Anti-war movement calls for end of US "truimphalism"

The Irish Anti-War Movement today called on the media to challenge the triumphalism of Bush, Blair and Bremer after the capture of Saddam Hussein.

“While nobody will shed any tears for the brutal former dictator, the idea that the capture of Saddam by US forces is a step towards democracy and peace for Iraq is ludicrous”, stated Richard Boyd Barrett.

“When American soldiers toppled his statue in April, we were told that this was the ‘tipping point’ and now the Iraqi people would now welcome the invaders as liberators.

"It was a lie then and it is a lie now”, he added.

“The spectacle of an unkempt, old man hiding in a hole in the ground gives the lie to the previous claims that he was directing the growing resistance in Iraq.

"The mass of the Iraqi people reject the US and UK occupation and demand that the invaders leave now”, he added.

“When Bremer announced that ‘We got him’, it was the triumphal cry by one dictator celebrating the capture of another.

"Bremer came to power over the dead bodies of tens of thousands of Iraqi people and deserves, like Bush, Blair and Saddam, to face trial for crimes against the Iraqi people.”

“Bertie Ahern should stop expressing false sympathy for the Iraqi people and, instead, throw the US war machine out of Shannon," Mr. Boyd Barrett added.