Never again...an event to mark six months since the invasion of Iraq, to remember all those killed as a result - Iraqi civilians and soldiers, British and American soldiers, journalists and civilian/NGO staff - and to tell the stories of a tiny fraction of these individuals. The event will call for the US/UK to be held responsible for their criminal invasion and demand an end to the US/UK military occupation.

The event will include pictures of those killed, together with readings about these people (see eg. 'Samar's Story' below) and the laying of flowers, wreaths and tributes. Organised by voices uk, 0845 458 2564; www.voicesuk.org

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
On the 19th March Tony Blair and George Bush launched an illegal attack on Iraq, which has thus far resulted in the deaths of over 20,000 Iraqis. However, unlike the deaths of US and British soldiers - or those killed in the 9/11 atrocities - these deaths appear to have been all but forgotten here in the West. Even when they are mentioned they usually feature as a mere statistic, not as real flesh-and-blood human beings.

So far between 6,000 - 8,000 Iraqi civilians, 13,500 Iraqi soldiers and 340 "coalition" forces have died in the invasion and occupation of Iraq [1].

Today, Iraq lies in chaos and US/UK forces - attacked on an almost daily basis - continue to kill Iraqi civilians with apparent impunity. See eg. Robert Fisk's recent article 'Secret slaughter by night, lies and blind eyes by day' (Independent on Sunday, 14th September 2003) in which he estimates that perhaps as many as 1,000 Iraqis are being killed each week in family feuds, looting, revenge attacks, at US checkpoints and in the increasingly vicious raids by US forces:
 http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=40&ItemID=4208

SAMAR'S STORY [2]
Samar Hussein (13) was killed in March when a missile struck her parents farm in Manaria, roughly 30 miles from Baghdad. She was in the kitchen when the missile landed and the explosion was close enough for shrapnel to cut through the house's stone walls and slice into Samar's stomach. Samar's mother Hamida told the Independent 'She just fell. I could see blood coming from her stomach. She was gasping, 'Mama, Mama' ... It was so terrible.
There were others hurt, and everyone was crying and screaming. We had to wait for a car because ours was so badly damaged. But I knew my Samar would not last until we got to the hospital. And that is what happened - she died in my arms.'

'Samar's formal education had ended earlier this year, when she had been taken out of school to help with the farm. But she loved reading, and wrote the family's letters for them,' Kim Sengupta reports.

"She made me promise her that when we could afford it she would go back to school,' her father Jasem said. "Maybe it would have been possible, but now that is all gone. I do not know why they did this, I do not understand."

ENDNOTES

[1] For Iraqi civilian casualties see www.iraqbodycount.org. Figures derived from a comprehensive survey of online media reports and eyewitness accounts, independently reviewed and error-checked by the Iraq Body Count project team. For estimates of Iraqi military casualties see 'Body Counts'(Guardian, 28th May 2003):
www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,965089,00.html. For "coalition"
forces see www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2003/iraq/forces/casualties/index.html.
[2] A full list of pictures and readings from the event will be available
shortly on the Voices UK web-site: www.voicesuk.org.