NoWar SA

Home | About us | Songs | Articles | Rallies & Events | Help us Raise Money | Be Heard | Press Releases | Links | Contact | Archives


On This Page

Updates | What's On |  KBR Campaign | Links to NoWar Events | Race  & War| Hypocrisy & the War on Iraq | Cartoon Corner | Films | The Adelaide-Iraq War Connection  |  Children and the War on Iraq  |  War Profiteers  | Maps | NoWar Newsletter  |  Actions You Can Take  Unity for Peace Conference | "A Peace of the Action" - peace groups' radio program | Join NoWar - Membership | Features | Contact Us | | Link to Special Page on Lebanon

Last modified:   01 May 2008                                                               

Welcome to the web site of NoWar South Australia.

We are a South Australian peace group originally formed at the time of the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.  We oppose the idea that a military response to terrorism (“The War on Terror”) can succeed or that its cost to innocent people could be justified.  We organized protests against the invasion of Iraq, including the biggest protest in the history of South Australia on 16 February 2003, when 100,000 people filled the streets of Adelaide.  We oppose the war on Iraq because it is unnecessary, unjust and illegal.  Iraq had not attacked anybody nor threatened to, nor had the capacity to do so.

NoWar opposes American militarism and unilateralism being the guiding forces in international relations.  We support a more just world with peaceful resolution of conflicts, where acknowledgement is given to genuine grievances and our common future is not just about American political, military and economic interests.  We support an independent foreign policy for our country and we want to see Australian troops only being used for the defense of Australia.  NoWar continues to work for peace through public meetings, hosting visiting speakers, screening important films and holding public protests.

 

5 YEARS - HOW MUCH LONGER?

 

Cost of the War in Iraq

THE THREE TRILLION DOLLAR WAR

Pine Gap at Night

This is Australia's main contribution to the wars on Iraq and Afghanistan and the planned war on Iran 

(Photo source: Melbourne Indymedia)


For more up-to-date information click here for the latest edition of our newsletter 

 

Subscribe to NoWar

 

Don't bomb Iran - Ban all nuclear weapons  

FeatureS


Palm Sunday in Adelaide 2008

Critique of the SA Anti-War Movement, by David Palmer  (109KB)

 

Moving Protest, Adelaide (photo collage - 598KB)

20 March 2008

5th Anniversary of the Invasion of Iraq


NoWar Discussion Paper on the Militarisation of South Australia 

'From “Defence State” to Peaceful, Green Industries'  by Renfrey Clarke, NoWar Committee Member

Art by Eric Drooker    


Looking for NoWar's PowerPoint Presentation  "What Do You Know About The Real Iran?"

 

Updates - check in regularly

GO TO ARCHIVES TO SEE OLDER UPDATE ITEMS

 

BRITISH SOLDIERS BACK IN BASRA AS HUNDREDS OF IRAQI TROOPS DESERT

6 April 2008

 

British troops have returned to Basra, in a major change of policy, six months after withdrawing from the city because their presence was said to be provoking violence from the militias. Around 150 UK military personnel with Mastiff and Warrior armoured vehicles have been deployed in the past few days alongside Iraqi government forces in the aftermath of fierce fighting against the Mehdi Army. 

Read more ...(The Independent)  

Photo source: Salon.com

MORE THAN 1,000 IN IRAQ’S FORCES QUIT BASRA FIGHT

4 April 2008 

 

More than 1,000 Iraqi soldiers and policemen either refused to fight or simply abandoned their posts during the inconclusive assault against Shiite militias in Basra last week, a senior Iraqi government official said Thursday. Iraqi military officials said the group included dozens of officers, including at least two senior field commanders in the battle. The desertions in the heat of a major battle cast fresh doubt on the effectiveness of the American-trained Iraqi security forces. The White House has conditioned further withdrawals of American troops on the readiness of the Iraqi military and police.

Read more ...(The New York Times)

MILITARY CASUALTY COUNT ERRING ON THE BRIGHT SIDE? CASUALTIES OF WAR SEEMINGLY HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT

From the Blog of US Iraq Vetran, Bryan

 

4 April 208

 

I will be frank in my next statement. The little death toll, that most people are oblivious to, has doubled in the last two and a half years. 4,013 people are dead, right? WRONG! Dead wrong. There are a few things that disqualify some soldiers from the military body count. For example, most people who sustain grievous physical wounds, but die outside of Iraq, are not counted. Most people who are seriously wounded, often are not only rushed out of country in drug induced comas to save their lives, but I think it's damage control on behalf of the military. Suicides, caused by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder aren't counted. I think that is messed up, because the death toll would be much higher if suicides and extracountry deaths were counted.

Read more ...(Playing the College Lottery)

U.S. TROOPS IN IRAQ PAY TWICE WHAT IRAQIS DO FOR GAS

3 April 2008

 

Think you're being gouged by Big Oil? U.S. forces in Iraq are paying almost as much as Americans back home, despite burning fuel at staggering rates in a war to stabilize a country known for its oil reserves. Military units pay an average of $3.23 a gallon for gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, some $88 per day per service member in Iraq, according to an Associated Press review and interviews with defense officials. A penny or two increase in the price of fuel can add millions of dollars to U.S. costs.

Read more ...(CNN)   Photo source: CNN

LAND DAY: MARCH 30, 2008 ; LOOKING BACK AND MOVING FORWARD © Copyright Eileen Fleming

 

Land Day falls on March 30 and marks the 1976 killings of Palestinian Israelis who were holding non-violent demonstrations against Israeli confiscation of Palestinian land. The Israeli army and Israeli police opened fire on the demonstrators, killing six. Since then, March 30 has been a celebration of Palestinian non-violent resistance to Israeli occupation and continued land theft. Israel's most successful land theft tools are the annexation wall and the settlements.

Read more ...(thepeoplesvoice.org)

CURFEW TO BE EXTENDED IN BAGHDAD

29 March 2008

 

Baghdad's military command has extended a round-the clock curfew in the city for an indefinite period. It was imposed on Thursday amid clashes between troops and Shia militias in Baghdad and elsewhere, and was due to expire early on Sunday morning. The news came hours after radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr's Mehdi Army militia said it would defy a government call to lay down its weapons.

 Read more ...(BBC)      Photo source: BBC 

SADR URGES SUPPORT FOR 'RESISTANCE' - VIDEO

29 March 2008

 

Video from Aljazeera via YouTube

Muqtada al-Sadr, the Shia leader, has called on Arab countries to support his militia's battle against "US occupation", with clashes between Shia groups and Iraqi government troops entering their fifth day.

Read more ...(Aljazeera)

A WAR OF UTTER FOLLY

20 March 2008

 

Responsibility for this spectacular tragedy must lie with those who ignored the facts five years ago.

 

Photo source: Wikipedia

Read more ... (The Guardian)

WAR STARTED WITH LIES, CONTINUES WITH LIES

19 March 2008 

 

It has been a war of lies from the start. All governments lie in wartime but American and British propaganda in Iraq over the past five years has been more untruthful than in any conflict since the First World War.  The outcome has been an official picture of Iraq akin to fantasy and an inability to learn from mistakes because of a refusal to admit that any occurred. Yet the war began with just such a mistake. Five years ago, on the evening of 19 March 2003, President George Bush appeared on American television to say that military action had started against Iraq.

Photo source: The Independent 

Read more ... (Patrick Cockburn in The Independent)

PENTAGON FINDS NO SADDAM-AL-QAEDA LINK

14 March 2008

 

A detailed Pentagon study confirms there was no direct link between late Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and the Al-Qaeda network, debunking a claim President George W. Bush's administration used to justify invading Iraq.

 

Coming five years after the start of the war in Iraq, the study of 600,000 official Iraqi documents and thousands of hours of interrogations of former Saddam Hussein colleagues "found no smoking gun (i.e. direct connection) between Saddam's Iraq and Al-Qaeda," said the study, quoted in US media Thursday.

Read more ...(Capitol Hill Blue)

ARCHBISHOP FOUND DEAD IN IRAQ

13 March 2008

A Chaldean Catholic archbishop who was abducted in Iraq last month has been found dead, according to church officials in Rome and Baghdad.  It was not clear if Paulos Faraj Rahho died as a result of his poor health or if he was killed, they said on Thursday.

Shlemon Warduni, the auxiliary bishop of Baghdad, said Rahho's captors had told the church in Mosul that he was very ill and later on Wednesday said he was dead.  Rahho was taken by as he left a prayer service in Mosul on February 29. 

Read more ...(Aljazeera)      Photo source: Aljazeera

 GO TO ARCHIVES TO SEE OLDER ITEMS

WAR PROFITEERS

Read about the corporations that are profiting from the war on Iraq. See the CorpWatch web site. Consider what you can do about these companies many of whom sell products and services here in Adelaide:

Other links for war profiteers:
http://www.betterworldlinks.org/book73q.htm
http://www.mediamouse.org/corporate/warprofiteers.php
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Occupation_watch
http://www.southernstudies.org/reports/Intro.htm

Corp Watch
War Contractors, Iraq, Afghanistan: Lists

"Outsourcing the Pentagon: Who's winning the big contracts?"

 

SUPPORT DOCTORS FOR IRAQ!

Doctors For Iraq is a medical, humanitarian, right to health organisation established by a group of Iraqi doctors in Baghdad in 2003. Doctors For Iraq was established following the 2003 invasion of Iraq to provide emergency medical aid to civilians in the conflict areas of Iraq and to advocate on the right to health for patients, doctors and medical staff. 

Read more...

See also: MEDICAL ASSOCIATION FOR PREVENTION OF WAR (Australia) web site

 

THE ADELAIDE IRAQ WAR CONNECTION

We in Adelaide are part of this!

Adelaide has it's own corporate connections with the Iraq war. One of the greatest beneficiaries of the corporate carve up of Iraq is the company called Halliburton, which provides oil and gas drilling, construction and military support.

The Adelaide thread to war profiteering is the Halliburton subsidiary, Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR), situated on Greenhill Road, Parkside, South Australia. Check these links and see the reach of this war profiteer and the efforts by the US Congress to reign in Dick Cheney's old company:

Back to top

WHAT'S ON

Monday 7 April 2008 6pm

 

Photographic Exhibition Launch

When the world said NO to war

 

Barr Smith Library - University of Adelaide

A photographic exhibition on the historic anti-war protests that took place around the world in February 2003.  These 32 photographs from Australian and round the world. show that this war was opposed by men, women and children from all walks of life, all religions, political and socio-economic backgrounds. 

Exhibition from 7 April to 9 May

Click on the photo for you invitation


A PEACE OF THE ACTION

Weekly radio show on peace and justice!

101.5 FM

Radio Adelaide 

Every Sunday at 12:30pm

 

Sunday lunch will never be the same; whether it’s a roast or risotto you can’t miss this innovative, dynamic new group presenting a different and informed perspective on peace.   We aim to stimulate, challenge and entertain you with healthy debate, music, commentary and interviews.

 

We are the Australian Peace Committee SA. Inc. (APC)  NoWar, Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation, (ANTaR) the Human Rights Coalition (HRC) and Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF).  All people passionate for peace and social justice.


Back to top

           NoWar KBR CAMPAIGN

    NEXT ACTION:     DATE TO BE ANNOUNCED  

      

NoWar has developed a long term campaign against the activities of KBR/Halliburton, Iraq war profiteers, who have a head office on Greenhill Road. 

 

NoWar previously held a large protest outside the KBR offices in an effort to bring their activities to the notice of the passers by on this busy roadway.  We had much support for this event and it was featured in a documentary on SBS on 6 October 2004

We now have a regular presence there on Fridays every three weeks. This campaign requires a few dedicated people who can come on Friday afternoons and commit themselves over a long period. 

If you are interested in this campaign, which is coordinated by Graham and Edward, please contact Graham on (08)8581 1890 or email Edward at e_cranswick@yahoo.com  for direct information about the next protest. 

Links to PAST NoWar events

Looking for an intelligent analysis about the war on Iraq?

Wanting to search out solutions to the current situation?

Looking for a decent history of why we are where we are?

As part of the Global Justice Tours, a collaboration of peace groups in Australia, NoWar has brought high profile social commentators to Adelaide.  Hear their presentations by using the links below.

 

Tariq Ali, Adelaide, May 2005 (scroll down)

 

Scott Ritter, Adelaide, 1 December 2005

Many thanks to U Ne Oo for providing this facility.

DVDs of these events are available by contacting NoWar

 

 

Robert Fisk

Australian Friends of Palestine (AFP) brought Robert Fisk to South Australia in 2005 to deliver the University of Adelaide's inaugural Edward Said Memorial Lecture.  Hear this lecture at the University of Adelaide web site .  Robert Fisk's articles may be found at the e-newspaper, The Independent or see the link below for robert-fisk.com

 

Back to top

cartoon corner

Published in GI Special 29/3/08

(click on the image for a bigger view)   

 

To subscribe to GI Special send an email to thomasfbarton@earthlink.net


 

Statue of Liberty

Aren't you glad we are bringing democracy to Iraq?  See the fine results by clicking here.

 

Race  & War

 

Culture of Fear: Poetry Professor Becomes Terror Suspect

A poetry professor in a small college in the Northeast decides to recycle old manuscripts and becomes an object of suspicion. ...My body exists politically in a way I cannot prevent. For a moment today, without even knowing it, driving away from campus in my little Beetle, exhausted after a day of teaching, listening to Justin Timberlake on the radio, I ceased to be a person when a man I had never met looked straight through me and saw the violence in his own heart.

Read more ...(AlterNet)

 

Montreal workers forced off contract over U.S. security concerns

Ottawa says it is worried about an American policy that has forced Bell Helicopter of Montreal to ban 24 employees from working on a U.S. military contract because of their nationalities. ..."Nobody is against protecting yourself against terrorism," Nadeau said. "The problem here is that there is no factual basis whatsoever for the kind of action taken. And people are eliminated simply because they were born in a given country. This is total nonsense."  

Read more... (CBC News)

 

A protracted colonial war - Lebanon

In Israel's actions today we can detect many of the elements of hubris: an imperial arrogance, a distortion of reality, an awareness of its military superiority, the self-righteousness with which it wrecks the social infrastructure of weaker states, and a belief in its racial superiority.  

By Tariq Ali    Read more...

 

'Lebanon crisis an international conspiracy'

I do believe that the same racist impulse that considers Israeli lives worth more than Arab lives is at play here. I have no doubt that the lives of Arabs never meant much for the descendants of colonial powers in the region.  Interview with Professor  As'ad AbuKhalil  by Firas Al-Atraqchi

Read more...

 

Nothing but anti-Arab racism can fully explain the behaviour of the Israelis
As we witness the bombardment by Israel of Lebanon and Gaza - a grotesque over-reaction - and, as the death toll of Arab civilians mounts, you have to ask how the Israelis can do what they do. My only answer now is to conclude that it is racism. No political or territorial struggles can convincingly explain or excuse the maddened onslaught by the Israeli state. 

By Yasmin Alibhai-Brown    Read more...

 

When is Prisoner Abuse Racial Violence?

The colour line is very much in evidence in the arguments of those who insist that the violence as exceptional and emerging out of the conditions of war. For these people, there is no occupation of Iraq; there is only a benevolent superpower and a people who need help.  by Sherene Razack in ZNet

Read more...

 

Justifying the need for the 'war on terror'

When freedom of speech becomes the centre of the debate, other very important questions fail to be asked: Who speaks? Who has the power and resources not just to speak, but also to be heard, listened to, and even followed? Who is silenced and by whom? by 21 authors in "Live Journal"

Read more...


HYPOCRISY AND THE WAR ON IRAQ

Canada's "Secret" Contribution to the War in Iraq

By Richard Sanders 

 

German Inquiry Begins into Spies' role in Iraq 

Reuters

 

The Hypocrisy of National Sanctity of Human Life Day, 2004 (USA) by Free Press Staff

 

America’s "noble" cause: preserving its right to murder, exploit, torture, and impoverish with impunity by Jason Miller

 

AWB and the Cole Commission by Bruce Haigh

 

Critics line up to accuse Bush of hypocrisy
Sydney Morning Herald

 

After This War by Howard Zinn

 

Australian parliament embraces Blair’s lies and hypocrisy By James Cogan

 

Resistance To Ireland's Support For War in ZNet

 

Senate Republicans Screw the Troops - Again 

in Veterans for Commonsense (USA)

Back to top

children AND THE WAR ON IRAQ

 

BAQUBA, Sep 2 2007 - The violence around the continuing U.S. military operations in this city has robbed children of their childhood.  Only two provincial schools and one private kindergarten school are functioning in this city of 280,000, located 50 km north of Baghdad. Most children know neither school nor play.  Or even the food they want. "We parents can hardly meet the basic requirements of food," Mahdi Hassan, a father of four, told IPS

Children Starved of Childhood by Ahmed Ali, Inter Press Service

 

Here is the text and photos I just received from a doctor friend in Baghdad:  "This is 20 month-old Iraqi baby girl, who was severely injured and mutilated, in a blast by a car bomb in Al-Sadr City 21 days ago, she lost her two eyes." 14 December 2006

Child Victims of Violence, by Dahr Jamail, 

 

"Cherishing children is the mark of a civilized society (Joan Ganz Cooney).  If, as I would like to believe, the above quote suggests all children and not merely those born in Western democracies, I am no longer certain that we live in a civilized society."

Cherishing Children by Dahr Jamail at ZMAG

 

"The children of Iraq are caught up in war for the third time in 20 years. UNICEF is deeply concerned by the further deteriorating conditions brought on by this war and their impact on children of Iraq. Almost half of the population is under the age of 18."

UNICEF - At a glance: Iraq

 

"Food Insecurity in Iraq Persists: Children Suffer - AMMAN/BAGHDAD, 11 May 2006"

UNICEF News Note

 

"IRAQ: UN report cites vast under-nutrition among children"

Reuters 8 May 2006

 

"Iraq's Child Prisoners: A Sunday Herald investigation has discovered that coalition forces are holding more than 100 children in jails such as Abu Ghraib. Witnesses claim that the detainees – some as young as 10 – are also being subjected to rape and torture" By Neil Mackay, 1 August 2004

Sunday Herald (Scotland)

 

New "Iraq Massacre" Tape Emerges: ...But a report filed by Iraqi police accused US troops of rounding up and deliberately shooting 11 people in the house, including five children and four women, before blowing up the building. 

BBC News 2 June 2006

 

MAPS

"In the history of colonial invasion maps are always first drawn by the victors, since maps are instruments of conquest; once projected they are then implemented. Geography is therefore the art of war but can also be the art of resistance if there is a countermap and a counterstrategy."  Edward Said, Rally and Resist For Palestinian Independence, 1994

Click on this map for a larger view:

Source: ImageShack

 

Click on this map for a larger view:

Source: Palestine Monitor

 

Israel's Wall in the West Bank  

 

Actions you can take today ON IRAQ

See the various links on this site for information you can use in taking such action.

 

 

Back to top

 

The Activist Network of South Australia 

keeps a calendar of activities.  You can access this calendar by joining the network at 

http://au.groups.yahoo.com/group/AN_SA/

 

Latest Issue of NoWar Newsletter

(Published periodically)

Back issues - see archives

 

Authorised by: NoWar SA - GPO Box 1156,  Adelaide SA 5001

For people interested in keeping in touch with supporters of NoWar SA, we suggest you join our general newsgroup:

Click here to join NOWAR_Announcements
Click to join NOWAR_Announcements

 

Communication and information forum for members of NoWar South Australia, who attend NoWar meetings in Adelaide. Subscribers must have attended NoWar meetings:

 Click here to join nowar_australia
Click to join nowar_australia