Memorial for 20,000 dead to mark six-months of occupation: Friday September 19th, 6.30pm, Parliament Square: Activists will be marking the six-month anniversary of the invasion of Iraq with a memorial ceremony to remember the thousands who have died during the invasion and occupation. Placards, each bearing the name and picture of one of the dead, will be displayed at a candle-lit vigil accompanied by short readings.
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 [2].
A spokesperson for voices [1] said: ‘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.
‘We are gathering today to remember all those who have been killed – civilians, soldiers, UN workers, journalists and aid workers – and to tell the stories of a tiny fraction. We are also here
to demand that the US and British governments are held responsible for this criminal invasion and its consequences.
‘Today, Iraq lies in chaos and US/UK forces - attacked on an almost daily basis - continue to kill Iraqi civilians with apparent impunity. This cannot be allowed to continue. The US/UK military occupation of Iraq must end.’
NOTES
[1] Established in 1998 to campaign against the economic sanctions on Iraq, voices uk has sent 11 sanctions-breaking delegations to Iraq and organised numerous anti-war actions, both big and small. See www.voicesuk.org.
[2] 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.
Comments
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VoicesUK
17.09.2003 10:00
SIX MONTHS ON - A MEMORIAL FOR ALL THOSE KILLED IN THE INVASION OF IRAQ
6.30-8pm, Parliament Square, opposite the Houses of Parliament. Please bring flowers, wreaths and tributes.
Never again...an event to mark six months since the invasion of Iraq and to remember all those killed as a result - Iraqi civilians and soldiers, British and American soldiers, journalists and civilian/NGO staff. The memorial will call for the US and UK governments to be held accountable for the thousands of casualties in Iraq and for the on-going suffering of the Iraqi people. The event will include readings, testimonies and the laying of flowers, wreaths and tributes. Organised by Voices UK
Sian Glaessner
Homepage:
http://: http://www.voicesuk.org
What are STWC's aims
17.09.2003 14:27
The stop the war coalition have stated they want self determination for the Iraq people, but isn't that just what the coalition forces have promised, to hand over power to an Iraqi civilian government as soon as Iraq can be stabilised and an Iraqi civilian government and authorities in place to take over. This can't be rushed and it will take many months before power can be handed over to the Iraqis themselves, so what do the stop the war coalition actualy want? They are making a fuss over nothing. Can't they see the war is over?
Rockwell
Hmm
17.09.2003 15:41
The call, from the organisers of this event as I understand it is for an End to the Military Occupation of Iraq. There are of course a range of alternatives for the future of Iraq, but surely all would agree that Iraq should be run by Iraqis without foreign interference in their electoral, legal or commercial processes. That would not rule out foreign assistance.
This is, as I see it, a memorial event with a solemn tone focusing on the human cost of the war.
Reader
The occupation can't be ended just yet!
18.09.2003 09:09
That is exactly what the coalition forces are planning to do, hand over power to the Iraqi people. But they cannot hand over power yet until Iraq has been stabiliesed and the extreme lawlessness and chaos has been stopped, otherwise a civilian Iraqi government would simply not be able to cope.
On another point the STWC are complaining about the 20,000 deaths in Iraq since the occupation. Most of those deaths are due to Saddam loyalists who have been attacking coalition forces and terrorising the Iraqi people!
Rockwell
Rockwell: The latest government gimp on IMC
18.09.2003 10:53
Well, no actually. Try telling the 150-plus US/UK troops and the hundreds of Iraqis who've been killed since Bush nauseatingly declared "victory" in March that the war is over.
Try telling the millions of Iraqis with no law/order/food/water that the war is over.
Try telling the US govt, who now want to attack Iran/Cuba/North Korea/Syria that the war is over.
And as for this "Saddam loyalists" being behind every shooting crap, I suggest you take your head out of the government spokesman's arse and find out a few things for yourself.
Like for instance the fact that most of the attacks on the ILLEGAL occupying forces are taking place in the parts of Iraq most hostile to the Ba'ath party and the Saddam regime.
And the fact that despite US/UK "promises" of self-determination, the date for this has been shoved further and further down the schedule and no longer exists. The US recently rejected a UN dateline for the establishment of Iraqi democracy.
They don't want it. A democratic Iraq could elect whoever it wanted. The US only wants governments that it approves off. Democracy is a useful buzzword to impress gimps like Rockwell, but is acutally a bit of an inconvenience as far as the new world order is concerned.
You are either a government plant or a very gullible stooge, Rockwell. Either way you're painfully off the mark.
Stop the War!
Mad Monk
You are so wrong!
18.09.2003 13:33
In 12months time when the Iraqi people elect their first democratic government you will see how wrong you were in your oponions. You can't automatically claim the US and British governments are evil all the time. For a start the Iraqi people are now much better off than they were under Saddam's brutal rule. Something to be glad about.
Rockwell
Talking bollocks like a good little boy
18.09.2003 14:28
Mad Monk
bring them home now
21.09.2003 11:11
The obituaries that are proliferating slowly but steadily in hometown newspapers are becoming a political liability to an administration that lied about 'yellow cake uranium' and WMD and al Qaeda to get us into Iraq, and now feels compelled to keep lying about who is picking away at US forces. (Rumsfeld went so far once as to suggest that escaped Iraqi convicts were doing it. Shooting at Americans is just not the 'liberated' thing to do.)
Our troops are being used as occupiers, in a nation that has shown itself to be stubbornly hostile to occupation. This is a disadvantage that if the resistance persists, and it seems it will shall not go away. We've been here before. I was here before. Vietnam.
My son mentioned that soldiers are very depressed and tired and want to leave that country. Unfortunately, my son will be there until March 2004. I personally think that our soldiers should be sent home now! There is nothing more our troops can do over there in Iraq. The Iraqi people have been oppressed for 25 to 30 years by Saddam Hussein. United States can not repeat can not change the ways and lifestyles of the Iraqi people in 5 years not even in 10 years. The Iraqi people have their own set minds, their own way of life, and they probably do not want change, but just want to live their lives without interference from the United States or any country. Robert is my only son, and there are so many young men and women who are serving in the armed forces to protect our country. So many of our soldiers have died and when it is all over, it will really amount to nothing as for the reason our troops were sent and killed in Iraq. Most all of our troops do not know why they are fighting this war.
un
No one lied about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction
24.09.2003 16:28
By 2003 Iraq had still failed to account for all its banned weapons. If Iraq no longer had those unaccounted weapons it was for Iraq to account for their destruction not for the allies to prove Iraq still had them. Iraq failed to account for those weapons and failed to show evidence of their destruction so Iraq was in breach of the 1991 Gulf War ceasefire conditions and liable to invasion by the allies.
Iraq couldn't be given the benefit of the doubt as this would be too dangerous to do. It had to provide proof of destruction of unaccounted for WMD for it to stay within the 1991 Gulf War ceasefire conditions.
The evidence presented to the British and American governments by the CIA and MI5 was accepted by both Parliaments are reasonable evidence. It was debated by both countries Palriaments and a majority of MPs decided that military action was the right course to take. There was no cover up. Everything concerning Iraq was done publically and democratically in Parliament
Rockwell