Among the thousands who

jammed the main road leading

to the venue of the World

Trade Organization’s 5th ministerial conference

yesterday were Filipino activists

who flew in from across the globe

just to take part in the anti-globalization

protests.

The Filipinos, coming mostly from

non-governmental and people’s organizations,

also served as resource persons

and facilitators in a range of parallel

activities sponsored by various local

and international NGO networks.

At least 78 different forums, assemblies,

protest rallies and cultural events

had been planned from September 7-14

by groups critical of the WTO and the

governments that support its agreements.

Some 20,000 people were expected

to attend these gatherings.

For the past two decades, many international

NGO networks and social

movements have been relying on Filipino

activists to get the job done. Aside

from being fluent in English, Filipinos

are known in the NGO world for their

rich experience in organizing, campaign

and networking owing to the country’s

vibrant people’s movement since the

late 1960s.

For example, among the organizers

of the Our World is Not for Sale net7

ILPS Newsletter November 2003

The International Association of

People’s Lawyers (IAPL) held

its Second Congress in

Istanbul, Turkey from 7-9 November

2003. The theme of the Congress is

“The Task of Lawyers and Jurists of

the People in the Time of ‘Terrorism’

and Resistance”. Twenty-six (26) human

rights/people’s lawyers and law

students attended the 2nd Congress

as delegates representing countries in

Asia, Latin America, Middle East and

Europe.

Delegations from lawyers offices

and organizations from Afghanistan,

Belgium, India, the Netherlands, the

Philippines and Turkey attended as

members while the delegations from

Brazil, the United Kingdom and Germany

attended upon invitation by the

Board of Directors. Lawyers from

Nepal, were unable to send a delegation

due to compelling reasons, and instead

sent a message of solidarity.

The International League of

Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) and the Alliance

for the Advancement of People’s

Rights (Karapatan-Philippines) also

sent their solidarity greetings.

The 2nd Congress opened with a

minute of silence to pay tribute to lawyers

and legal workers who had sacrificed

their lives in the struggle for human

rights. Delegates from India, the

Philippines and Belgium were elected

to the presidium.

P.A. Sebastian, of India, delivered

the Chairman’s Report. He presented

the current world situation and expounded

on the role of lawyers under

such milieu. The Secretariat and Treasurer

also presented their respective

reports. Papers on Europe, Latin

America, Middle East and Asia on the

theme of the conference were presented

to the assembly.

The delegates then presented reports

on human rights situations in

their respective countries. The following

observations are notable: Although

US imperialism is perceived as

being stronger than ever, it faces an

ever growing and intensifying class

struggle and people’s resistance. To

crush this resistance, the United States

and other imperialist countries used the

events of September 11 to enact repressive

laws and measures and have influenced

or pressured other governments

to do the same. These measures are

ostensibly meant to target terrorism but

in fact target legitimate expression of

democratic rights and quell national liberation

and social movements. Thus,

existing human rights and international

humanitarian conventions and instruments

are rendered meaningless. In the

face of the intensified struggle of the

people, a big responsibility is placed

on the shoulders of people’s lawyers,

law students and legal workers and the

IAPL in particular is called upon to be

ever more militant and to respond accordingly.

In relation to this, the presenters put

forward the following proposals: Belgium

proposed that an exchange program

among the offices of the IAPL

members be undertaken as well as participation

in the European Conference

in February 2004 to oppose the passage

of an anti-terrorist bill; India proposed

the sending of a fact finding team to

Andhra Pradesh to investigate human

rights violations in Andhra Pradesh; the

United Kingdom proposed to liaise with

the Greek Bar Association which has

launched a complaint against Prime

Minister Tony Blair of the UK before

the International Criminal Court, similar

to what lawyer Michael Mansfield Q.C.

proposes to file in the UK; the Philippines

supported the proposal of Belgium

as a concrete step in strengthening

international cooperation and support

for anti-imperialist initiatives

around the world.

Brazil and the UK formally submitted

their applications to join the IAPL,

which was accepted by the Board.

The Congress passed resolutions

on human rights issues in their various

countries including condemn1ng the

continuation of lawlessness and widespread

violation of human rights in Afghanistan,

the persecution of people’s

lawyers in Brazil, particularly of Ermogenes

Jacinto de Souza (lawyer of the League of

Poor Peasants of Rondonia), the attacks

on the legal democratic movement in the

Philippines, the continued terror listing

and persecution of Prof. Jose Maria Sison

and other progressive individuals and

groups, calling for justice for peasants’

lawyer Gabriel Sales Pimenta of Brazil and

supporting the hunger strike of human

rights lawyer Nadia Nasravi of Tunisia.

The Congress also agreed to undertake

aggressive expansion work, promote

the IAPL publication “Dissent”, initiate

an international war crimes tribunal

against US aggression, undertake a factfinding

mission in India in January 2004,

participate in the human rights workshop

of the ILPS Second International Assembly

in November 2004 and in other activities.

Elected as new Members of the Board

of Directors are Hakan Karakus of Turkey

as President; Edre Olalia of the Philippines

as Vice President; Gabrielle Machado of

Brazil as Secretary General; Dundar

Gurses of the Netherlands as Treasurer;

Rateb Ahmed of Afghanistan as Auditor;

and Raf Jespers of Belgium and Rajindar

Claire of the U.K. as the other members.

P.A. Sebastian of India was elected Honorary

Chairperson.

There were short speeches by two

prominent guests, namely: former Chairman

of the Istanbul Bar Association, Professor

Y. Sayman and forensic doctor of

the Turkish Medical Association, Professor

Sebnem Korur Fincanci. #

2ND Congress of the International Association of People’s

Lawyers (IAPL) Held in Istanbul

The IAPL is a participating organization

of ILPS.- Editor

8

Protests Greet George W. Bush in Asia Tour

South Korea Indonesia Australia

Protesters in the Philippines burn 100 US flags

The burning Bush

A visiting US Pres. George W. Bush is burned, exorcized

and whacked in Asia

By Rita Baua

Secretary-General, ILPS-Philippines

On his blitzkrieg trip to several Asian countries last

month, US President George W. Bush’s was hounded by

popular protests at every stop.

Bush attended the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference

(APEC) meeting in Thailand and managed to hop like a

kangaroo to the Philippines, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia

and Japan, trying to court greater commitments for

the US-led occupation of Iraq and renewing America’s

push for bilateral trade agreements.

Bush’s visit came at the heels of the almost daily

killings of US soldiers in Iraq and the World Trade

Organization’s (WTO’s) failed ministerial conference in

Cancun, where developing countries rejected the US and

EU trade agenda.

First in the list of his Asian tour was Japan, which he

visited on October 17. In a meeting with Prime Minister

Koizumi, Bush asked his junior partner in Asia to send

1,000 Japanese troops to Iraq and contribute to the

country’s war and reconstruction fund.

The Japanese people declared October 17 as a day of

protest. Among the numerous anti-war groups that organized

the protests was the Asia-Wide Campaign (AWC)

which has been conducting educational and political activities

for the past 10 years against US-Japan imperialism

against the peoples of Asia.

Next in his itinerary was the Philippines on October

18, where he was warmly met by Pres. Gloria Macapagal-

Arroyo amidst the protective barrier of 10,000 police and

military elements deployed in the National Capital Region.

Despite the tight security, one of the highlights of his

trip, which was his speech before the joint sessions of

Congress, was delayed by an hour due to Bayan’s big

rally which had partially blocked the road leading to Congress.

Bush’s entourage eventually made the trip from the

presidential palace to Congress but not without passing

through Bayan’s highly agitated and spirited protesters,

some of whom burned an effigy of the American and

Philippine presidents as Bush’s car drove by.

On Oct. 19, Bush arrived in Thailand where he was

met with protests in two regions –Bangkok, where the

lavish APEC conference was held, and Changmai, home to numerous

peoples’ organizations and NGOs.

An estimated 1,000 peasants, workers, students and their professors

marched in the streets of Bangkok to protest the arrival of a “war

criminal” and “the evil one in APEC.”

“APEC means more poverty for the farmers and workers in this

country… It is being manipulated by a superpower for its security

against the so-called terrorists, instead of food or health security of

the people in Asia” warned the Thai activists.

In nearby Changmai, around 300 members of various rural peoples’

organizations and NGOs placed a photograph of Bush in a pot amidst

black magic mantra chants, then tossed the picture into the Ping river.

The Thai farmers and their support groups rallied against the agricultural

policies of the US government.

“This is a traditional northern Thai ceremony meant to keep Bush’s

spirit down on the river bed so that he could not come and exploit our

natural resources or suppress our farming brothers with his superior

influence,” a peasant leader from the Northern Farmers Alliance said.

In Australia, where Bush proceeded on Oct 20, he was once again

met with a militant and noisy protest by thousands of anti-war activists,

some of whom tried to push their way towards Parliament, where

Bush also addressed the country’s lawmakers.

Bush was “whacked” by the protesters. A huge stage backdrop

depicted a cowboy Bush holding a shotgun, his mouth pursed, revealing

a twisted tongue.

“Don’t be Bush Whacked! Give George the Welcome He Deserves,”

read flyers that had the same image. A placard read, “Bush,

Rumsfeld, Rice – Make a Toxic Meal.”

Protesters also criticized Australian Prime Minister John Howard

for being Bush’s “puppet” in that part of the Pacific. Like his master,

Howard is actively promoting the US pre-emptive war doctrine, even

once threatening Philippine protesters with it. #

9

ILPS Newsletter November 2003

Forty-five out of forty-seven Founding

Member-organizations, 45 Observermass

organizations and 53 local and foreign

guests, and 33 organizers, staff

members and volunteers, comprised the

Founding Assembly of the Philippine

Chapter of the International League of

Peoples’ Struggle which was held August

1, 2002. A total of 220 people attended

said event.

Held at the Environmental Education

Center of Miriam College, Quezon City,

the Founding Assembly carried the

theme, Rally the Filipino to the anti-imperialist

struggle! Unite with the peoples

of the world to defeat US-led wars of

aggression and intervention!

The establishment of the ILPS Philippine

Chapter came after a series of organizational

meetings held among the

representatives of majority of the founding

member-organizations that attended

the First International Assembly of the

ILPS in Zutphen, Netherlands, including

ILPS Chairperson Crispin Beltran

and Philippine-based members of the

I n t e r n a t i o n a l C o o r d i n a t i n g

Committee(ICC), namely, Rep. Liza Maza,

Rafael Mariano, and Cherry Clemente.

Among the major decisions and

resolutions passed in the plenary session

were the following:

1. the two-year program from August

2002 to September 2004, with emphasis

on organizing the broadest ranks of the

people against imperialism and reaction,

taking the intiatives in organizing international

conferences on the 18 concerns

of the ILPS, bringing the ILPS issues

close to the masses through the media

and other forms of propaganda, and

strengthening anti-imperialist struggles

especially in Asia

2. the declaration of unity, with focus

on the current struggle to stop US

armed intervention and aggression

against the Filipino people by working

for the removal of US troops currently

deployed in the three major islands of

the country

3. the approval of the nomination of

15 Patrons of the League to the ICC in

their next meeting based on their eminent

status in their respective fields of

expertise of advocacy and on their outstanding

track record as anti-imperialists

and democrats

4. the approval of resolutions on Imperialist

Globalization, Against US Intervention

and Armed Aggression in the

Philippines, and to Launch a Campaign

against the US “War on Terror”

5. the approval of resolutions calling

on: the immediate and unconditional

release of Memik Horuz, editor of the

Turkish paper Ozgur Gelecek and Vice-

Chairperson of the ILPS, and Dr.

Darshan Pal of the All India People’s

Resistance and a member of the ICC

6. the approval of resolutions supporting

the struggles of the people of

Iraq against US armed aggression, and

that of the Palestinian people against

US-Israeli current war of occupation and

genocide

7. the approval of the resolution stating

the willingness of the newly

founded ILPS Philippines to host the

ILPS’ Second International Assembly.

The following were elected officers

by the National Coordinating Council

after their election by the Founding

Assembly:

* Chairperson - Danilo Ramos of the

Kilusang Magbubukid ng

Pilipinas(Peasant Movement in the Philippines)

* Vice-Chairperson - Dr. Carolina

Araullo of the Bagong Alyansang

Makabayan (BAYAN, New Patriotic Alliance)

* Secretary General - Rita Baua of

BAYAN

* Deputy Secretary General - Norma

Binas, of the Kilusang Mayo Uno (May

First Movement)

* Treasurer - Dr. Joseph Carabeo,

Health Alliance for Democracy(HEAD)

ILPS Chairperson Beltran gave the

keynote address. He said that from the

point of US military strategists, the Philippines

is a “frontline state in the war

on terrorism…(and) that (the US) urgently

needs “air defense and naval

asset “… To reestablish deterrence visà-

vis China.”

Chairperson Beltran continued,

“With the loss of their bases in the Philippines

in 1991, US strategists considered

it as a puncture in their strategic

parameter to contain potential enemies

in Asia and Eurasia and the forfeiture of

vital sea lanes to guard their economic interests.”

It was for this reason, Beltran

added, that George Bush considers the

Philippines as the “new frontline in the

war against international terrorism.”

In his message of solidarity to the

Founding Assembly, Professor Jose Maria

Sison, General Consultant of the ILPS,

noted that “You are the first in the world

to form a national chapter of the ILPS. Your

signal role reflects the strength of the national

democratic movement in the Philippines.”

He said that the ILPS is urgently

needed in these times when US imperialism

and all its allies are terrorizing the

whole world and “subjecting the people

to the worst forms of exploitation and oppression.”

Professor Sison urged the members of

the ILPS Philippine Chapter to “bring together

all the anti-imperialist and progressive

forces to the broad united front and

be ready to go into broader alliance in order

to mobilize greater numbers of people

and wage more effective struggles against

their adversaries.”

The Founding Assembly was also attended

by several foreigners majority of

whom were participants to the International

Solidarity Mission(ISM) which had

just concluded its successful fact-finding

mission to Mindanao where US military

troops have been deployed.

The ILPS General Secretary, Arman

Riazi, who was invited by the organizers

(Philippine Committee) to come to the

Philppines, was unable to attend. His message

was read on his behalf by Cherry

Clemente, Deputy Secretary General of the

ILPS.

In his congratulatory message, he

stated: “The Philippines chapter of the

ILPS promises to be one of the most fruitful

and hard working sections of the ILPS

that will work in a determined and planned

way to advance the aims of our organization.

I am certain that the lessons learned

from this live experience will help the development

and establishment of chapters

in other countries. It is in this context that

the establishment of the Philippines chapter

finds most importance and must be the

cause for celebration for all progressive

and anti-imperialist forces throughout the

world.” #

First National Chapter of ILPS Established

10

no longer as effective in holding ground and fixed positions.

The US troops are often like sitting ducks in a

shooting gallery or they are in the most risky blind patrols

amidst a hostile population.

As soon as 500 or 1000 US troops are killed in Iraq,

there will certainly be a powerful demand from the American

people for the return home of the US military forces.

By that time the American people shall have become

fed up with the mounting casualties, military expenditures

rising from the level of USD 4 billion per month

and the sick state of the US economy. In April this year

USD 79 billion was appropriated for the military aggression.

Now, Bush is asking for another USD 87 billion.

Multilaterize the Costs and Monopolize

the Spoils

More and more people in the US are disgusted that

American lives are sacrificed and tax exemptions and

public money are being used in the interest of US big

business. The tide has started to rise against the Bush

regime and will rise faster as the US stagnates with

“jobless growth” and preparations for the 2004 US elections

heat up. Thus, the Bush regime is now proposing

to “multilateralize” the casualties and other costs of

occupation while the US continues to monopolize the

spoils of war.

The US can accelerate the passing of administrative

duties from the Coalition Provisional Authority to

the puppet Governing Council. But it does not do so

because it does not completely trust its current Iraqi

puppets. It is using the time to burden the Iraqi state oil

companies with US loans and to prepare the

privatization of the oil assets of Iraq in favor of BP

Amoco and other US oil companies. It is also preempting

the oil income with all kinds of onerous contracts

with Halliburton, Bechtel and other US companie

Los Angeles Indymedia : Activist News

Original Cities

Surviving Cities

Iraqi Resistance Solidarity Network January 5th 2004 Updates!

OFF THE PIGS!!!

Bueller?

Thanks, Max.

Who says indymedia ain't good for nuthin?

Excellent point, Max!

Had to fix the picture...

I prefer this...

Let's combine them!