Red Rag

As Christopher Sheil noted, the US Army’s attack on the new Iraqi trade union federation’s headquarters was raised as an Early Day Motion in the British parliament. The Guardian’s Kevin McGuire offers this brief follow-up:

More than 20 MPs signed an early day motion condemning the raid and Barnes tackled Peter Hain, leader of the Commons, about the incident. Mr Hain, a former Foreign Office minister, said he had no information about the swoop but said on the same Saturday morning in Baghdad an operation by US forces seized arms and arrested eight suspected Fedayeen, two of whom face murder charges. The eight arrested trade unionists were subsequently released so the two events cannot be linked. Why did Hain raise another raid that involved the same number of detainees? Barnes is accusing the government of smearing trade unions. No change there then.

Hardly the kind of response that should be expected of a Labour MP (hansard|extract). I would urge everyone who supported the LabourStart campaign to email Peter Hain using both this web form and this email address. This is the message I sent (feel free to cut and paste):

Dear Mr Hain,

On 6 December, American troops ransacked the temporary offices of the Iraqi Federation of Workers’ Trade Unions (IFTU). It is reported that the soldiers destroyed IFTU’s property, smashed their windows, pulled down posters and banners condemning terrorism, and blacked out the organisation’s name on the front of the building. They also handcuffed and removed eight IFTU officials, taking them to an unknown location. These men were released without charge on 7 December.

When Mr Harry Barnes raised the matter in question time, you replied that “the Foreign and Commonwealth Office always, under a Labour Government, takes a progressive line on trade unions”, but went on to mention a raid conducted “on the morning of 6 December in Baghdad, which resulted in the recovery of a significant quantity of arms and ammunition and the arrest of eight suspected fedayeen, two of whom now face murder charges.”

I am appalled that a Labour MP would stoop to such a disgraceful attack on the character of the new, democratic trade unions of Iraq. The raid you described was unconnected with the raid on IFTU, and yet you were quite prepared to link the two and suggest that IFTU is merely a front for the fedayeen, and that its officials might be murderers.

I urge you to correct the record by making clear to Parliament that the raid on IFTU was not the raid you mentioned on 11 December. Furthermore, I implore you to make urgent representations to the United States authorities seeking an investigation into the incident at IFTU’s headquarters.

If Labour really takes a progressive approach to Iraq’s fledgling trade unions, then it is the least you could do.

Yours sincerely,

Robert Corr

To smear the Iraqi trade unions by falsely linking them with terrorism is to rub salt into their wounds.