Iraq war
Iraq war
Articles about the US-UK war with Iraq which began in 2003, and opposition to it.
Brighton anti-war protests, 2002-3
Images from the anti-war protests in Brighton leading up to and following the outbreak of the Iraq war. Many of these events are recollected and analysed here.
Standard Operating Procedure, directed by Errol Morris (2008)
In addition to its revealing ‘worm’s eye view’ of the Abu Ghraib scandal, Tom Jennings sees Standard Operating Procedure as a more general fable of modern governance.
Telling Tales of Torture. Film review – Tom Jennings
Anti-war statement from Antithesis (NYC-NEFAC)
Leaflet against the Iraq war written by the Antithesis collective (NYC-NEFAC) and distributed at an anti-war rally in New York City on October 27th.
Workers, not politicians, will end this war
Build Our Solidarity, Not Their Elections
Bring the war to the streets - AYN art
Photographs of an anti-Iraq war art project carried out by some people involved in the Anarchist Youth Network in 2002 and 2003. Most may not believe now that it was very politically useful but it is archived here for reference. The concept of it was threefold: to put military imagery into peaceful London settings, to illustrate that the British government going to war in Iraq would likely bring conflict to the UK in terms of terrorism and as a call to action, to bring a war against the war-mongering capitalist system to the streets of the UK. It involved sticking toy soldiers about the place, and camouflaging everyday objects about the city with paint.
Mutinies in the American army, 2004-2005 - Echanges #111
A brief discussion of incidences of dissatisfaction in the US Army during the Iraq War.
Mutinies, the word can seem excessive because Iraq is not (yet) Vietnam. However, a refusal to obey in the army, whatever the reason, is a mutiny and quite often such acts of insubordination have started with minor acts. Even isolated, such acts are indicative of "troop morale", an essential element for continuing war.
Teamsters local opposes Iraq war - Uprise! press release
Press release from revolutionary UPS workers group Uprise! announcing its Teamsters Local 705 approving its resolution to oppose the drive for the Iraq war.
Lebanon, Iran and the ‘Long War’ in the ‘Wider Middle East’
Following the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as President in July 2005, there was a decisive shift in Iranian foreign policy to a more strident and defiant attitude towards the USA.
Introduction
Anti-war school walkouts, 2003 - AYN discussions
Extracts from the Anarchist Youth Network's open email discussion with information-sharing and discussion about the walkouts of school students which occured against the Iraq war as it began in March 2003. While there was a lot of potential AYN failed to make a collective impact on them.
Against capitalist war, against capitalist peace - AYN leaflet
An anti-Iraq war leaflet by the Anarchist Youth Network in 2003. The authors no longer think the leaflet is very good, but it is reproduced here for reference in text and PDF formats.
Capitalist war
American defeat: an anti-state communist perspective on the war in Iraq, 2003 - Kevin Keating
Keating's analysis of the US-UK war in Iraq, which we disagree with and which contains numerous flaws, including casual anti-semitism. We reproduce it for reference only.
American defeat: an anti-state communist perspective on the Iraq war
A phenomenal anti-war movement? - Aufheben
The movement against the war on Iraq was larger and more exciting than other recent anti-war movements. This article focuses on the organization and character of the movement in the UK, and describes how some of the dynamics of the movement as a whole were played out in one UK city, where we were involved.
We argue that the feeling that what happened was challenging lay not so much in the nature of the actions, but rather in the number and variety of people brought into the movement and in the failure of the liberal peace movement to exercise the usual control.
The corporate plunder of Iraq
The looting of billions of dollars of Iraq’s oil wealth is unprecedented in the history of corporate crime, writes criminologist Dave Whyte.
The neo-liberal transformation of Iraq is portrayed as a humanitarian venture. Western corporations and occupying governments now talk of the liberation of Iraq from the “tyranny of Saddam’s planned economy”.
No War but the Class War comic
A comic made on the eve of the 2003 war on Iraq calling for working class unity across borders and class war against capital rather than national unity and war.
Walthamstow anarchists' war memorial clean-up
Weeds, litter and leaves were cleared from an "unkempt" war memorial by a political group at the weekend.
From the Waltham Forest Guardian:
Political group’s great clean-up
By Mark Killiner
WEEDS, litter and leaves were cleared from an "unkempt" war memorial by a political group at the weekend.
Walthamstow Anarchist Group (WAG) collected five bags of refuse from the area around the memorial at the Territorial Army barracks in Lea Bridge Road on Saturday.
Melbourne fare evasion against the Iraq war
Leaflet calling for mass public transport fare evasion against the war in Iraq for March 18, 2005 and beyond. We do not believe it was adopted on a wide scale but reproduce the text here as an example of how people tried to oppose the conflict worldwide.
Is Truth Enough? - George Caffentzis
Text of a talk given by American autonomist George Caffentzis on the Iraq war and the American anti-war movement.
"Is Truth Enough? The Bush Administration's Lies and the Anti-War Movement's Truths" George Caffentzis
[A transcription of a talk given to the "Truth and Consequences" Anti-War Forum at the University of Maine, Augusta, Maine, on March 20, 2004.]
US snipers see trouble brewing
"The reason why they're fighting us is not Osama bin Laden. They're fighting us because we're here. . . . They don't want us here. They just want us to leave."
"I guess that would be a victory for them,'' he said. "As far as I can see there's not going to be any victory for us."
By Tom Lasseter
Iraqi workers' armed strike threat
Iraqi oil workers win pay increases with strikes and threats to take up arms.
The solidarity of oil sector workers in Kirkuk, Baaji and Baghdad's Daurra was key in achieving the victory. Coalition authorities are currently dependant on SOC - Iraq's biggest and most lucrative oil company - for supplies following the breakdown of Iraq's northern fields, which have suffered continuous attacks on their pipelines and stations.
Iraq: workers take strike action and beat up boss
Ewa Jasiewicz reports on Umm Qasr workers who have taken strike action and beaten up their boss infront of the Minister of Transport.
January 27th 2004
Umm Qasr Occupation Lock-Out, IPA Chief Gets a Kicking (again), 25 Answers
