Dear Friends for Peace,
The Canadian Peace Congress condemns the murders of Iranian General Soleimani and others in the motorcade leaving Baghdad International Airport on January 3rd, 2020 as an act of war by the United States against Iraq and Iran.
This American criminal action is an act of aggression, a violation of the UN Charter and every norm of international law. It places the entire world at risk of a generalised war. The excuses offered by the United States government for this barbarity reflect their hypocrisy, their complete lack of morality, their contempt for law, their contempt for civilized behavior.
We must remember that the US forces in Iraq are invading and occupying forces that destroyed Iraq in the years since their invasion of 2003. The invasion began with the murders of thousands of people in the “shock and awe” campaign on the very first day, continued with their show trial and murder of President Hussein and continues to the present, along with their invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and their invasion and occupation of Syria. Millions have died as a result.
The untold suffering caused by the illegal US economic embargo on Iran, in violation of the UN Charter and the Rome Statute concerning collective punishment of civilian populations, is well known and is also an act of war.
This is not the first assassination of Iranian citizens by the United States. The Americans, with Israeli help, have carried out multiple assassinations of Iranian scientists and officials in the past and have repeatedly threatened to kill the country’s leadership.
These are the actions of criminals. Therefore, we call on the International Criminal Court to condemn the American actions as a war crime even if it has no jurisdiction over them and we call on the SecurityCouncil to refer the matter to the ICC, thereby giving the ICC the jurisdiction it needs to file war crimes charges against Donald Trump and all the officials involved.
We condemn the support given to the American action by the Canadian government, which makes it complicit in this crime. We call on the people of Canada to engage in mass protests against this crime and demand that the Government of Canada condemn the American action as the crime it is, as the grave danger to world peace that it is.
We also call on the Canadian government to withdraw all its forces in Iraq, which are in violation of the UN Charter and the National Defence Act.
Peace can only come from international cooperation, diplomacy and adherence to international law. It does not come from acts of war and murder.
We call on the USA to abandon its aggressive policies towards Iran and hope that Iran can find a way to avoid a general war even in the face of these grave provocations by the United States.
On Behalf of the Executive of the Canadian Peace Congress,
Laura Savinkoff, Christopher Black
Vice-President Director
