The Brussels Tribunal and the International Anti-Occupation Network have issued the following statement on Iraq entitled ‘The Way Out’:
‘If the US military declare that the Iraq war is a failure; if the only solution they can come up with is walling in the Iraqi population; if millions are forced into exile; if hundreds of civilians are killed every day: it’s time for all peace-loving people to raise their voices.
‘Enough is enough. No more half-hearted solutions. The only Way is Out. Now.
‘The Iraqis don’t want foreign occupation. Please consider to sign the statement “The Way Out”, written after the 2006 Congressional elections, and providing the only possible roadmap for peace in Iraq.
‘We need as many signatures as possible, from all over the world, to send to the global media, to the international Human Rights bodies, to the governments of the occupying countries and to the United Nations.’
Endorse this statement online: http://www.petitiononline.com/wayout/petition.html
US forces must negotiate an immediate withdrawal with the Iraqi resistance
The American people must hold their leaders responsible for the crime of aggressive war
‘In the November 2006 congressional elections, the American people expressed their clear rejection of the Bush administration’s war in Iraq.
‘However, a broad movement of opinion is needed to force US leaders to heed the will of their own people and, still more, the people of Iraq.
‘US military leaders admit that their invasion and occupation of Iraq have produced “chaos”.
‘The logical conclusion is that the US presence itself, based on criminal aggression and multiple crimes against humanity, is responsible for such chaos, and that to bring about stability, the United States should withdraw immediately.
‘However, US leaders continue to claim that they must remain in Iraq in order to achieve “stability”.
‘To this end, they speak of creating an American-trained puppet Iraqi army to fight the resistance, and of enticing foreign powers to aid in ending the resistance.
‘This implies fostering both civil war and more foreign intervention, attempting to take from the Iraqi people the sovereign right of deciding their own future.
‘Meanwhile, Iraq is being destroyed. The infrastructure has been ruined. People are dying in the hundreds of thousands or fleeing abroad. It is urgent to end this massive crime and return Iraq to its own people.
‘To this end, we call on world public opinion to make two demands:
Negotiate with the Resistance!
‘The United States invasion was a clear violation of international law.
‘In contrast, international law recognises the legitimacy of armed resistance to foreign invasion and occupation.
‘These principles cannot be negated by the fact that the United States was able to use its immense influence to persuade the UN Security Council to recognise its presence, as being requested by a government that is nothing but a Washington-installed puppet regime.
‘Armed resistance expresses the legitimate desire of the vast majority of Iraqi people to free their land from foreign occupation.
‘The national popular resistance in Iraq is the only legitimate and effective force able to defend popular sovereignty and determine the future of liberated Iraq.
‘Instead of negotiating with neighbouring regional powers in the hope of bringing the resistance under foreign control, the United States should negotiate directly with the resistance itself.
Punish the crimes!
‘We support all efforts by the American people to initiate a thorough investigation of all the officials, from the highest level on down, who deliberately spun a web of lies and deceptions in order to create the pretext for the criminal invasion of Iraq.
‘We believe that such an investigation would provide ample grounds for impeachment of both President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.
‘Such a repudiation of criminal leadership would be a first step toward full reconciliation with the martyred people of Iraq, setting the stage for a peace agreement including reparations to the war-torn country.
‘We fully recognise that, despite the recent US election results, these demands require a strong mobilisation of world public opinion and reactivation of the peace movement, notably in the United States.
‘Sign this statement: http://www.petitiononline.com/wayout/petition.html and send it to all your contacts and friends.
First endorsers:
‘Denis Halliday (Former UN Assistant Secretary General & United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq 1997-98 – Ireland)
‘Hans von Sponeck (Former UN Assistant Secretary General & United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq 1998-2000 – Germany)
Margarita Papandreou (Former First Lady of Greece, Peace activist and honorary president of Center for Research and Action on Peace – Greece)
Prof. Dr. Mohammed Al-Zoebi, prof.of University / ex-minister in Syria
Dahr Jamail (Journalist – USA)
Abdul Ilah Al-Bayaty (Writer, political analyst – Iraq / France)
Amir Al Ani (Sociologist – Iraq / France)
Anne Provoost, Author, Belgium
Ayse Berktay (translator, World Tribunal on Iraq organizer – Turkey)
Buthaina al Nasiri, Writer and Activist ‘www.iraqpatrol.com’, Iraq
Carlos Varea (Coordinator of SCOSI – Spanish Campaign against Occupation and for the Sovereignty of Iraq – Spain)
Charles Jenks (Chair of Advisory Board and Web Manager, Traprock Peace Center, Deerfield MA – USA)
David Swanson (Co-Founder AfterDowningStreet coalition – USA)
De Keersmaeker Anne Teresa, Choreographer, Belgium
Sabah Al-Mukhtar (President of the Arab Lawyers Association – Iraq / UK)
Dirk Adriaensens (coordinator SOS Iraq, Belgium)
Dr. Abdulwahab Al-Qassab
Dr Fouad Elhage (Editor in Chief, Al-Moharer – Iraq / Australia)
Dr. Dahlia Wasfi M.D. (Anti-war activist, speaker, Global Exchange – Iraq / USA)
Dr. Geert Van Moorter (Medical Aid For The Third World – Belgium)
Dr. Pol De Vos (Tropical Institute Antwerp / Coordinator Stop USA – Belgium)
Dr. Souad Naji Al-Azzawi (Asst. Prof. Env. Eng. – University of Baghdad – Iraq)
Elias Davidsson, Composer, Iceland
Eman Ahmed Khammas (Former co-director of Occupation Watch – Journalist – translator – Iraq)
Falih Hassan Shamkhi, lecturer, Malmo University, Sweden
Felicity Arbuthnot (Journalist – UK)
Frans Dumortier / Charles Ducal (Poet – Belgium)
Gilles Munier, France
Hamdun Al-Jubouri, University Professor, Iraq
Hana Al Bayaty (filmmaker / journalist – Iraq / Egypt / France)
Hana Ibrahim (Writer and Journalist, Chair of Women’s Will Organisation – Iraq)
Hassan Khalil Gharib, writer, Lebanon
Iman alsaadoon
Stijn Coninx, Filmmaker, Belgium
Hassène Al-Kassar, Universitaire, Tunisia
Inge Van De Merlen (Brussels Tribunal, Belgium)
Jeffrey Blankfort (Former editor of the Middle East Labor Bulletin and currently hosts radio programs – USA)
Jennifer Van Bergen (journalist, author writing about civil liberties, human rights and international law – USA)
Joachim Guilliard (Journalist, Irak Tribunal Initiative – Germany)
John Catalinotto (International Action Center – USA)
Karen Parker (Attorney , Association of Humanitarian Lawyers, partners of the Brussels Tribunal – USA)
Khalid al-Hussayni, Univ professor, Iraq
Laith Al Saud (journalist, college lecturer in social sciences – Iraq / USA)
Ludo Abicht, philosopher – University of Ghent, Belgium
Ludo De Brabander (Vrede, Peace Movement – Belgium)
Marion Kuepker (Gewaltfreie Aktion Atomwaffen Abschaffen / Uranium Weapons conference organiser – Germany)
Max Fuller (Author of ‘For Iraq, the Salvador Option Become Reality’ and ‘Crying Wolf, deaths squads in Iraq’ – UK)
Michael Parenti (Author – USA)
Mr Riad El-Taher, Chair of FAF Organisation, UK
Nawal al Sadaawi, Author, Egypt
Nazar AL-Amir, Retired Economist, Switzerland
Nermeen Al-Mufti (Former co-director of Occupation Watch – Journalist – Iraq)
Niloufer Bhagwat (Vice President of Indian Lawyers Association – Mumbai / India)
Patrick Deboosere (demographer, VUB, Belgium)
Paul Vanden Bavière (Former journalist De Standaard, publicist and editor of webzine Uitpers – Belgium)
Prof. Amy Bartholomew (Law professor – Canada)
Prof. David Miller (Professor of Sociology at Strathclyde University, co-founder of Spinwatch – UK)
Prof. Dr. Eric CORIJN, philosopher/sociologist; professor Free University Brussels, Belgium
Prof. Dr. Ian Douglas (Visiting Professor, Political Science Department, An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine – UK)
Prof. Dr. Jean Bricmont (scientist, specialist in theoretical physics, U.C. Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium)
Prof. Dr. Lieven De Cauter (philosopher, K.U. Leuven / Rits, initiator of the Brussels Tribunal, Belgium)
Prof. dr. Rudi Laermans, Sociologist, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium
Prof. em. Dennis Brutus (Professor emeritus Dept. of Africana Studies, Univ. of Pittsburgh – USA)
Prof. Em. Herman De Ley (Em. Prof. Ghent University, Ex-director of Centre for Islam in Europe – Belgium)
Prof. Fred Louckx, Professor of Sociology, Belgium
Prof. Mujbil Al Mersumi, Professor of University, Iraq
Prof. Ortwin de Graef, Professor of English Literature & Literary Theory, Belgium
Prof. Stephen Eric Bronner (Professor of political science, Rutgers University – USA)
Prof. Stephen Graham, Durham university, UK
Prof. Swyngedouw Erik, Professor of Geography, UK
Saadallah Al Fathi, engineer, Iraq
Salah Almukhtar (General coordinator of N.G.O organizations in Iraq – Iraq)
Salah Omar Al Ali, Al Wifaq A lDemocrati,ex minister, Iraq
Sammi Ala’a, Sociologist, Denmark
Saul Landau, institute for policy studies, USA
Sigyn Meder (Anti-war movement – Sweden)
Sihame Fattah (Brussels Tribunal, Belgium)
Sr. Anne Montgomery RSCJ (Christan Peacemaker Teams – USA)
