On The death of a Tyrant - End the Bloody Occupation of a 'Sovereign' Nation

SCOTTISH SOCIALIST PARTY
MEDIA RELEASE

FOX REACTS TO SADDAM EXECUTION
On The death of a Tyrant - End the Bloody Occupation of a 'Sovereign' Nation

SSP National Convenor Colin Fox commenting on the execution of Saddam Hussein today suggested Britain and USA examine their own consciences at this time.

“As some one who campaigned against the tyranny of Saddam Hussein for decades I shed few tears for his passing. But this is no time to let the fact that the British and US governments made it him what he was sink into silence. Saddam Hussein was their 'muscle in the middle east' for two decades. They funded him and armed him throughout, in the barbaric war with Iran and when they turned a blind eye to the massacres of his own people.”

“The statements by Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett in London and from White House infer that this execution was a matter of internal Iraqi politics and the independent decision of a 'sovereign nation”

“Unfortunately this smacks of a continuing duplicity from two governments which illegally invaded this sovereign nation in 2003 and occupy it still.”

"The execution of Saddam Hussien changes none of that. And neither does it change the horror that is the day to day reality for millions of ordinary IRAQI's. It is surely something to reflect upon that the Iraqi population will openly admit they preferred the days of Saddam to the miserable life and death they face now.”

“The key question facing the world today remains, was the US/UK invasion in
2003 the right way to get rid of Saddam Hussein's tyranny in Iraq. And the emphatic and inescapable answer is no it wasn't. “

'”Looking at the sectarian carnage in Iraq today, with more people dying each season than were killed on 9/11, the illegal invasion remains morally repugnant and Saddams execution even politically irrelevant amidst all that."

"The sickening sectarian carnage of violence which the US and British invasion unleashed is the daily reality for thousands of ordinary Iraqis and will continue and perhaps even be accelerated by Saddam's execution in the short term."

"The brutal truth is that the war and the occupation launched by Bush and Blair has spawned a horror against which the execution of Saddam is likely to be little more than a further bloody footnote."

"The SSP believes the war in IRAQ to be a catastrophic failure of policy by Bush and Blair and will define them forever more. “

“The longer the illegal US/British occupation continues the greater the bloodshed for the Iraqi people and the greater the defeat for Britain and America.”

'Today it is appropriate to repeat again the need for the immediate withdrawal of all UK and US troops from Iraq and bring this nightmare to an end"

Make Women Safe

The following motion has been put to the Scottish Parliament by Carolyn Leckie MSP.

Date of Lodging: 13 December 2006

Short Title: Make Women Safe - Stop Male Violence

S2M-05317 Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): That the Parliament

is deeply concerned by the discovery of five women’s bodies in the Ipswich area and offers its condolences to the friends and families of the murdered women, Tania Nicol, Gemma Adams, Anneli Alderton and of Paula Clennell and Annette Nicholls who are currently missing, noting that all are, first and foremost, women, daughters, sisters, mothers and friends who may have been murdered by a predator who has preyed on their vulnerability as women abused through prostitution; is appalled that violence against women is endemic in our society and manifested most brutally in such murders; recognises that in Scotland many murders of women remain unsolved and believes that society and all agencies must take responsibility for bringing the perpetrators to justice and making women safe from male violence against them; believes that society, government and all agencies must work towards the eradication of abuse of women through prostitution and the harm it causes; believes that protection for women must be increased in the short term and that vulnerable women, many of whom are addicted to drugs, must be given the support and services needed within the NHS including, importantly, prescribed medications such as the Diamorphine substitute for heroin, in order to remove their need to raise money through prostitution and to ensure their safety; expresses concern about some public and media statements that place the responsibility on women to avoid being murdered rather than on those men who perpetrate the violence; believes that telling women to be safe when they have little control over poverty, drug and alcohol addictions and mental health issues is an abdication of responsibility; further believes that there should be an amnesty for all women involved in prostitution so that they can seek and access services free from fear and that there should be a zero tolerance approach to the men who buy the use of women’s orifices and who are violent to women and that the emphasis of the discourse on these issues must switch to the swift identification of men who present a risk to women rather than on the lifestyles of women; calls on women and men throughout the country to unite against men’s violence against women, and calls on government to ensure that all agencies and services have adequate resources to make and keep women safe, believing that women should have the right to go about their lives free from fear.

SSP Joins Farepak Protest

Suzy Hall of the unFarepak campaign speaks at the demo.



SSP convener Colin Fox MSP speaks out at a protest called by victims of the Farepak collapse outside a champagne reception of the bankers HBOS.