Syria and Iran are next US targets, says Higgins

Syria and Iran will be the next targets of a US-led attack, according to the Labour spokesman on Foreign Affairs, Mr Michael …

Syria and Iran will be the next targets of a US-led attack, according to the Labour spokesman on Foreign Affairs, Mr Michael D. Higgins.

Speaking at a joint press conference of groups opposed to the war in Iraq, Mr Higgins said that the US and Britain had used the pretext that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction as a reason for war.

"First we heard Jack Straw say that Iraq had a nuclear bomb. Then, it was biological and chemical weapons. Recently it's been about regime change. Now we here that Syria has a bomb. Where is this mobile bomb going to end up next,?" asked Mr Higgins.

He also called on the Government to publicly state that the United Nations should be given the "lead role in both the immediate humanitarian effort that is being left to one side, the rebuilding of Iraq which has been grossly under-costed, and the establishment of political and civil institutions in Iraq".

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"While jubilant images of statues of Saddam Hussein being toppled dominate the media, there is less space given to those shocking pictures we have seen in recent days of innocent Iraqi children suffering the brutal effects of the bombing," added Mr Higgins.

"We will learn what type of people we are in the West in coming weeks as civilians are left to die, ignored by Fox media and Sky who will by then be doing wall-to-wall interviews with US and British generals."

Also at the press conference was Green MEP, Ms Patricia McKenna who said that post-war Iraq would go the way of Afghanistan.

"Yesterday's scenes in Baghdad were reminiscent of Kabul in November 2001 when the Taliban were overthrown," said Ms McKenna, "but for most Afghans American 'liberation' has meant the return of rival warlords, harsh repression, rampant lawlessness, widespread torture and Taliban-style policing of women."

Mr Kieron Allen of the Irish Anti-War Movement (IAWM) it was wrong for people to compare the toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime in Baghdad to the fall of the Berlin Wall or the collapse of communist governments in eastern Europe.

"People in eastern Europe weren't bombed prior to the falling of the Berlin Wall or the collapse of their governments. That's a big difference to what's happening in Iraq," he said.

A protest at the use of Shannon for US military purposes will be held at the Airport this Saturday. Protesters will meet in Shannon town centre at 2 p.m. before marching to the facility.