The Greenpeace flag ship, the Rainbow Warrior, blocked
the departure of UK military supply vessels heading for the Gulf
today. The Rainbow Warrior occupied the Marchwood Military port in
Southampton, on the South coast of England by dropping anchor and
blocking the exit, while Greenpeace climbers attached themselves to
the loading crane and anchor chain of the supply ship the Magdelena
Green. Crews in inflatable boats painted “No War” on the side of
the vessel. Other commandeered civilian vessels have also been
loading helicopters, tank transporters, trucks and other military
hardware.
The Greenpeace non-violent direct action is part of the global
campaign to prevent a military attack on Iraq.
Speaking from the bridge of the Rainbow Warrior, Stephen
Tindale, Director of Greenpeace in the UK said:
“We are determined to stop the headlong rush to a war which
places a higher price on oil than on blood. War with Iraq would not
make the world a safer place: it would increase support for
terrorism and could lead to the use of weapons of mass destruction.
The human and environmental impacts would be appalling and no one
would benefit other than George Bush and oil companies like
ExxonMobil.”
Greenpeace is opposed to war in Iraq, whether or not an attack
is sanctioned by the United Nations, because it would have
devastating human and environmental consequences. According to
military and health experts a conventional war could kill over
200,000 people, mainly civilians, and a further quarter of a
million could die from famine and disease (MEDACT). If war
escalates to involve chemical or nuclear weapons the death toll
could even run into millions. U.S. President George Bush and U.K.
Prime Minister Tony Blair have cited Saddam Hussein’s desire to
acquire weapons of mass destruction as justification for an
invasion. However, pre-emptive military strikes against states
possessing or suspected of possessing chemical, biological or
nuclear weapons do not provide a stable basis for controlling them.
It would require repeated armed interventions against numerous
countries. States known to have nuclear weapons include India,
Pakistan and Israel. The Bush administration has stated that at
least 13 countries are pursuing biological weapons research.
The war is clearly motivated by oil.
The same forces that are backing the war are also opposing the U.S.
signing the Kyoto Protocol, which would begin to combat climate
change. The same U.S. companies that fuel America’s oil addiction
and oppose the Kyoto Protocol are also backing the war against
Iraq. The British Government has recently announced that one of the
top five priorities for foreign policy is securing access to energy
supplies. Yet Blair still denies that an attack on Iraq has
anything to do with oil.
