- sympathy with the victims and survivors of this horrific act
- massacre needs to be seen in wider context of us culture of violence including foreign policy
- Obama should stop slaughtering innocents abroad as a first step in stemming violence
The Irish Anti-war Movement (IAWM) issued a statement today expressing sincere sympathy with the victims, survivors and families affected by the horrific killings at Sandy Hook School in Connecticut earlier this week but noted that the massacre must be seen in a wider context of a culture of violence perpetuated by successive US Governments.

The IAWM statement noted that the US is brimming with violence on many fronts, not least its foreign policy and its treatment of innocent people outside of the USA.

The statement noted: “America is the only country in the world perpetually at war: in 2011-2012 alone, the US military was killing people in nine different countries, from Afghanistan to Yemen. Since World War II, the US has engaged in over fifty military operations abroad (72 according to investigative journalist John Pilger) killing some four million people. If you consider the total massacres by proxies and surrogates (think Indonesia, Chile, Israel etc.) the number is closer to five million. There are approximately 400,000 Americans currently stationed in almost 1,000 overseas military bases.”

The statement continued: “There are 192 million firearms owned by Americans, more than any other society in the world with the rate of death from firearms three times that of France and Canada, fourteen times greater than Ireland and two hundred and fifty times greater than Japan. The U.S. has more prisoners, per capita, than any country on earth (25% of all the prisoners in the world). Is it any wonder that violent acts like that which occurred at Sandy Hook happen when such a culture of violence is perpetuated by the US government?”

Jim Roche, PRO of the IAWM said: “Following his tears in Connecticut, Barack Obama will sit down with his military advisers and choose the next victims from his ‘kill list’ as he has done for several years now. This will almost inevitably lead to the slaughter of innocent children by Drone attack in some far off place. The UK based Bureau of Investigative Journalism reports that, between 2004 and June 2012, at least 357 Drone strikes have occurred in Pakistan alone (more than 300 under the Obama administration) with at least 2,464 people killed, including a minimum of 168 children.”

He concluded by noting that: “The horrific violent act in Sandy Hook, for which we all feel incredible sympathy for the people involved, must be analysed in the context of the violent militaristic culture that permeates throughout the USA and that also informs the US Government’s foreign policy—a policy that causes so much suffering to innocents around the world. As well as addressing its home-grown violence any meaningful action by the US Government must include, at a minimum, Barack Obama immediately ceasing Drone attacks and seriously reviewing aggressive US foreign policy that has led to so many awful destructive wars.”