Ten years ago the US government collected a “coalition of the willing” and started an illegal war of aggression against Iraq. This happened although millions of people all over the world had joined in protests against this criminal plans.
This aggression was the culmination point of a long war, that had systematically destroyed the livelihoods of 22 million people through a barbaric siege and continued bombardment.
Ten years of a murderous regime of sanctions before the war lead to the death of more than a million people, mostly children. The war itself caused the death of 150 000 people.

The Party of the European Left is outraged that the politicians responsible for this misdeeds, for example George Bush and Tony Blair, still did have to account for their actions.

We remember well, that this war, like many others before and after 2003, has been prepared with lies and disinformation. Most prominent was the alleged existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The source of the manipulated information about “mobile poison gas plants”, was provided by the German foreign intelligence service (BND) with the knowledge of both the German and the US-Governments. Iraq has since been a battered country. It is now proven beyond doubt that especially the U.S. Army has committed countless war crimes. They have been published, for example by WikiLeaks, but still there have been no significant legal consequences for those responsible for the atrocities . Instead the, whistleblowers Bradley Manning and Julian Assange are prosecuted.

The European Left stands in solidarity with activist against war and calls for justice for the victims of war. We are convinced that the responsible leaders of the governments which supported the “Coalition of the Willing” have to be brought before the International Criminal Court and face trials for their war of aggression and crimes against humanity.

Brussels,
20th March 2013