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<a href="http://www.worldtribunal.org/main/?b=1">
http://www.worldtribunal.org/main/?b=1</a>#<br>
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Opening Speech <br>
Arundhati Roy <br><br>
OPENING STATEMENT OF ARUNDHATI ROY ON BEHALF OF THE JURY OF CONSCIENCE OF
THE WORLD TRIBUNAL OF IRAQ <br><br>
ISTANBUL, TURKEY <br><br>
24 June 2005 <br><br>
This is the culminating session of the World Tribunal on Iraq. It is of
particular significance that it is being held here in Turkey where the
United States used Turkish air bases to launch numerous bombing missions
to degrade Iraq’s defenses before the March 2003 invasion and has sought
and continues to seek political support from the Turkish government,
which it regards as an ally. All this was done in the face of enormous
popular opposition by the Turkish people. As a spokesperson for the jury
of conscience, it would make me uneasy if I did not mention that the
government of India is also, like the government of Turkey, positioning
itself as a “ally” of the United States in its economic policies and the
so-called War on Terror. <br><br>
The testimonies at the previous sessions of the World Tribunal on Iraq in
Brussels and New York have demonstrated that even those of us who have
tried to follow the war in Iraq closely are not aware of a fraction of
the horrors that have been unleashed in Iraq. <br><br>
The Jury of Conscience at this tribunal is not here to deliver a simple
verdict of guilty or not guilty against the United States and its allies.
We are here to examine a vast spectrum of evidence about the motivations
and consequences of the U.S. invasion and occupation, evidence that has
been deliberately marginalized or suppressed. Every aspect of the war
will be examined - its legality, the role of international institutions
and major corporations in the occupation, the role of the media, the
impact of weapons such as depleted uranium munitions, napalm, and cluster
bombs, the use of and legitimation of torture, the ecological impacts of
the war, the responsibility of Arab governments, the impact of Iraq’s
occupation on Palestine, and the history of U.S. and British military
interventions in Iraq. This tribunal is an attempt to correct the record.
To document the history of the war not from the point of view of the
victors but of the temporarily - and I repeat the word temporarily -
vanquished. <br><br>
Before the testimonies begin, I would like to briefly address as
straightforwardly as I can a few questions that have been raised about
this tribunal. <br><br>
The first is that this tribunal is a Kangaroo Court. That it represents
only one point of view. That it is a prosecution without a defense. That
the verdict is a foregone conclusion. <br>
Now this view seems to suggest a touching concern that in this harsh
world, the views of the U.S. government and the so-called Coalition of
the Willing headed by President George Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair
have somehow gone unrepresented. That the World Tribunal on Iraq isn’t
aware of the arguments in support of the war and is unwilling to consider
the point of view of the invaders. If in the era of the multinational
corporate media and embedded journalism anybody can seriously hold this
view, then we truly do live in the Age of Irony, in an age when satire
has become meaningless because real life is more satirical than satire
can ever be. <br><br>
Let me say categorically that this tribunal is the defense. It is an act
of resistance in itself. It is a defense mounted against one of the most
cowardly wars ever fought in history, a war in which international
institutions were used to force a country to disarm and then stood by
while it was attacked with a greater array of weapons than has ever been
used in the history of war. <br><br>
Second, this tribunal is not in any way a defense of Saddam Hussein. His
crimes against Iraqis, Kurds, Iranians, Kuwaitis, and others cannot be
written off in the process of bringing to light Iraq’s more recent and
still unfolding tragedy. However, we must not forget that when Saddam
Hussein was committing his worst crimes, the U.S. government was
supporting him politically and materially. When he was gassing Kurdish
people, the U.S. government financed him, armed him, and stood by
silently. <br><br>
Saddam Hussein is being tried as a war criminal even as we speak. But
what about those who helped to install him in power, who armed him, who
supported him - and who are now setting up a tribunal to try him and
absolve themselves completely? And what about other friends of the United
States in the region that have suppressed Kurdish people’s and other
people’s rights, including the government of Turkey? <br><br>
There are remarkable people gathered here who in the face of this
relentless and brutal aggression and propaganda have doggedly worked to
compile a comprehensive spectrum of evidence and information that should
serve as a weapon in the hands of those who wish to participate in the
resistance against the occupation of Iraq. It should become a weapon in
the hands of soldiers in the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy,
Australia, and elsewhere who do not wish to fight, who do not wish to lay
down their lives - or to take the lives of others - for a pack of lies.
It should become a weapon in the hands of journalists, writers, poets,
singers, teachers, plumbers, taxi drivers, car mechanics, painters,
lawyers - anybody who wishes to participate in the resistance. <br><br>
The evidence collated in this tribunal should, for instance, be used by
the International Criminal Court (whose jurisdiction the United States
does not recognize) to try as war criminals George Bush, Tony Blair, John
Howard, Silvio Berlusconi, and all those government officials, army
generals, and corporate CEOs who participated in this war and now profit
from it. <br><br>
The assault on Iraq is an assault on all of us: on our dignity, our
intelligence, and our future. <br><br>
We recognize that the judgment of the World Tribunal on Iraq is not
binding in international law. However, our ambitions far surpass that.
The World Tribunal on Iraq places its faith in the consciences of
millions of people across the world who do not wish to stand by and watch
while the people of Iraq are being slaughtered, subjugated, and
humiliated. <br>
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