Iraq Follow

Next week sees the third anniversary of the great London demonstration against war in Iraq of 15 February 2003. Andrew Murray, chair of the Stop the War Coalition, and leading anti?war activist Jane Shallice look back.

The family of Lance Corporal Allan Douglas, the 99th British soldier to die in Iraq, joined a vigil in Aberdeen last week to mark the death of the 100th British soldier.

People took part in vigils and protests across Britain this week after the tragic death of the 100th British soldier in Iraq.

The US can draw little comfort from the recent elections in Iraq. The poll itself is mired in controversy, with both the winners and losers accusing each other of ballot rigging and political manipulation.

Bush and Blair’s illegal and immoral war on Iraq claimed another life on Tuesday of this week as, tragically, the 100th British soldier died.

At the final session of the World Social Forum (WSF) in Caracas, Venezuela, on behalf of the Stop the War Coalition, I made the call for a global day of protest on 18 March against the occupation of Iraq and any further new wars.

The US military have been holding the wives of suspected Iraqi resistance fighters as hostages despite repeated denials by the US and British government.

People took part in vigils and protests across Britain this week after the tragic death of the 100th British soldier in Iraq. The anti-war protesters demanded that British troops are withdrawn immediately from Iraq. In many places protesters read out the names of the British and Iraqi dead.

At the final session of the World Social Forim in Caracas, Venezuela, on behalf of the Stop the War Coalition I made the call for a global day of protest against the occupation of Iraq and any further new wars on 18 March. This was the first activity agreed at the activist assembly of the World Social Forum which brought together more than 100,000 people representing social movements, trade unions and anti-war groups attending the Social Forum.

Up to 100 demonstrators from Nottingham Student Peace Group and Nottingham Stop the War forced Tony Blair to sneak into Labour’s national policy forum meeting through the back door last Saturday.

After the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Kurdish region was held up as a democratic model for the country. But today it is ribboned with anger and disillusion.

The bodies of eight Iraqis, including two children, were recovered from the rubble of this home in the northern Iraqi city of Baiji on 3 January. US warplanes bombed the house after claiming they had seen two resistance fighters enter, later admitting their error. Added to the human cost of the war are the economic costs. Nobel prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz said last week that they could exceed a trillion US dollars, enough to provide universal basic services across the world for ten years