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Australia-New Zealand Bank Making a Killing in Iraq

In a press release issued today, Global Peace and Justice Auckland (GPJA) accused the Australia and New Zealand bank, the ANZ, of "making a killing in Iraq".


The ANZ is part of the consortium set up by the US occupation to manage the Trade Bank of Iraq, and the ANZ plays a key role in promoting the interests of western businesses in Iraq.

"The consortium encourages the importation of products from the west to flood the Iraqi market, making Iraq dependent on outside business to the detriment of it´s own economy," according to GPJA.

They said that elite state interests in the UK and US, and the multinational corporations they protect, profit from the Iraqi war and enhance their economic control. Meanwhile the Iraqi people pay the price in blood and poverty - with 100,000 dead and unemployment reaching 70%.

GPJA are holding a protest march to the ANZ on Saturday March 19th following a picket at US Consulate in Auckland.

The march is in conjunction with the Global Day of Action marking the second anniversary of the military and economic occupation of Iraq, the brutality of which generates growing resistance.

As an Iraqi union leader pointed out in the February 18 UK Guardian: "Bush and Blair should remember that those who voted in last month"s elections in Iraq are as hostile to the occupation as those who boycotted them."

GPJA is calling for the ANZ to withdraw support from the murderous occupation and to immediately end their contracts in Iraq.

They are also demanding an end to the occupation of Iraq, and the withdrawal of all foreign troops.