Germany: ISSE holds Berlin meeting on US war plans against Iran

Christoph Vandreier, who chaired the meeting, pointed out that exactly four years earlier to the day, Berlin’s streets had seen more than 1 million demonstrating against the impending Iraq war. In other cities as well, millions had taken to the streets in the largest international demonstration of antiwar sentiment in world history. To develop an international movement against war, it was vital to draw the lessons from the failure of the peace movement of that time, Vandreier stressed.

Peter Schwarz dealt first with the developments that proved the war plans against Iran were far advanced. “After the Iraq war and the disaster which then ensued, this appears to be pure madness,” he said. “And it is madness. Nevertheless, the Bush administration is systematically advancing the practical, political and propaganda preparations for a war against Iran.”

Schwarz spoke about the rejection of the Baker-Hamilton report by the Bush administration. The commission headed by James Baker, the former secretary of state and Bush family friend, had not called for the occupation of Iraq to be ended. It did, however, propose the long-term reduction of troops in Iraq and the inclusion of Iran and Syria in a political solution. Instead, the Bush government increased troop numbers, is preparing a new offensive in Afghanistan, and is despatching a second aircraft carrier, concentrating the largest naval force in the Persian Gulf since the beginning of the Iraq war.

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http://wsws.org/articles/2007/feb2007/germ-f21.shtml