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A MESSAGE OF HOPE FOR THE IRAQI PEOPLE
by Philippine International Forum
Monday, Jul. 05, 2004 at 4:29 PM
philintlforum@yahoo.com
A MESSAGE OF HOPE FOR THE IRAQI PEOPLE
from Philippine International Forum on the occasion of
the
PRAYER AND CANDLELIGHTING FOR
GENUINE PEACE AND SOVEREIGNTY IN IRAQ
June 29, 2004 - Manila, Philippines
The Philippine International Forum, a network of
internationals living and working in the Philippines
for peace and justice, proudly joins today's Prayer
and Candle Lighting for Genuine Peace and Sovereignty
in Iraq. Our sentiments are echoed by millions, if
not billions, around the world who stand in opposition
to the US-led pre-emptive war, occupation, and bogus
'handover' of sovereignty of Iraq.
The Bush administration claims that it has handed-over
'full sovereignty' to the Iraqi people. Yet, the US
will maintain the presence of tens of thousands of
US-led Coalition troops, continue the construction of
fourteen US military bases inside Iraq, and further
the economic restructuring of Iraq for the benefit of
foreign firms and multi-national corporations. Using
"intelligence" reports of the existence of weapons of
mass destruction as the basis for the attack on Iraq,
we intelligent people of the world see clearly the
deception, manipulation, and greed of US
Empire-building.
The Iraqi people never asked for US intervention in
the form of a war of aggression that has killed and
maimed thousands of civilians. Vital social
infrastructure has been destroyed, the social order
stretched beyond its breaking point, and the Iraqi
people suffer incalculably in their devastated and
war-torn homeland. And as insult beyond imagination,
the Iraqi people are now subjected to an oxymoronic
'handover of sovereignty' to an interim government
handpicked by the United States, an interim government
intended to carry-out the US agenda under a
neo-colonial framework of pseudo-sovereignty.
While the Bush Administration attempts to legitimize
its illegal activity in Iraq through United Nations
resolutions, our task is to support the Iraqi people
in their efforts to build genuine sovereignty,
something that can only spring from the will of the
Iraqi people themselves, and by definition, can never
come from an outside power.
For us internationals who play both an observer and
participatory role in our work in the Philippines, the
US conquest and occupation of Iraq is glaringly
similar in many ways to the US conquest and occupation
of the Philippines more than a century ago. US
President Bush himself alluded to the great democracy
that the US built in the Philippines as the model for
a US-style democracy in Iraq.
The recently completed elections in the Philippines
are a testimony to the kind of democracy the US
promotes. Traditional politics in the Philippines
continues to marginalize the impoverished majority,
and government policies tend to favor moneyed
interests, both local and foreign. Just as the
soon-to-be proclaimed leadership in Iraq will remain
under the management of the United States, the
leadership of the Philippines has lent unrelenting
support to the US War on Terrorism and served US
military and economic for decades. After more than a
hundred years of the US-Philippine friendship, the
Filipino people still long for genuine peace, still
long for genuine democracy, and are still struggling
for genuine sovereignty.
This day of prayer for the Iraqi people in their
struggle for self-determination is also a day of
prayer for the Filipino people, and all peoples of the
world struggling against foreign intervention.
Wherever the United States attempts to assert its
political, economic, and military might, it will be
challenged by the strengthening solidarity of the
peoples of the world as they join forces to build a
life of dignity for all.
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