Emergency Call for Solidarity with the Iraqi People

[Tinoire]

Subject : IOWC Bulletin 4/12/04 - Emergency Call for Solidarity with the Iraqi People


Anti-American / anti-occupation hatred has erupted in Iraq. The gruesome details
of deaths and injuries in Fallujah, continuing attacks on coalition troops
throughout Iraq, the massive retaliation by occupation forces with the
subsequent deaths and injuries to Iraqis, the bombing of mosques, and the
unification of Sunni and Shi'ite peoples in opposition to the occupation mark a
turning point in the occupation--one in which we can expect an even more
heavy-handed reaction by the occupying forces and an escalation in the on-going
cycle of violence.

EMERGENCY CALL FOR SOLIDARITY WITH THE IRAQI PEOPLE

April 8, 2004

Eman Ahmed Khammas
Director, International Occupation Watch Center
Occupied Baghdad

To the peoples of the world and their representatives at the United Nations:

The Iraqi people call for international solidarity as they resist attacks by
US-led Occupation Forces. It is clear that these attacks are designed to
terrorize entire populations of Iraqi towns and neighborhoods.

According to reports, in Fallujah alone, over three hundred Iraqis have been
killed and hundreds more injured since attacks began on Sunday, April 4. There
is fighting in Baghdad, particularly in the neighborhoods of Sadr, Adaamiya,
Shula, Yarmok, and the cities and towns of Fallujah, Ramadi, Basrah, Nasiriya,
Kerbala, Amarah, Kut, Kufa, Najaf, Diwaniya, Balad, and Baquba. Residences,
hospitals, mosques and ambulances trying to transport the injured are being
bombed and fired at by Occupation Forces guns and tanks.

Fallujah and Adaamiya are currently under siege, surrounded by Occupation
Forces, in contravention of the Geneva Convention that prohibits holding
civilian communities under siege. Hospitals do not have access to sufficient
medical aid, essential medicine and equipment or blood supplies. In Fallujah,
the hospitals have been surrounded by soldiers forcing doctors to establish
field hospitals in private homes. Blood donors are not allowed to enter;
consequently, mosques in both Baghdad and Falluja are collecting blood for the
injured. Water and electricity have been cut off for the past several days.

In Sadr City US helicopters have fired rockets into residential areas destroying
homes. Although no curfew has officially been imposed, US soldiers have made a
practice of aiming tank fire on cars they find moving through the streets after
dark. On Tuesday night alone, at least 6 people were killed in this way. US
forces continue to occupy and surround all the police stations and the Sadr
municipal offices.

While these attacks have escalated sharply over the past week, they are in no
way a new phenomenon in occupied Iraq. The indiscriminate killing of civilians
and the refusal to provide people with security, electricity and decent medical
infrastructure have characterized the ÔfreedomÕ that Occupation Authorities have
brought to Iraq.

We call on the international community, civil society and the
anti-war/anti-occupation movements to respond to this US-led war of terror with
tangible displays of solidarity and support for Iraqi people facing this
gruesome manifestation of the occupation.

Please take to the streets to demand an end to the US-led aggression. Organize
protests in front of US consulates and embassies around the world and demand: an
immediate end to this massacre; an immediate end to the siege of Iraqi cities
and neighborhoods; immediate access to humanitarian and medical aid
organizations seeking to provide assistance to Iraqi people who are living under
attack; and an end to the occupation of our nation.

Cities in which demonstrations have been organized or taken place include
Milan, Montreal, Tokyo, Istanbul, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington
D.C. and New York City.

To contact the International Occupation Watch Center in Baghdad, please call 001
914 360-9079 or 001 914 360-9080. You can also email [e-mail].
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For the latest information on the crisis in Iraq, visit www.occupationwatch.org.