Protest when the warmongers gather in London‏

STOP THE WAR COALITION 
NEWSLETTER  
No. 1133 06 January 2010  
Email office@stopwar.org.uk  
Tel: 020 7801 2768  
Web: http://stopwar.org.uk  
Twitter: http://twitter.com/STWuk

IN THIS NEWSLETTER:  
1) PROTEST WHEN THE WARMONGERS GATHER IN LONDON  
2) AT LAST TONY BLAIR MUST EXPLAIN HIS LIES  
3) LONDON STOP THE WAR ACTIVISTS MEETING  
4) GAZA ONE YEAR ON: PUBLIC MEETING  
5) VIVA PALESTINA CONVOY ENTERS GAZA

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1) PROTEST WHEN THE WARMONGERS GATHER IN LONDON

On Thursday 28 January the leaders of the NATO occupation of  
Afghanistan are coming to Central London for a conference  
organised by Gordon Brown to discuss the next steps in their  
war effort. President Karzai, Hilary Clinton, President  
Sarkozy and Angela Merkel are among those expected to attend.

Stop the War will organise a protest at the conference. We  
will publicise time and location as soon as they are  
announced.

The situation for the warmongers is deteriorating sharply.  
Last year was by far the worst since the invasion in 2001 for 
the invading forces, with 108 British soldiers and 319 US  
troops losing their lives in a war with no purpose.

The number of Afghan civilians killed in 2009 also rose  
dramatically, with the UN giving a figure of well over 2000,  
which is undoubtedly an under-estimate of the total, as many  
deaths go unreported.

Gordon Brown claims NATO is committed to a stable and secure  
Afghanistan, but  the war has only increased the suffering of 
ordinary people in the world's second poorest country.

This is the environment in which the Taliban continue to grown 
in strength -- with even the commander of the NATO forces  
admitting they control much of the country.

The Taliban infiltration of the Afghan army -- which according 
to Obama and Brown is the long term key to winning the war -- 
was highlighted at the end of 2009, when five British soldiers 
and seven CIA operatives were killed in separate incidents by 
Taliban supporters serving in the army.

The western backed Karzai government -- already discredited by 
the farcical presidential "election" -- is in utter disarray, 
following the rejection of Karzai's new cabinet by the Afghan 
parliament. This has made a mockery of Gordon Brown's slogan  
for the conference on 28 January: "Afghan leadership, 
international partnership".

We are told the purpose of the ever mounting death toll is to 
counter the danger of terrorism. But it is clear that far from 
combating terrorism , the 'war on terror' has created more  
enemies for the west and al-Qaeda has spread across the Middle 
East to Somalia, Yemen and beyond.

The one place it isn't, is in Afghanistan, where the US  
government admits there are less than 100 al-Qaeda operatives.

The leaders gathering on 28 January have only one response to 
the catastrophe their war has created. More war. With his  
latest troop surge Obama has doubled the number of troops in  
Afghanistan since he became president. As ever - and despite a 
majority of the British public calling for the troops to be  
withdrawn --  our government follows slavishly wherever US  
foreign policy takes it, and Brown has increased Britain's  
deployment to over 9500.

It is essential that we make clear on 28 January that these  
war policies are opposed by the majority of people in 
virtually every NATO country. Instead of discussing an 
escalation of the war in Afghanistan, Brown's international  
conference should be planning to bring all the troops home.

STOP THE WAR PROTEST  
STOP THE KILLING: BRING THE TROOPS HOME  
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON AFGHANISTAN  
THURSDAY 28 JANUARY  
CENTRAL LONDON (venue tba)  
We hope you will be able to join us.

FOR UPDATES:  
http://www.stopwar.org.uk

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2) AT LAST TONY BLAIR MUST EXPLAIN HIS LIES

It's not often that war criminals have to account for their  
crimes in public.

Tony Blair will appear for a full day at the Iraq war inquiry 
sometime in the two weeks after January 25.

Stop the War is calling for the biggest possible mobilisation 
at the QE2 Conference Centre in London on the day Blair tries 
to explain the lies which took Britain into an illegal and  
unjustified war.

The outrage that so many people feel because Blair has not  
been held to account must be given full voice. The more public 
pressure there is, the more difficult it will be for the  
inquiry's report to be the complete whitewash that Gordon  
Brown intended when he handpicked Chilcot and his committee  
members.

Many military families will be coming to London to witness the 
evidence of the man responsible for the loss of their love  
ones. Our protest activities will include a naming of the dead 
ceremony, to coincide with Blair giving evidence.

We urge everyone who can, to join the protest at the Iraq  
Inquiry which will demand that Blair is held to account for  
his participation in war crimes which led to the deaths of one 
million Iraqis and 179 British soldiers.

STOP THE WAR PROTEST  
TONY BLAIR AT THE IRAQ INQUIRY 
QUEEN ELISABETH CONFERENCE CENTRE  
WESTMINSTER LONDON SW1P 3EE  
DATE TBA  
For updates see: http://www.stopwar.org.uk

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3) LONDON STOP THE WAR ACTIVISTS MEETING

There will be a London activists meeting, open to all, to plan 
for both Tony Blair's appearance at the Iraq Inquiry and for  
the International Conference on Afghanistan:

Tuesday 12 January  
Bloomsbury Baptist Church  
235 Shaftesbury Avenue London WC2H 8EP 
(Nearest tube station Tottenham Court Road)  
All welcome.

Contact the Stop the War office for more details:  
Email: office@stopwar.org.uk; Tel: 020 7801 2768

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4) GAZA ONE YEAR ON: PUBLIC MEETING

END THE SIEGE OF GAZA 
BRING ISRAELI WAR CRIMINALS TO JUSTICE 
TUESDAY 19 JANUARY 7PM 
CONWAY HALL, RED LION SQUARE  
LONDON WC1R 4RL  
Organised by Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Stop the War  
Coalition, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and British Muslim 
Initiative.

SPEAKERS INCLUDE:  
Dr Karma Nabulsi, Oxford University  
Bruce Kent, Vice President Pax Christi 
Sir Gerald Kaufman MP - Just returned from Gaza  
Phyllis Starkey MP  
Lowkey 
Hugh Lanning, Deputy General Secretary PCS  
Daud Abdullah, Palestinian Return Centre  
Jeremy Corbyn MP

For more information: PSC 0207 700 6192  //  
www.palestinecampaign.org

*********************************  
4) VIVA PALESTINA CONVOY ENTERS GAZA

One month, thousands of miles, ten countries, one ship and a  
four flights later, the Viva Palestina convoy has begun to  
enter the besieged Gaza Strip.

The Viva Palestina aid convoy, which planned to enter Gaza on 
27 December but has been blocked by the Egyptian government  
and was viciously attacked by Egyptian riot police.

For lots of video coverage and reports and how you can send  
messages of protest to the Egyptian embassy, go to:  
http://bit.ly/pPrky