March 21, 2003

Peace Groups Call On Govt To Recall Troops

Friends Of The Earth Australia
Australian Peace Committee
Campaign For International Cooperation And Disarmament (CICD)

Friends of the Earth Australia, CICD, and the Australian Peace Committee have welcomed a Senate motion passed at 4pm yesterday after intense debate which calls on the Howard government to reject war and return troops home as soon as possible. The groups call on the government to do as the motion suggests and pull out of the war immediately.

The Democrats, greens, and ALP have amended the governments pro-war motion passed in the House of Representatives, making it into an anti-war motion. This is the very first time that the Senate has contradicted and asked for the reversal of a move toward war in Australia.

According to FOE, CICD, and the Australian Peace Committee, "In rejecting the governments pro-war motion and making it into an anti-war motion, the Senate is reflecting the wishes of the overwhelming majority of Australians who have not been convinced of the need for war. The Senate has torn away whatever shreds of political respectability and legitimacy there might have been for war with Iraq: Australia will be going to war with one house of parliament clearly saying we should not do so. The Government cannot go to war with one house of the Parliament rejecting war. They must recall the troops immediately."

"The Senate and the Australian people are quite right not to be convinced of the need for war. We are told over and over again that we are going to war to rid the world of weapons of mass destruction, by the United States when that country is itself the holder of the worlds largest arsenal of such weapons, including the 'mother of all bombs'. Blind Freddy can surely see the hypocrisy in this position. Meanwhile, the weapons inspectors have found little or nothing apart from the El Samoud missiles, while a genuinely dangerous adversary - North Korea - who boast that they can hit the US with a nuclear weapon - is given no attention apart from
further provocation. We are being lied to."

"We welcome the passage of this important resolution yesterday and call on the government to abide by it and recall our troops immediately."

For more information contact:

John Hallam
Ph: (02) 9567 7533

Irene Gale
Ph: (08) 8364 2291