Friday 19 September 2003, London
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.
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, 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.
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.
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Comments
Hide the following 11 comments
Iraq is not under occupation
19.09.2003 11:41
Rockwell
give it up mate!
19.09.2003 13:52
Get a life m8!
;-)
Coalition forces don't want to stay in Iraq any longer than necessary
19.09.2003 14:55
Rockwell
The Real Issue
19.09.2003 15:24
concerned, of Basingstoke
Spin on it
19.09.2003 15:36
Spinster
Rockwell is right at one poitn though
19.09.2003 17:15
Could they possibly abandon th poor people of Iraq?
The answer is they all abandon their weapons and do permaculture in the middle of the western desert after making a huge apologetical statement.
Maybe they can grow ganja. I will be more than happy to go down their occasionally and show them some tricks of the trade.
Whatever happens we do not want them back here.
ram
apparently1000 Iraqis amonth die
19.09.2003 17:42
What Iraq needs is help doing what it wants not having American Imperialism forced on them. How would you feal having Islam forced upone you, for tham thats proberbly how they feal about the American dream.
Cat
The only alternative is UN control of Iraq
19.09.2003 17:50
Rockwell
You Are A Joke
19.09.2003 20:03
Stuey
e-mail:
stuey@surfanytime.co.uk
Poor Rockwell
19.09.2003 20:11
How to deal with such a total rebutting of all your arguments?
Rockwell has a novel stratagy, "We cannot leave the poor iraqis to their own devices, we must stay and help!"
Can I ask a question, if a man broke into your house and trashed the place would you want him to stay so that he could repair the damage?
If someone shot your child would you ask him to look after their brothers and sisters to make up for it?
We were told this is a war for democracy, so lets try it. Hand control to the UN, set a date of three months for elections and leave.
However thats not going to happen unless we make it happen, see you all at the demo (except possibly Rocky!)
Sonic
It will take time but we are getting there!
20.09.2003 12:47
No believes that! Even the anti-war brigade were over the moon when Saddam's regime collapsed and now that the regime has gone thousands of Iraqi exiles will be able to return to their homeland. The country is a mess, but then every country is a mess in the first few months after a war. It took Europe many years to recover from World War II. And Iraq is not going to be like Disneyland so soon after a war to oust Saddam! It will take a long time to rebuild Iraq but coalition forces are getting there. While you lot moan and whine, coalition forces are out in the thick of it risking life and limb to restore order and rebuild Iraq. Even if you didn't agree with the war support our troops now in their effort to bring peace and stability to a long suffering land!
Rockwell