The U.S. occupation of Iraq is illegal and cannot be made legal. All that
has derived from the occupation is illegal and illegitimate and cannot gain
legitimacy. These facts are incontrovertible. What are their consequences?
Peace, stability and democracy in Iraq are impossible under occupation. Foreign
occupation is opposed by nature to the interests of the occupied people, as
proven by the 6 million Iraqis displaced both inside and outside Iraq, the
planned assassination of Iraqi academics and professionals and the destruction
of their culture, and the more than 1 million killed.
Propaganda in the West tries to make palatable the absurdity that the invader
and destroyer of Iraq can play the role of Iraq’s protector. The
convenient fear of a “security vacuum”—used to perpetuate the
occupation—ignores the fact that the Iraqi army never capitulated and
forms the backbone of the Iraqi armed resistance. That backbone is concerned
only with defending the Iraqi people and Iraq’s sovereignty. Similarly,
projections of civil war ignore the reality that the Iraqi population
overwhelmingly, by number and by interest, rejects the occupation and will
continue to do so.
In Iraq, the Iraqi people resist the occupation by all means, in accordance
with international law. Only the popular resistance can be recognized to
express and defend the Iraqi people’s interests and will. Until now the
United States is blind to this reality, hoping that a “diplomatic
surge,” following the military surge of effective ethnic cleansing, will
secure a government it imposes on Iraq. Regardless of who wins the upcoming
U.S. presidential election, the U.S. can never achieve its imperial goals and
the forces it imposes on Iraq are opposed to the interests of the Iraqi
people.
Some in the West continue to justify the negation of popular sovereignty under
the rubric of the “war on terror,” criminalizing not only
resistance but also humanitarian assistance to a besieged people. Under
international law the Iraqi resistance constitutes a national liberation
movement. Recognition of the Iraqi resistance is consequently a right, not an
option. The international community has the right to withdraw recognition from
the U.S.-imposed government in Iraq and recognize the Iraqi resistance.
It is evident that Iraq cannot recover lasting stability, unity and territorial
integrity until its sovereignty is guaranteed. It is also evident that the U.S.
occupation cannot avoid accountability by trying to switch responsibility to
Iraq’s neighbors. A pact of non-aggression, development and cooperation
between a liberated Iraq and its immediate neighbors is the obvious means by
which to achieve this stability. In its median geopolitical position, and given
its natural resources, a liberated, peaceful and democratic Iraq is central to
the welfare and development of its neighbors. All of Iraq’s neighbors
should recognize that stability in Iraq serves their own interests and commit
to not interfering in its internal affairs.
If the international community and the United States are interested in peace,
stability and democracy in Iraq, they should accept that only the Iraqi
resistance—armed, civil and political—can achieve these by securing
the interests of the Iraqi people. The first demand of the Iraqi resistance is
the unconditional withdrawal of all foreign forces illegally occupying
Iraq—including private contractors—and disbanding all armed forces
established by the occupation.
The Iraqi anti-occupation movement—in all its expressions—in
defending the Iraqi people is the only force empowered to ensure democracy in
Iraq. Across the spectrum of this movement it is agreed that upon U.S.
withdrawal a temporary administrative government would be charged with two
tasks: preparing the ground for democratic elections and reconstituting the
national army. Upon completion of these tasks the administrative government
would disband, leaving decisions regarding reparations, development and
reconstruction to a sovereign and freely elected Iraqi government in a state of
all its citizens without religious, ethnic, confessional or gender
discrimination.
All laws, contracts, treaties and agreements signed under occupation are
unequivocally null and void. According to international law and the will of the
Iraqi people, total sovereignty of Iraqi oil and all natural, cultural and
material resources rests in the hands of the Iraqi people, in all its
generations, past, present and future. Across the spectrum of the Iraqi
anti-occupation movement all agree that Iraq should sell its oil on the
international market to all states not at war with Iraq, and in line with
Iraq’s obligations as a member of OPEC.
The 2003 U.S. invasion was and remains illegal and the law of state
responsibility demands that states refuse to recognize the consequences of
illegal state acts. State responsibility also includes a duty to restore.
Compensation should be paid by all state and non-state actors that profited
from the destruction and plundering of Iraq.
The Iraqi people are longing for long-term peace. On the basis of the 2005
Istanbul conclusions of the World Tribunal on Iraq, and in recognition of the
tremendous suffering of the aggressed Iraqi people, the signatories to this
declaration endorse the abovementioned principles for peace, stability and
democracy in Iraq.
The sovereignty of Iraq rests in the hands of its people in resistance. Peace
in Iraq is simple to attain: unconditional U.S. withdrawal and recognition of
the Iraqi resistance that by definition represents the will of the Iraqi
people.
We appeal to all peace-loving people in the world to work to support the Iraqi
people and its resistance. The future of peace, democracy and progress in Iraq,
the region and the world depends on this.
WW note: Those who developed the declaration were from the BRussells
Tribunal Executive Committee, Iraqi International Initiative on refugees,
International Action Center, International Initiative to Prosecute U.S.
Genocide in Iraq, New Weapons Committee, Iraq Solidarity Association in
Stockholm, Portuguese session of the World Tribunal on Iraq, Cubadebate,
Rebelión and Tlaxcala, Spanish Campaign Against the Occupation and for the
Sovereignty of Iraq (CEOSI).
Among the 100-plus initial signers of the declaration were Ramsey Clark and
Cynthia McKinney from the U.S., former United Nations officials Denis Halliday
from Ireland and Hans von Sponeck from Germany, François Houtart from
Belgium, Manik Mukherjee from India, Eduardo Galeano from Uruguay, nobelist
Harold Pinter from Britain, Chairperson of the World Peace Council Soccoro
Gomes from Brazil, Jan Myrdal from Sweden and many Iraqis, including Dr. Saeed
H. Hasan, former Iraqi Permanent Representative to the United Nations. The
complete statement including extensive footnotes and all signers can be found
at anti-occupation.org; it is available in 12 languages on
www.tlaxcala.es/campagnes.asp, where individuals and organizations are invited
to sign onto the declaration.
Articles copyright 1995-2012 Workers World.
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