Don’t believe a word when the Spanish government says that our brother died in a "regrettable accident", or that there were snipers or that he knew the risks.
Don’t believe a word when the Spanish government says that his death will be used by the Iraqi regime, or that his death could inflame public opinion and that it’s better to put it behind us, or that it’s all a "surprise."
They MURDERED our brother.
The mercenaries of the Empire MURDERED him. They want no eyewitnesses. They want no voices other than their Disneyland news channels, where bombs are "smart," wars are "humanitarian," and civilian deaths are "collateral damage."
They MURDERED our brother to send a message to the media: it’s their way or the cemetery.
They MURDERED him with all the impunity of the powerful, knowing that no explanations will have to be given, that the courts can be brushed aside and the truth will never come out.
In these sad days, we, David, Barbara and Javier, couldn’t help but wonder: If they’re capable of MURDERING a journalist with credentials like our brother in the very center of Baghdad in full view of the international community, what won’t they do to civilians or supposed enemies who get in their way?
These scoundrels are immoral in the name of morality; they crush freedom in the name of defending it; they kill in the name of life.
But there are others who are WORSE. These are, as a poet has said, "oxen that bow their head under the yoke": the cronies, the bootlickers, the accomplices, the hangers-on, the servants, the sidemen, the paper pushers, the flunkies, the stooges and the paid lackeys in the Spanish government that scorn their own people and ally themselves with the Empire.
But here we are: we, like lions ready to raise our heads, THE PEOPLE. We have taken to the street, our fists raised, with our chants, our slogans, our cries, our tears, our songs, our wounds, our resistance and our courage.
Let the powerful take notice! Our people still have enough dignity left to face down your death and barbarism and say that your Empire isn’t ours and that we will fight it to the last.
José Couso, our brother, wherever you are, today we tell you, here arm-in-arm with this courageous people, that we despise the wars of the rich and that BUSH, BLAIR and AZNAR have one name alone:
MURDERERS!!
David, Barbara and Javier Couso Permuy. Madrid, April 10, 2003.
