A day before the ALP national conference an open letter to the Prime Minister calling on the ALP to withdraw its support for the US-NATO war on Afghanistan is receiving a lot of support.
The most recent Roy Morgan poll showed that 72% of Australians want the troops out. And yet, the 10-year war seems not even to be on the ALP conference agenda.
The open letter, initiated by Stop the War Coalition, has been endorsed by John Pilger, lawyer Kellie Tranter, Afghan feminist and educator Malalai Joya, the Sydney Peace Foundation’s Stuart Rees, Associate Professor Jake Lynch of the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at Sydney University, UnionsACT spokesperson Kim Sattler and Peter Kemp, editor with Wikileaks Central, among hundreds of others.
The letter urges the PM to not only remove the Australian troops but also to send “massive amounts of untied aid to the war-ravaged nation”.
It also states: “We do not believe that Australia should involve itself in a war for the sake of an alliance with the United States. Any decision to go to war should be made after extensive public consultation. The Australian public was not consulted on either the Afghan or the Iraq invasion.”
Gerry Binder, a Vietnam veteran who wants the troops out of Afghanistan, has also signed on. He said: “Afghanistan has become a quagmire; an unwinnable military folly. The’ war on terror’ is a murderous farce which will only breed more ‘terrorists’ than it kills.
“Australia is in Afghanistan to appease the US: any pro-US regime in Afghanistan will be toppled when the US leaves. Australian troops should not take part in the invasions and occupations which characterise the US’ insane, arrogant and murderous foreign policy.”
Pip Hinman, a spokesperson for Stop the War Coalition, said anti-war activists would be encouraging delegates to make their opposition to the war known inside the conference.
“We have been heartened by the enormous response to the letter, and we’d like ALP members who are against the war to speak out”, Ms Hinman said. “This war is unjust, and immoral. Canada and Holland have withdrawn their troops. Australia should do the same. Democratic Afghans want this – and even the chief of the army in Oruzgan province wants this.”
Associate Professor Jake Lynch, Director of the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Sydney, who signed the letter said: “Even if the Australian troops succeed in their mission, they will leave behind large numbers of young men, equipped with modern weapons and trained to use them.
“In a country like Afghanistan, which is mired in a long-running civil war, that is the height of irresponsibility. The risk that the so-called ‘Afghan National Army’ will splinter into factions that then train their guns on each other is substantial.”
UnionsACT spokesperson Kim Sattler, who signed the letter and who will be at the ALP conference, said: “The tide is turning and I know that many delegates don’t support the war in Afghanistan. The Prime Minister should be listening to the shift in public opinion on this war.”
Stop the War Coalition will hand out the open letter to the PM outside the entrance the Darling Harbour Convention Centre, Sydney on Saturday December 3.
Media inquiries
Gerry Binder: 0434 962 821
Associate Professor Jake Lynch: 0420 980 010
Pip Hinman: 0412 139 968
UnionsACT spokesperson Kim Sattler: 0414 918 452
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