Iraq 2006 - news archive

This does not bode well for the coming year. No one imagined the madmen would actually do it during a religious holiday. It is religiously unacceptable and before, it was constitutionally illegal. We thought we'd at least get a few days of peace and some time to enjoy the Eid holiday, which coincides with the New Year this year. We've spent the first two days of a holy holiday watching bits and pieces of a sordid lynching.

We've shut him up. The moment Saddam's hooded executioner pulled the lever of the trapdoor in Baghdad yesterday morning, Washington's secrets were safe. The shameless, outrageous, covert military support which the United States - and Britain - gave to Saddam for more than a decade remains the one terrible story which our presidents and prime ministers do not want the world to remember. And now Saddam, who knew the full extent of that Western support - given to him while he was perpetrating some of the worst atrocities since the Second World War - is dead.

On December 30th, 2006, former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was executed by hanging just hours after the Americans handed him over to the Iraqi authorities. Saudi Arabia criticised Iraq's Shi'ite leaders for executing former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein during the Eid al-Adha religious feast. Human Rights Watch came out against the execution stating that the execution "following a deeply flawed trial for crimes against humanity marks a significant step away from respect for human rights and the rule of law in Iraq."

The tendency to treat Saddam and Iraq in a historical vacuum, and in isolation from the superpowers, however, has hidden from Americans their own culpability in the horror show that has been Iraq for the past few decades. Initially, the US used the Baath Party as a nationalist foil to the Communists. Then Washington used it against Iran. The welfare of Iraqis themselves appears to have been on no one's mind, either in Washington or in Baghdad.

The execution of Saddam Hussain is a missed opportunity for justice and history. We could have had a trial that examined all his crimes and placed them on the historical record, as Nuremberg did. Such a trial would have served the interests of justice and be a foundation for the future of Iraq. Instead we got a deeply flawed process that produced the required result: a death sentence, for only one of his many crimes.

There ware a couple of vested interests that brought about this squalid execution; the Iraqi puppet government wanted vengeance and to hell with due process ( the trial judge is on record as saying Saddam should have been executed without a trial) and the Americans, along with other Gulf states, who wanted him silenced before he could spill the beans on their support for him and his murderous activities.

For some reason I just *know* there's some bad news to be buried today, as Saddam having his neck stretched is for some unfathomable reason all over everywhere (my opinion - how much worse can it possibly make it? I foresee no mass revenge attacks in the next few days. This will be presented as a victory). Now, where's that bad news? Ah, yes: John Scarlett, who took responsibility for the error-ridden dossier that justified the war in Iraq, is knighted in today's New Year's Honours list.

In the aftermath of the international crimes against humanity of 2001 we have tortured, we have murdered, we have brutalised and killed the innocent - we have even added our shame at Abu Ghraib to Saddam's shame at Abu Ghraib - and yet we are supposed to forget these terrible crimes as we applaud the swinging corpse of the dictator we created.

So Saddam Hussein was hanged at dawn today. Luckily for US and UK he was killed before any details of Western complicity emerged at a fair trial for his crimes against humanity, mass murder and use of chemical weapons against his own people in Halabja. Although that is what his death is being touted as in some of the media.

The execution of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein serves not justice, but the political purposes of the Bush administration and its Iraqi stooges. The manner in which the execution was carried out—hurriedly, secretively, in the dark of night, in a mockery of any semblance of legal process—only underscores the lawless and reactionary character of the entire American enterprise in Iraq.

You know your country is in trouble when:

1. The UN has to open a special branch just to keep track of the chaos and bloodshed, UNAMI.
2. Abovementioned branch cannot be run from your country.
3. The politicians who worked to put your country in this sorry state can no longer be found inside of, or anywhere near, its borders.
4. The only thing the US and Iran can agree about is the deteriorating state of your nation.
5. An 8-year war and 13-year blockade are looking like the country's 'Golden Years'.
6. Your country is purportedly 'selling' 2 million barrels of oil a day, but you are standing in line for 4 hours for black market gasoline for the generator.
7. For every 5 hours of no electricity, you get one hour of public electricity and then the government announces it's going to cut back on providing that hour.
8. Politicians who supported the war spend tv time debating whether it is 'sectarian bloodshed' or 'civil war'.
9. People consider themselves lucky if they can actually identify the corpse of the relative that's been missing for two weeks.

We blockade the gates of Northwood, the nerve centre of all British forces deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq, in defense of the children of Afghanistan and Iraq. We are inspired by those members of the military refusing to deploy and military families who are saying no to the deaths of their chilkdren and the killing of the Afghani and Iraqi children. We are inspired by all those involved in nonviolent resistance to this war.

British officials are to explain to the authorities in Basra why coalition troops demolished the headquarters of the city's Serious Crime Unit. UK forces say Iraqis are still supporting them despite anger over the raid on a police station, and discussions will follow. A British officer said the destruction of the base has made Basra safer. Mohammed al Abadi, head of the city's council, had said the raid was illegal and threatened to stop co-operation.

How about this for a piece of prose. Margaret Beckett, asked on radio yesterday whether she opposed the latest report that claims the war in Iraq has made the world more dangerous, said: "Well, yes, I might well, um, yes, it's a very serious, um, discussion and it's not, um, er, one for doing in two seconds early in the morning, but I would say that a lot of these contentions are flawed, er, but certainly the underlying thesis that we've been because it's not just in America or Iraq the argument is that we don't have any influence in Europe." Maybe this is a new low in journalism, because they were clearly interviewing the poor woman so early in the morning she was talking in her sleep.

Just to remind you, The Sun headline was "BRITS 45 mins FROM DOOM - Cyprus within missile range". That link is well worth reading for a reminder of the way the government allowed friendly journalists to do their dirty work for them. Buff has admitted on the record that he always knew that those stories were exaggerated and Beckett now admits that the government were quickly unsure that the claim even had any basis in fact. And the government's defence for allowing the public (the less cynical ones anyway) to continue to believe that Brits were 45 minutes from doom is that "no-one thought it was relevant".

The British parliament, even more supine than its US equivalent, voted against any official inquiry (not even a Hutton) on British involvement in the war, when they knew that a majority in the country was opposed to a continuation of this conflict. Blair's ideological zealotry has helped destroy Iraq, revive the Taliban in Afghanistan, increase the threat of terror in Britain and introduce repressive laws that were not enforced even in the second world war. His own wretched party and the opposition have acquiesced in these repellent measures. Time for a regime change at home.

Cameron now saying it ' War Raised Terror Risk' (Times). My God, I agree with the Conservative leader.
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We might have still needed to go war, but we should have gone lawfully, carefully, preparedly, with world support, and after humbly listening to what the people living in the Middle East said they wanted as help. Instead, we have this utter disaster, which has bred more disasters, and spilled endless blood, and created a vortex of hate, and yet the Government will not accept their faults, and will not accept the link between their actions and the consequences. For shame.

SO, George Bush says he's prepared to offer dialogue with Syria and even Iran (his so-called axis of evil, until he needs them) in an attempt to find a solution to the catastrophe that was once Iraq.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Sunday British troops would stay in Iraq "until the job is done" and pledged to support the country's weak government as it battles sectarian violence and a raging Sunni Arab insurgency.

Engineering a war of choice is quite distinct from refusing to pay any heed to expert warnings on the outcome of that war. I guess different people will have different views as to which is worse. Either one, on its own, would have been more than enough to force a man of conscience to resign. Blair, on the other hand, is immediately moved to outraged indignation if anyone has the audacity to even begin to suggest that he bears any responsibility for either of these shameful actions.

In the days after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, many women were hopeful that they would enjoy greater parity with men. President Bush said that increasing women's rights was essential to creating a new, democratic Iraq. But interviews with 16 Iraqi women, ranging in age from 21 to 52, show that much of that postwar hope is gone. The younger women say they fear being snatched on their way to school and wonder whether their college degrees will mean anything in the new Iraq. The older women, proud of their education and careers, are watching their independence slip away.

In the testimony revealed today Mr Ross, 40, who helped negotiate several UN security resolutions on Iraq, makes it clear that Mr Blair must have known Saddam Hussein possessed no weapons of mass destruction. He said that during his posting to the UN, "at no time did HMG [Her Majesty's Government] assess that Iraq's WMD (or any other capability) posed a threat to the UK or its interests."

I think this can be seen in the recent victory of the Fairford Coach actions and ongoing Fairford Five Trials. I wonder if the clamp down of dissent we have been seeing stemmed from a fear that is would give a focus to the unraveling of the plot that had been hatched. (If you don't know, the Fairford Coach Trials relate to a couple of coaches of people to were on their way to protest the war at the Gloucestershire US airbase but were illegally detained by the police.)

Nobody is safe. Taysseer Al-Mashadani, the Sunni woman minister from the al-Tawafuq political party was abducted by members of the Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi army militia July 1 this year. After being held for nearly three months, she was only released after much pressure was applied from both the U.S. and Iraqi governments. Thousands of other women have not been so lucky. Many have been executed, assaulted, or released only after their families paid considerable ransom money.

More than 90 per cent of Iraqis believe the country is worse off now than before the war in 2003, according to new research obtained by Al Jazeera. A survey of 2,000 people by the Iraq Centre for Research and Strategic Studies found that 95 per cent of respondents believe the security situation has deteriorated since the arrival of US forces.

Who’s fielding the second biggest occupying force in Iraq, after the US? Nope; it’s not UK plc with its 7,000 troops. Not by a long way. It’s corporations! A recent report estimated that up to 50,000 private military and ‘security’ mercenaries are operating in Iraq, representing over 180 profit hungry corporations – the true ‘coalition of the willing’. As ever with the march of global capitalism, it’s a you-scratch-my-back, I’ll-lick-caviare-off-yours kind of deal and yet more evidence that ethics are a disposable irritant in the accumulation of hard cash.

I had a strange feeling whilst watching yesterday's press conference (Transcript). Looking through the heavy make up to Tony's steely, immobile, unblinking face, was it just me or did he look scared? Not ordinary fear, but the look of a man who realises he is trapped. Bush bounced him into a joint statement on the ISG report and made him stand aside him as he wittered on, disjointed, rambling and utterly unwilling to face reality.

The notion that none of this is the result of faulty planning or in any way down to Bush and Blair's ignorance of the likely consequences of the invasion is based on the claim that what is happening now couldn't have been predicted in advance. This is disingenuous in the extreme. No, I'll go further; it's a bare faced lie.

In short, it looks very much like the exit strategy the ICG recommend is based on the idea that all blame for the failure of this misconceived misadventure should be borne by Iraqis. If adopted, we can expect those involved in this fiasco to start selling the message that "we set them milestones and they failed to achieve them" and "we gave them every chance but they didn't take it" and other variations on the same theme. In fact, some of the neo-cons who urged on the invasion without having the slightest understanding of what post-Saddam, U.S. occupied Iraq would be like, have already been giving this concept an airing. The ICG report prepares the way - after a suitable period of milestone setting - for those inside the Bush administration to start doing the same.

The Bush administration routinely has underreported the level of violence in Iraq in order to disguise its policy failings, the Iraq Study Group report said Wednesday.
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"The standard for recording attacks acts a filter to keep events out of reports and databases," the report said. "A murder of an Iraqi is not necessarily counted as an attack. If we cannot determine the source of a sectarian attack, that assault does not make it into the database. A roadside bomb or a rocket or mortar attack that doesn't hurt U.S. personnel doesn't count."

Al-Sadr is far more open to dialogue with Sunni groups than al-Hakim is ever likely to be. He often calls for calm and reconciliation. He hates the occupying forces far more than he hates Sunnis and he has attempted to work with them to achieve peace in order to bring an end to the occupation. He's also an Iraqi nationalist and believes strongly in preserving a unified Iraq (he opposes federalism, unlike the SCIRI).

Families of soldiers and airmen killed in Iraq have had to pay for documents used at the inquests into their deaths, the Government disclosed last night. Harriet Harman, the Constitutional Affairs Minister, said that in one case a family had paid more than £600 for access to papers the Army and coroner already had. She has pledged to raise the issue with Des Brown, the Defence Secretary.

After a no show yesterday, President Bush met with Prime Minister al-Maliki today. This formally arranged meeting was not held it Iraq but in Jordan. Bush, like Blair, only ever makes "surprise visits to Iraq" for obvious reasons. The fact that neither Bush nor Blair can safely visit the country they "liberated" more than three years ago doesn't seem to get the media coverage it deserves. Perhaps it's just too far off the irony scale to qualify as proper news.

Tony Blair started the war in Iraq without public support. Before the country goes to war again the British people should first decide by means of referendum.

Bush and Blair deliberately exported the "war" on terror to Iraq. Blair might not be so quick to admit it but that is what he signed up to when he agreed to stand "shoulder to shoulder" with Bush at their meeting in Crawford Texas more than four years ago. It was not their fight but Iraqis are now dying for it in their thousands. And yet these same people, the very people who have shown such callous disregard for the consequences of their actions for people in far away lands, now have the audacity to accuse those who wish to bring them to account of not caring about the future of the people of Iraq. They are, as I said, beneath contempt.

It seems that Number Ten have learned a lesson from the US Mid-Term elections and they've wheeled out the deeply incompetent Margaret Beckett to announce that things are going so well that it'll all be over by spring and they will hand over to Iraqi control and withdraw. Spring... as in before the May regional and council elections. Withdraw, as in hide in our bases.

The clearest government timetable yet for Britain's withdrawal from Iraq was set out yesterday when the foreign secretary, Margaret Beckett, said she was confident Britain could hand control of the south of the country to Iraqi forces in spring. It is the first time a British minister has given such an optimistic analysis and was cleared with No 10 before being laid out in the Commons.

Iraq is a very long way from that utopian future today. The U.N. has just announced that there were more identified deaths in Iraq last month than in any other month since the invasion. Sectarian tensions threaten to rip the country apart. The coalition continues to imprison Iraqis for long periods without charge or any form of legal oversight. Women are being increasingly targeted by religious extremists and by kidnappings gangs who exploit them as sex slaves. Every day, corpses are found showing signs of torture and then execution; drilling holes in kneecaps and other body parts seems to be particularly prevalent.

Tony Blair faced accusations last night that he is wasting nearly £7 billion of taxpayers' money on a failing war on terror after announcing massive sums of British aid to Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. In the last three days, the Prime Minister and Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, have trumpeted special funding to the three countries totalling £844 million. This is in addition to the estimated £5 billion cost to British taxpayers of the Iraq war so far, and the £1 billion spent to date on the British deployment in Afghanistan.

Tony Blair has publicly agreed with the opinion that the violence in Iraq since the 2003 invasion has been a disaster. The UK prime minister was responding to a question by Sir David Frost in an interview on the new al-Jazeera English-language Arabic TV channel.

Iraq is, as Maples and Hayden admit, disintegrating into a patchwork of small warring fiefdoms in the model of Afghanistan before the very eyes of the coalition and this sort of disintegration is hugely difficult to stop. The various fiefdoms will increasingly fight each other for control of various areas and resources in an effort to maintain their own security and increase their power. If Iraq is to become reunified and centrally controlled again (again excluding the Kurdish area where a different situation exists) it is likely to be only after one of these fiefdoms succeeds in fighting its way into a position of dominance over the host of other groups now operating all over the country. This could take years or it may not happen at all. Either way, the years to come will be bloody indeed.

The U.S. troops, unable to distinguish friend from foe, and under increasing pressure to defeat the insurgents, will err more and more on the side of caution (from their point of view) and will tend to kill many more "insurgents" who are nothing of the sort. These killings will appear barbaric, arbitrary and unjust to the families and friends of those killed for the very good reason that that is ultimately what they are. This will then stoke support for further actual attacks on the troops. As individual soldiers watch their friends die, again in ways which are essentially barbaric, arbitrary and unjust (war generally is*), and with the "enemy" as hard to identify as ever, the vicious circle takes another spin on its downward spiral.

In unusually harsh terms, the two intelligence directors spelled out how quickly the violence in Iraq has escalated this year, from about 70 attacks a day in January to about 100 a day in May and then to last month's figure. "Violence in Iraq continues to increase in scope, complexity, and lethality" despite operations by the Iraqi government and the U.S.-led coalition, Maples said. He described "an atmosphere of fear and hardening sectarianism which is empowering militias and vigilante groups, hastening middle-class exodus, and shaking confidence in government and security forces."

Tony's got a message for Iran and Syria that can be summed up in one word; Heeeeeeeeellllp! The 'Axis of Evil' becomes the 'Axis of not so bad once you get to know them'. And that was just the start. He showed how utterly bereft of ideas New Labour are. The speech showed how little he understands the mess he's got us into.

THE Democrats’ clean sweep in last week’s American congressional elections has prepared the way for a British exit from Iraq, with troop numbers more than halved by next spring. A staged withdrawal of all 7,500 British troops now in southern Iraq could come by the end of next year, defence sources said. Military commanders have made no secret of their wish to get out of Iraq, with senior sources critical of the decision to maintain such a large garrison.

It's not the shamefulness of all this - do none of these men have any shame? - but the racist assumption that the hecatomb in Iraq is all the fault of the Iraqis, that their intrinsic backwardness, their viciousness, their failure to appreciate the fruits of our civilisation make them unworthy of our further attention. At no point does anyone question whether the fact that America is "the greatest power on earth" might not be part of the problem. Nor that Iraqis who endured among their worst years of dictatorship when Saddam was supported by the United States, who were sanctioned by the UN at a cost of a half a million children's lives and who were then brutally invaded by our armies, might not actually be terribly keen on all the good things we wished to offer them. Many Arabs, as I've written before, would like some of our democracy, but they would also like another kind of freedom - freedom from us.

For the families of British soldiers killed in Iraq, this weekend's rituals of remembrance will have deeply personal significance. Esther Addley hears their stories

Far from "staying the course", Bechtel is getting out of Iraq, despite the 2.3 billion dollars in US tax payers money it received for reconstructing Iraq. It didn't so much "finish the Job" as Bush likes to say, it barely even started it. Dahr Jamail's latest report paints a bleak picture.

The stench of death and defeat that’s now hanging around George Bush’s presidency is reminiscent of downtown Baghdad on a hot day. There are bodies all over the place. And just as Saddam, the architect of Iraq’s pre-war abattoir got notice of his come-uppance this week (a long drop and a short stop), the architect of its post-war slaughter was also pushed from his perch (with an admittedly softer landing, cushioned, no doubt, with lucrative job offers from the defence industry).

Following up from the article on how Bristol MPs voted on the recent push by parliment to inquire into the Iraq War, I was Looking a bit further into the subject. I searched the excellent TheyWorkForYou.com site to see what some of them had to say on the subject of Iraq, as all of the MPs featured in this article supported the government in blocking the inquiry.

Blair is again going through his mantra on why he believes Iraq has not caused an increase in support for Islamist terrorism. In short, Blair believes that the terrorists’ beliefs and ideology are wrong and it is therefore “utterly irrational” to suggest that Iraq is having the effect which pretty much every sensible observer says it is. Ironically, he doesn’t appear to appreciate that human beings are often rather susceptible to ideologies and beliefs which are wrong. He of all people should know better.

British state terrorism in Iraq has cost more than £7bn. The real cost of Trident may be £76bn. Now it is more urgent than ever to raise our voices against Blair's mutant liberalism. By John Pilger

The vast majority of Labour MPs failed Parliament when they didn't back a fresh inquiry into Blair's manipulation of the case for the invasion of Iraq

As predicted, Saddam Hussein sentenced to death by hanging today. Whether it'll bounce the Republicans sufficiently remains to be seen. The drug-taking gay-prostitute habits of a leading Evangelical, combined with paedophilia unreported in the Republican ranks plus the backlash against the war in Iraq have not boded well for the Republicans' campaign, and there's 48 hours left to go.

… Execute the dictator. It’s that simple. When American troops are being killed by the dozen, when the country you are occupying is threatening to break up into smaller countries, when you have militias and death squads roaming the streets and you’ve put a group of Mullahs in power- execute the dictator.

Who knew that the morale of our troops in Iraq was in such a parlous state? Despite our boys being, as Tony Blair said last month, ‘the finest, the best, the bravest, any nation could hope for’, the Government, it seems, is extremely concerned that the lads are close to breaking point. The reason the Government has dug its heels in and refused this week to hold a public inquiry into the Iraq war is because it would ‘undermine’ our troops, the poor, fragile things.

The Ministry of Defence has banned ITV News from its official facilities and refused to allow them to embed journalists with British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now, I'm no fan of ITV News but that's not really the point. The point is what this says about the way the government "supports our troops".

One participant's account of a weekend of nonviolent mass civil disobedience - remembering the dead in Iraq, calling for an immediate end to the US/UK occupation, for massive reparations and debt cancellation so Iraqis can rebuild their country free from foreign interference, and for prosecution of those responsible for war crimes. Those events which took place within 1km of Parliament were also a direct challenge to Section 132 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (SOCPA).

The British parliament is God's gift to dictatorship. If I were an absolute ruler I would get one immediately. Last night Britons were offered the spectacle of their MPs pleading with the government to be allowed an inquiry into the Iraq war. For all the vigour of the debate, they were still humiliated by the government's supporters. While British soldiers ram democracy down others' throats at the point of a gun, their representatives seem incapable of performing democracy's simplest ritual, challenging the executive.

Well folks, the toadies and fools will have to wait but here are the worst of the hypocrites. These Labour MPs signed EDM 1088 but did not vote for it when offered the opportunity.

Every invader of Iraq and Afghanistan has been given a bloody nose. A quotation by ex-foreign secretary John Reid that "British troops could leave Afghanistan in three years without firing a shot" will follow him to the grave.

Initial reaction from the MoD's head of news, former Daily Mail reporter James Clark, was furious. "As bad a hatchet job as I've seen in ages. Cheap shots all over the place, no context, no reasonable explanation ... like the Daily Star in moving pictures." But he then went on to say: "Why on earth would we spend time, resources and valuable places wanted by Sky, the BBC and others to facilitate journalism like this? Answer - we would be mad, and we're not." And if that sounds to you like a threat to withdraw official co-operation with ITV News - you'd be right. It was.

There has been a spate of bad news for Blair over his military campaigns this weekend with both Iraq and Afghanistan in the spotlight. Another General has gone off-message and criticised the way the Afghanistan mission is being conducted calling it "cuckoo". This time it's Blair's most trusted military officer, General the Lord Guthrie

It is true that the consequences of failure in Iraq will probably be dire but certainly not in the way Bush suggests. His obssession with control of Iraq's oil is showing though. Basically all of Iraq's oil is located in Shiite and Kurdish controlled areas. The Kurds pose potential problems for Iran and Turkey (beacaue these two countries have sizable Kurdish minorities who might want to join a new independent Kurdistan) but no-one else; Kurds certainly won't be looking to divert their oil revenues towards the construction of a new evil empire.

The petition, signed by the families of the victims, serving and retired RAF personnel and MoD employees, calls on the Government to install fire-suppressant foam in all of the RAF's fleet of Hercules transport planes based at RAF Lyneham. The families believe that had the foam been installed in the aircraft the crew might have had a better chance of surviving being shot at by Iraqi insurgents.

As more evidence of his role in the Iraq debacle emerges, it beggars belief that the Prime Minister hasn't been impeached

A senior US state department official has said that the US has shown "arrogance and stupidity" in Iraq. Alberto Fernandez made the remarks during an interview with Arabic television station al-Jazeera.

Sean Smith, the Guardian's award-winning war photographer, spent nearly six weeks with the 101st Division of the US army in Iraq. Watch his haunting observational film that explodes the myth around the claims that the Iraqis are preparing to take control of their own country.

We’ve had control orders, detention without trial, Guantanamo Bay, up to 650,000 dead Iraqis, suicide bombings on the streets of Kabul, extraordinary rendition, ‘torture-lite’ and the rest of it. And for what? All to create more, better organised terrorists and make us less safe. And what will we get next? Instead of resignations, public humiliation and war crime trials for the ringleaders we’ll get ‘well, let’s try something else instead’ followed by yet more death and disillusionment. A campaign against binge drinking, let’s say, that produced more drunks would be laughed out of town but this shower are allowed to soldier on, making it up as they go along and making things worse. Why not just cut the crap and invite Al Qaeda to consult on policy-making? We seem to be doing exactly what they want so why not take the guesswork out of it?

The top four parties in the December elections were:

1. United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) - 5,021,137 votes, 41.2% of total, 128 seats
2. Democratic Patriotic Alliance of Kurdistan (DPAK) - 2,642,172 votes, 21.7% of total, 53 seats
3. Iraqi Accord Front (IAF) - 1,840,216 votes, 15.1% of total, 44 seat
4. Iraqi National List (INL) - 977,325 votes, 8.0% of total, 25 seats.

One of those parties, the INL, is a non-sectarian party in which the Sunnis and Shia and Kurds all work together and the other three primarily represent the interests of specific sectarian groups. That's how they presented themselves at the election.

"They voted for a non-sectarian government in which the Sunnis and the Shias and the Kurds all work together." Well, eight percent of those who voted did so it's not a total fabrication but even a committed Blairite must surely concede that it wasn't a remotely truthful desciption of the situation.

The latest horror is the study published in the Lancet Journal concluding that over 600,000 Iraqis have been killed since the war. Reading about it left me with mixed feelings. On the one hand, it sounded like a reasonable figure. It wasn't at all surprising. On the other hand, I so wanted it to be wrong. But... who to believe? Who to believe....? American politicians... or highly reputable scientists using a reliable scientific survey technique?

Christopher Hitchens’s response to the Lancet study is ingenious. First he smears it as fantasy – because the Lancet apparently has “a reputation for conjuring bloodbaths”. But then, “for the sake of argument”, he assumes that the figures are correct. What then?

As occupying powers, the 'Coalition' forces in Iraq are in breach of Articles 55 and 56 of the Geneva Conventions. There has been an abject failure to carry out even minimal humanitarian duties. Indeed the healthcare system in Iraq has massively deteriorated since the start of the war. From a public health point of view, an end to occupation is vital for the life-chances and good health of the population of this country. Until this takes place Iraq will remain a place of 'social breakdown', a country of the dead, the dying and the despairing.

It's a a sad, I think, devastating interview, an honest man's account of failure of a war, and his personal anxieties about what he calls the ''Islamist'' threat. Sir Richard's faith is clearly a key aspect of his character. "Our society has always been embedded in Christian values; once you have pulled the anchor up there is a danger that our society moves with the prevailing wind."

A blistering assessment of British policy in Iraq from the country's top soldier left Tony Blair reeling today. General Sir Richard Dannatt said troops should come home within two years - flatly contradicting the Prime Minister's policy that the military will stay "as long as it takes". In unprecedented comments he warned that the Army could 'break' if British soldiers are kept too long in Iraq.

There are those who feel that the General should not have spoken out publicly in this way. The fact that he has says everything about the futility of the government's attitude to the situation and their absolute unwillingness to face up to the mess they have created, Unlike Blair, it appears that General Dannatt cannot in good conscience continue to risk the lives of British soldiers for no other reason than to maintain a facade of fiction and denial for political purposes. The General's comments are a very public signal of the army's enormous frustration at having to play such a role.

The human cost of the war in Iraq could be far higher than previously thought. A new survey says more than 650,000 Iraqis have lost their lives as a consequence of the invasion by the United States and Britain, with an estimated 200,000 violent deaths directly attributable to Allied forces.

DAVID Blunkett has admitted he urged Tony Blair to break international law and bomb al-Jazeera's Baghdad TV transmitter during the Iraq war. The disgraced ex-Home Secretary makes his astonishing revelation in a Channel 4 Dispatches programme, to be shown next week, saying he viewed the Arab television station as a legitimate target.

Unlike Bush, I'm not a master statistician myself so I can't honestly assess the accuracy of the results and conclusions of this survey but when digesting the many criticisms aimed at this report by those with a clear political interest in rubbishing it, here's something to bear in mind:

[T]he US researchers have the backing of four separate independent experts who reviewed the new paper for the Lancet. All urged publication. One spoke of the "powerful strength" of the research methods, which involved house-to-house surveys by teams of doctors across Iraq.

The US president, George Bush, tonight admitted "a lot of innocent people" had lost their lives in Iraq but rejected the findings of a controversial report that the civilian death toll in the war-torn country had reached 655,000.

The BBC is having a tough job pretending that the Lancet's enormous Iraq body count estimate of 420,000+ isn't real news. They've tried hard - they went first to a soundbite of George Bush saying it was 'not a credible report', like he'd know a credible report if it jumped out and beat him round the head. Then they asked ME correspondent Jim Muir to refute it in various ways, which he flailed about for a bit and tried to do, none too successfully. The idea that the report might actually be a real story worth examining rather than something to ignore quietly until it went away was clearly not uppermost in their minds. The line was 'the number's really big so there must be something wrong with it'. That's not journalism, that's idiocy.

We estimate that as of July, 2006, there have been 654 965 (392 979–942 636) excess Iraqi deaths as a consequence of the war, which corresponds to 2·5% of the population in the study area. Of post-invasion deaths, 601 027 (426 369–793 663) were due to violence, the most common cause being gunfire.

Well, I guess there are many answers to that question, but in this case it's when the trial magically transforms itself into a pre-trial hearing. I'm referring here to the case of David Keogh and Leo O'Connor who are accused of violating the Official Secrets Act by leaking the Al Jazeera memo.

The invasion created an an opportunity, one which did not exist before. Ultimately, that is all al-Qaeda can lose in Iraq, an opportunity. To then remove that opportunity would be a sort of defeat for them but self-evidently, a military action to remove an opportunity created by that same military action can never be a "decisive victory against this terrorism".

An entire Iraqi police brigade has been taken out of duty and will be re-trained after accusations of complicity in death squad killings.

I suppose that what people can assume by Mrs Blair's outburst is, that her husband has been an abysmal failure and he will only be remembered for dragging this country into unwinnable wars for the sake of George Bush and America.

The Deputy Secretary General of the UN has offered some analysis into the downfall of Tony Blair. Needless to say Mark Malloch Brown suggests that it is Blair's foreign policy that has caused the rebellion within Labour which has brought forward his departure date.

Senior military officers have been pressing the government to withdraw British troops from Iraq and concentrate on what they now regard as a more worthwhile and winnable battleground in Afghanistan. They believe there is a limit to what British soldiers can achieve in southern Iraq and that it is time the Iraqis took responsibility for their own security, defence sources say. Pressure from military chiefs for an early and significant cut in the 7,500 British troops in Iraq is also motivated by extreme pressure being placed on soldiers and those responsible for training them.

At least, we preened ourselves, we have put that monster Saddam Hussein on trial, hmmm? At least we have shown Johnny Arab what we mean by due process, hey what? How pathetic and how hollow that boast seems now. The Saddam trial is a disgrace to justice that ought to be prorogued or transferred to another country. The latest judge has just suspended the session because he was unable to control the increasingly self-confident ravings of the bearded and staring-eyed ex-tyrant, and, when proceedings resume on October 9, they will still be a mixture of farce and tragedy.

Iraq was a war of choice unrelated to the "war" on terror. It was a war not sanctioned by the international community, one the Secretary General of the UN has described as illegal. Blair and Bush decided to make Iraq part of the "war" on terror. Not bin Laden or Zarqawi or Saddam, Bush and Blair. Any suggestion that British action in Iraq is comparible to that in Afghanistan is deliberately misleading.

Iraq looks like a country committing suicide rather than aspiring to independence and liberty. It is striking, for example, that the bombers seem always to lash out against Iraqi civilians, including civilians who have signed up for Iraq’s ragbag police force, rather than against America and Britain’s occupying armies. Iraq takes today’s ‘cult of the suicide bomber’ a stage further: we could say that Iraq is the world’s first Suicide State, responding to war and occupation not by mobilising the masses in opposition or organising resistance armies, but rather by destroying itself, by committing suicide in front of the world’s cameras.

Blair's willingness to dismiss expert opinion (experish opinion anyway) in favour of his own "very, very strongly held view" is a clear reflection of his messianic belief in the infallibility of his own judgement. It was just that sort of approach which caused the British government to adopt its disastrous Iraq policies in the first place. Lessons learned? He seems incapable of it.

Civil war is raging through the Iraqi countryside. Sunni insurgents have largely taken control of the province of Diyala, where local leaders believe the insurgents are close to establishing a "Taliban republic" ( are you listening Mr Blair!) Officials in the strategically important province - composed of a mixture of Sunnis and Shias with a Kurdish minority - have no doubt about what is happening. Lt-Col Ahmed Ahmed Nuri Hassan, a weary-looking commander of the federal police, says: "Now there is an ethnic civil war and it is getting worse every day."

The anti-war demonstration in Manchester on October 23rd was supported by a colourful and vocal ‘anarchist block’ with attendance from anarchist organisations and non-aligned anarchists from Manchester and across the county, at least 40 bodies in all. The block was called by the Anarchist Federation and Solidarity Federation, two of the class struggle anarchist organisations in Britain with international links. (Story continues after photos).

An 8am start is wearing on any day of the week, but on a Saturday it is particularly grinding. Nevertheless this Saturday saw a large contingent of protesters representing a variety of causes make the trip from Bristol to the Labour Party conference in Manchester to remind Tony Blair and friends that they are not wanted.

People were not only protesting against the current oil wars in the middle east, justified by the "war on terror". They were against the looming onslaught against Iran and the recent destruction of southern Lebanon. Against the even increasing military expenditure, symbolised by the plan to replace Trident and the corresponding cuts in social funding for the NHS and other welfare services. Placards identified Bush and Blair as the worlds number 1 and number 2 terrorists and that renewable energy doesn't require wars. There was a large number of trade union and peace movement banners from all across the UK.

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4

A small but determined group of peace campaigners made the long journey from Swindon to Manchester yesterday for the Time to Go march and rally around the GMEX centre where this year’s Labour party conference is being held. Here are some photos of the messages on display during the march.

A stark assessment of terrorism trends by American intelligence agencies has found that the American invasion and occupation of Iraq has helped spawn a new generation of Islamic radicalism and that the overall terrorist threat has grown since the Sept. 11 attacks.

Photos and video from the Time to Go demonstration.

TENS of thousands of anti war protesters gathered in Manchester this afternoon for a massive peace march through the city. They came from around the country to make their feelings about the Government clear ahead of the Labour Party conference, which starts a few hundred yards away tomorrow.

Thousands of anti-war protesters staged a mass "die-in" around the venue of Labour's annual conference to call on Tony Blair to bring back troops from Iraq - and then resign. Organisers of the demonstration in Manchester said up to 60,000 people from across the country joined the event, which passed off peacefully.

Some photos from the Manchester Labour Party Conference protest organised by the Stop the War coalition. I release these photos into the public domain. Use them as you wish.

There is usual dispute about numbers - I heard Sky and C4 talking about 10,000, which is obviously bollocks, as even the police estimate puts it at 20,000. Stop the war are reporting 60,000, so applying the Blairwatch rule of thumb [I wasn't out with our maths addict] the real number must be somewhere between what the police and organisers claim...

This was fantastic. I've never seen such a mix of joy and anticipation: the former deriving from the knowledge that Blair is finished, and the latter from a sense that a new field of possibilities is about to be opened up. The turnout for a non-London demo was far better than we had any right to expect. I really don't know if the dissent that was given ample fora today will even be heard of on the conference floor. God knows, the antiwar movement was completely absent from Labour's 2003 conference, and New Labour have moved effectively to block dissenting resolutions.

A huge demonstration has been organised in Manchester today as the Labour Conference was taking place. Thousands of people came from everywhere in the UK to express their disapproval of Tony Blair Foreign Policy and urge him to GO.

Reports from the Time to Go demonstration in Manchester, England, where more than 50,000 marched past the venue of the Labour Party conference demanding British troops go from Afghanistan and Iraq and Tony Blair goes from Downing Street.

Thousands of anti-war protesters have gathered in Manchester for what organisers said was "one of the biggest mobilisations outside London". Demonstrators were protesting against government policies in the Middle East and nuclear weapons, on the eve of the Labour Party conference in the city.

Nearly 7,000 civilians were killed in Iraq in the past two months, according to a UN report just released - a record high that is far greater than initial estimates had suggested. As American generals in Baghdad warned that the violence could worsen in the run up to Ramadan next Monday, the UN spoke of a "grave sectarian crisis" gripping the country.

Democracy... government of national unity... UN mandate... historic opportunity... That's the fantasy anyway. The reality is a downward spiral of murder, torture and lawlessness. Every morning, you should thank whatever God or fate you believe in that you did not have the misfortune to be born an Iraqi. Living in today's Iraq is really beyond the ability of modern Westerners to imagine. Be grateful for that.

Tens of thousands of anti-war supporters will take part in a huge demonstration on Saturday aimed at protesting over Government policies in the Middle East and against nuclear weapons. The march, supported by trade unions, students, politicians and activists from around the country, will be held in Manchester on the eve of the Labour Party conference in the city.

Ultimately, I think the war in Iraq cost Blair the opportunity of winning a remarkable fourth General Election and subsequently a victorious place in history.

Iraq's interior ministry has announced plans to increase security in Baghdad by digging trenches around the city, and surrounding it with checkpoints.

If only Clare had stuck to her principles earlier we might not be in this mess. She should have resigned at the same time as Robin Cook but got seduced by Tony's telling her what she wanted to hear "But Clare we'll need you after the war to reconstruct Iraq", and her refusal to resign then lost the country a chance to get out of the Iraq folly before it had started. The truth finally sunk in and she resigned, too little, too late. Now it's happened again. She's ashamed of New Labour:

That's Iraq's Prime Minister Maliki shaking hands with Iran's President Ahmadinejad yesterday. If you genuinely believe the self-serving, spurious rhetoric spouted by Bush and Blair in relation to their "war" on terror, it's a photo of our strong new ally in that "war" shaking hands with the new Hitler. How anyone manages to square that circle is truly mystifying. Without an enormous effort in self-deception, it just doesn't appear to be possible.

For a few hours after the towers fell on 9/11, administration spokesmen referred to the event as a "crime." Indeed, Colin Powell argued within the administration that it be treated as a crime. This would have involved international crime-fighting techniques: checking banks accounts, wire-tapping, recruiting spies and informants, engaging in diplomacy, cooperating with intelligence agencies in other governments, and if necessary, engaging in limited "police actions" with military force. Indeed, such methods have been the most successful so far in dealing with terrorism.

But the crime frame did not prevail in the Bush administration. Instead, a war metaphor was chosen: the "War on Terror." Literal —not metaphorical — wars are conducted against armies of other nations. They end when the armies are defeated militarily and a peace treaty is signed. Terror is an emotional state. It is in us. It is not an army. And you can't defeat it militarily and you can't sign a peace treaty with it.

This week we had all the drama and strain of the trial, with marvellous support from all the people who picketed, sang, made posters and placards, and came to sit in court and hear the evidence. THANK YOU so much to all of you - and to our witnesses - and our dedicated legal team. If we get found guilty at the end of it all, it will certainly not be for lack of effort or support on anyone's part. Testimony from those who were in Baghdad before and during the bombing of March 2003 - particularly of Wejdy and Uzma - was harrowing. Paul and I found it hard even to listen to, at times. It clearly moved the jury.

In January 2004, Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, the source of reports on al Qa'ida's efforts to obtain WMD training in Iraq, recanted the information he provided. Al-Libi said he had a "strong desire to tell his entire story and identify why and how he facricated information since his capture". Al-Libi claimed he had fabricated "all information regarding al Qa'ida's sending representatives to Iraq to try to obtain WMD assistance". Al-Libi claimed that to the best of his knowledge al-Qa'ida never sent any individuals into Iraq for any kind of support in chemical or biological weapons as he had previously claimed.

There is no evidence of formal links between Iraqi ex-leader Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda leaders prior to the 2003 war, a US Senate report says. The finding is contained in a 2005 CIA report released by the Senate's Intelligence Committee on Friday.

The Americans can't quite believe it. Getting rid of Tony Blair? Are you Brits crazy? Like Thatcher before him, Blair finds that the acclaim abroad lingers even when there is derision at home. Maggie was a legend in the States when she was shoved aside by the Tories, and the same is true of Blair. When he does his farewell tour - part Sinatra, part royal goodbye - he'd be a fool not to make a stop in America. Here the ovations are guaranteed.

And yet here, he might also reflect, is where his troubles began. Next week marks the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks which radically altered the course of American foreign policy. Blair's great error, the one that historians will identify as the cause of his decline and eventual downfall, was to sign up for that new programme in full - even when it led to disaster.

The most influential moderate Shia leader in Iraq has abandoned attempts to restrain his followers, admitting that there is nothing he can do to prevent the country sliding towards civil war. Aides say Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani is angry and disappointed that Shias are ignoring his calls for calm and are switching their allegiance in their thousands to more militant groups which promise protection from Sunni violence and revenge for attacks.

What makes an al-Qaida suicide bomber? After a year spent talking to the terrorists and their families, Peter Taylor is convinced that it's all down to Iraq - whatever Tony Blair might claim

A series of polls taken over the last few weeks of August show that support for the war in Iraq among Americans is at an all-time low. Almost two-thirds of Americans in each of three major polls say that they oppose the war, the highest totals since pollsters starting asking Americans the question three years ago. Many of the polls were conducted in advance of the fifth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on Washington and New York.

Bush says that ending the Iraq occupation will open America to a terrorist attack. I can't imagine why he says that. If we weren't occupying Iraq, how would that infuriate al-Qaeda and the Muslim radical fringe? Can you imagine the discussions in the cave in Waziristan?

A subvertised image of Bush declaring "Mission Accomplished" from the deck of an aircraft carrier.

Try not to laugh, this is a serious business. The Major just has an unusual understanding of the meaning of "full control" (unless he means they aided the looters). He went on to say that "our confidence in the Iraqi security forces to maintain day-to-day order in Amarah remains unaffected". A career in politics surely beckons.

he bottom line: 91.7% of Iraqis oppose the presence of coalition troops in the country, up from 74.4% in 2004. 84.5% are "strongly opposed". Among Sunnis, opposition to the US presence went from 94.5% to 97.9% (97.2% "strongly opposed"). Among Shia, opposition to the US presence went from 81.2% to 94.6%, with "strongly opposed" going from 63.5% to 89.7%. Even among the Kurds, opposition went from 19.6% to 63.3%. In other words, it isn't just that Iraqis oppose the American presence - it's that their feelings are intense: only 7.2% "somewhat oppose" and 4.7% "somewhat support."

Your Commander-In-Chief and Chain of Command have stabbed you in the back.
The politicians, Democratic and Republican, have stabbed you in the back and spit in your face.
The anti-war movement has failed you miserably.
Damn, the ball is in your court now. It is time to leave.

If the alleged plot to attack airliners flying from London is true – remember the lies that led to the invasion of Iraq, and to the raid on a "terrorist cell" in east London – then one person ultimately is to blame, as he was on July 7 last year. They were Blair's bombs then; who doesn't believe that 52 Londoners would be alive today had the prime minister refused to join Bush in his piratical attack on Iraq? A parliamentary committee has said as much, as have MI5, the Foreign Office, Chatham House, and the polls.

This is one more chance to say 'Not in Our Name.' To that end, we call for a quiet, dignified gathering outside the Bristol Crown Court in Small Street on Monday, September the 4th, starting at 9.00 am. (The street runs between Corn St and the Cenotaph area in the Centre. There's an HSBC bank at the Corn St end.) Everyone who feels as strongly as we do that what our government is doing – in Iraq, in Lebanon, Palestine ... . is utterly wrong, is welcome and urged to attend this first day, at 9.00. The trial is expected to run for two weeks - so friends and supporters are welcome to come on the other mornings, too. And to come into court and hear the evidence.

When L. Paul Bremer, then the top U.S. representative in Iraq, appointed an Iraqi Governing Council in July 2003, insurgent attacks averaged 16 daily. When Saddam Hussein was captured that December, the average was 19. When Bremer signed the hand-over of sovereignty in June 2004, it was 45 attacks daily. When Iraq held its elections for a transitional government in January 2005, it was 61. When Iraqis voted last December for a permanent government, it was 75. When U.S. forces killed terrorist mastermind Abu Musab al Zarqawi in June, it was up to 90.

Having briefly showed faint signs of independent intelligence by calling for an immediate Israeli ceasefire about, er, four weeks ago (so that was effective, wasn't it?), our favourite FCO dimwit Kim Howells has gone right back on message in the best Blair tradition of refusing to listen and ignoring reality. A perfectly reasonable request from the Muslim community to stop the UK's immoral and counterproductive foreign policy met with this response from the clown:

Mr Howells...said "no government" formulates policy based on a perceived risk from terrorists.

Those four Terrorism Acts were just for fun, then?

British troops fighting in Iraq are under-equipped and overstretched, a group of MPs has warned. The all-party defence committee said the soldiers needed more helicopters and better-protected patrol vehicles to shield them from roadside bombs. Committee members visited Iraq in June and also say operations in Afghanistan are being done on a "shoe string".

There is much talk as to whether Iraq will descend into civil war. Given that an average of 2,400 Iraqis have been violently killed every month since the start of this year, it's something of a moot point. For what it's worth, I believe that what is happening could be best described as a civil war waged by unconventional means. You could call it a low intensity civil war but for the fact that it's clearly very intense indeed.

Like many Iraqis, Wisam likes to drive pedal to the metal, and while it's a good idea to get away from Amariyah as fast as possible, I am acutely conscious that I'm not wearing my seat belt. Iraqis never wear one, and for me to buckle up would be like sticking a FOREIGNER ON BOARD sign on the windshield, a bad idea in a city where kidnapping gangs are known to cruise for lucrative targets. As an Indian, I can often pass for a local if I keep my mouth shut--my Arabic is rudimentary--but in public places I have to be careful to avoid other obvious signs of foreignness: seat belts, chewing gum, headphones.

Residents of Baghdad are systematically being pushed out of the city. Some families are waking up to find a Klashnikov bullet and a letter in an envelope with the words “Leave your area or else.” The culprits behind these attacks and threats are Sadr’s followers- Mahdi Army. It’s general knowledge, although no one dares say it out loud. In the last month we’ve had two different families staying with us in our house, after having to leave their neighborhoods due to death threats and attacks. It’s not just Sunnis- it’s Shia, Arabs, Kurds- most of the middle-class areas are being targeted by militias.

Civil war is a more likely outcome in Iraq than democracy, Britain's outgoing ambassador in Baghdad has warned Tony Blair in a confidential memo. William Patey, who left the Iraqi capital last week, also predicted the break-up of Iraq along ethnic lines.

You might think that the experience of Iraq might have had some impact on Blair himself. Surely, after what has happened, he must now finally understand that foreign policy must be based on an informed understanding of the complexities of the real world rather than a woolly headed "axis of evil" soundbite.

THE war in Iraq is spreading and destabilising the whole region. It has already spread to Afghanistan, Israel, Gaza and Lebanon. Britain's relationships with Syria and Iran are also deteriorating and drifting towards war.

I woke up this morning to scenes of carnage and destruction on the television and for the briefest of moments, I thought it was footage of Iraq. It took me a few seconds to realize it was actually Qana in Lebanon. The latest village to see Israeli air strikes. The images were beyond gruesome- body parts and corpses being hauled out from under tons of debris. Wailing relatives and friends, searching for loved ones… So far, according to humanitarian organizations, 34 were children. They killed them while they were sleeping inside their bomb shelters- much like the Amriya Shelter massacre in 1991.

On Feb 3rd. 2003, the Pit Stop Ploughshares(Deirdre Clancy, Nuin Dunlop, Karen fallon, Damien Moran & Ciaron O'Reilly) disarmed a U.S. Navy war plane at Shannon Airport, County Clare, Ireland. The five were arrested & charged with $US 2.5million "criminal damage without lawful excuse" & €100 criminal damage without lawful excuse" for the window of the hangar.
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In response to media reports that the U.S. Embassy has summoned the Irish government to meet in the wake of the Ploughshares acquittal, to discuss its consqequences & response to it. "I have heard of an ambassador being summoned by a government to provide explanation, but this must be the first time when a government has been summoned by an Ambassador!" - Joe Noonan Pit Stop Ploughshares, solicitor

In spite of a large police presence and the blocking of many roads at the rear of the Albert Hall, about 25 protestors gathered to show their anger at Blair and suited delegates about his inaction over Israel's actions in Lebanon, the occupation of Iraq, and his destruction of civil liberties and public services. We were asked to move to 'designated protest area' on the other side of the Maid Marion Way roundabout, for 'health and safety reasons', which we politely declined. It turned out that these reasons, that we would obstruct the pavement or might fall into the road (!) were entirely fabricated, as the remaining pavement was then filled by a cordon of police.

The families of British soldiers killed in Iraq have made a legal breakthrough in their bid for a full public inquiry into why the UK entered the conflict. The Court of Appeal ruled they were entitled to apply for a judicial review of the government's refusal to hold an independent inquiry. The applicants are relatives of four servicemen who died in military action between 2003 and 2005.

The families of four British soldiers killed in Iraq won the right today to challenge the government's refusal to hold a public inquiry into why Britain joined the war, a ruling their lawyers described as a "stunning victory".
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However, in their ruling the three senior judges warned the families that they were unlikely to succeed in forcing a public inquiry given that the issues at stake were "essentially matters for the executive and parliament".

Anti-Trident activists have expressed their delight that a Dublin jury has unanimously acquitted five anti-war protesters, including Scottish Trident Ploughshares pledger Karen Fallon, who disarmed a US warplane in 2003.

This week, George Bush used his presidential veto to block a bill on stem cell research, saying he couldn't support the 'taking of innocent human life'. In Iraq, six civilians are killed by a US air strike, while casualties in Lebanon and Israel mount. George Bush (and Tony Blair) oppose UN calls for an immediate ceasefire

The Pit Stop Ploughshares 5 - Deirdre Clancy(Dub), Nuin Dunlop(U.S), Karen Fallon(Scot), Damien Moran(Offaly) & Ciaron O'Reilly(OZ) are presently on trial at Dublin's historic Four Courts for the third time. They are charged with $U.S.2.5million "criminal damage without lawful excuse" to a U.S. Navy War Plane en route to the war on Iraq refueling at Shannon Airport on Feb 3rd. 2003. Closing Speeches to Jury began Thursday (July 20th '06)

Iraqi leaders have all but given up on holding the country together and, just two months after forming a national unity government, talk in private of "black days" of civil war ahead. Signalling a dramatic abandonment of the U.S.-backed project for Iraq, there is even talk among them of pre-empting the worst bloodshed by agreeing to an east-west division of Baghdad into Shi'ite and Sunni Muslim zones, senior officials told Reuters

Having been a de facto free-fire zone for the best part of week, it now looks like southern Lebanon is about to become the formalised, real deal. It’s a technique the American’s used disastrously on a city-wide scale in Falluja in Iraq last year:

The hidden agenda of the US government in Iraq has been three -- fold. Firstly, to take control of the world’s second largest oil reserves, thereby seizing one of the key oil spigots of competitors like Japan, China and the EU. Secondly, to prevent the dollar -- based world oil market from transacting in Euros, something Iran, Iraq and Venezuela were attempting since 2002, when the Euro was launched. Thirdly, the establishment of permanent US military bases in the strategic heart of the world. (The US has built the world’s largest embassy – employing 5000 people – in Baghdad).

Those who believe that the answer to the question is "no, it isn't the case that a new generation of militants has been created as a result of the invasion of Iraq" might want to reflect on the reasons why the Foreign Secretary has gone to such great lengths, preposterous lengths you might say, to avoid giving that answer. It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the reason for her evasion is that she knows that the actual answer is "yes, it is the case" and she can't admit that for obvious political reasons. If there is any other explanation, I certainly can't think what it could be.

In 2004 the Prime Minister said he believed the country was a far safer place with Saddam Hussein out of power. Only this week his new Home Secretary announced "Britain faces years and years of terrorist threat" sadly the stark fact is that Mr Blair has managed to make this country a less safe place for its citizens to live. He has failed in the most fundamental and basic role of Government which is to protect the citizen.

The reason why I keep bringing this up is easy to explain. Democracy, if it means anything at all, means the ability to bring to account leaders who manipulate and misrepresent a situation in order to win support for a war of choice. And to have these same leaders present themselves as defenders of democracy is, well, beyond my ability to put into words. Drawing a line under that would be like drawing a line under democracy itself. Not for me thanks. Democracy is flawed but it's not worth giving up on just yet.

This is an interview with Pfc. Christopher Gorman who is home on leave from Iraq. He has just been stationed at F.O.B. (Forward Operating Base) Kalsu in Iskandariya, Iraq with Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division.

Chris is supposed to get on a plane on Monday, July 17th to fly back to Iraq. He is not getting on the plane, or returning to Iraq, despite the Army’s order to do so. He plans to go in the battalion Rear Detachment office and directly report that he is refusing to go back for the rest of his combat tour.

The trial of 5 'catholic anarchists' from the Catholic Worker movement continued today in Dublin. The five, including Karen Fallon from Scotland, are accused of causing US$2.5 million worth of damage to a U.S war plane in Shannon airport on February 3rd 2003. They face up to 10 years in prison if convicted. Yesterday comedian Mark Thomas accompanied the morning procession to the four courts where there has been an ongoing presence of international friends and supporters.

5 members of the anarcho-pacifist Catholic Worker Movement are presently syanding trial in Dublin charged with "$US 2.5 million criminal damage without lawful excuse" to a U.S. Navy War Plane en route to the invasion of Iraq at Shannon Airport (3/2/03). This is their third trial.

The horrific thing about the killings is that the area had been cut off for nearly two weeks by Ministry of Interior security forces and Americans. Last week, a car bomb was set off in front of a 'Sunni' mosque people in the area visit. The night before the massacre, a car bomb exploded in front of a Shia husseiniya in the same area. The next day was full of screaming and shooting and death for the people in the area. No one is quite sure why the Americans and the Ministry of Interior didn't respond immediately. They just sat by, on the outskirts of the area, and let the massacre happen.

BBC: 'Mr Blair told MPs: "If we want to defeat the extremism, we have got to defeat its ideas and we have got to address the completely false sense of grievance against the West...'

You see, though, I do feel angry. I am particularly angry right now at the rape and murder of a 15 year old girl and the massacre of her family by US troops. It is an abhorrent crime and has caused widespread rage all over the world. I am angry about Haditha, Falujah, Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, and all the other horrible litany of names that now stand for something wicked and wrong. I am sad and angry about the fact that every day in Iraq is 7th July, that Afghanistan is becoming yet again a brutalised battleground.

SELDOM HAVE there been finer examples than this July of the propensity of humans and our institutions to reinforce failure. We carry on marching towards what we suspect is the abyss for little better reason than that it would be embarrassing to break ranks. Betrothed to our own doom, we shrink from breaking off the engagement because the wedding ring has been purchased, the deposit on the marquee is non-returnable and the bride’s mother would be devastated.

Two days earlier, a 35-year-old man went shopping for home entertainment equipment. He had the toughest time selecting the correct plasma screen; he could afford the biggest and best of everything. In the end, he had it installed by a specialty store. He spent about $50,000 on the whole system. He has never met anybody serving in the military nor served himself, but thinks we should "turn the whole place into a parking lot." That day, another American soldier died in Iraq.

Malcolm Kendall-Smith, a former flight lieutenant who was based at RAF Lyneham in 2002, was discharged from the military and imprisoned after being found guilty by a court martial panel in April of five charges of failing to obey a lawful order. The 37-year-old, who compared the invasion to a Nazi war crime, has been released from Chelmsford jail and will serve the remainder of his sentence, until September, tagged and under curfew.

Soldiers have a right under Queen's regulations to object on conscientious grounds to particular military actions, yet the charity AtEase reports that soldiers are routinely denied this option in practice. Not knowing where to turn some soldiers go AWOL rather than go to Iraq. We have a duty of care for our young men and women who are serving in the Armed Forces.

GORDON Brown has announced that he is committed to developing a new generation of nuclear weapons to replace the current Trident system. Has he forgotten already that just over three years ago he voted in favour of invading Iraq on the pretext of an alleged programme of weapons of mass destruction?

CLAUSE 8 of the Armed Forces Bill is important because it introduces a new definition of desertion: Soldiers who go absent without leave AWOL and intend to refuse to take part in a military occupation of a foreign country or territory can be imprisoned for life. When MPs voted for the Bill, including Anne Snelgrove, they voted to try to legitimise occupation, and undermine soldiers' and everyone's right to say no to illegal and immoral orders, a right won after the Second World War, when Britain, the United States and other allies insisted that soldiers who obeyed Nazi orders were war criminals (the Nuremberg Principles).

Conservative leader David Cameron has said he still believes going to war with Iraq was the right thing to do. In an interview for BBC's Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, he said the war had been "very unpopular" and some bad decisions had been made since it began. But Mr Cameron said "those of us who supported" the military action should "see it through".

Its a sign of the popularity of Bliar that his visit has to be so secret. One may argue that this security is about terrorism, but the policing on show with its choppers and Forward Intelligence Teams (FIT – the coppers with cameras) was more geared to crowd control than anti-terror. The venue was kept unannounced (though word had been leaked out before) and the audience had to be selected. Even the 50 'public' who attended via an application to the evening post were diluted down the the hundred or more neo-labour supporters to dilute the possibility of people who are not 'on-message' spoiling the plans to spin crime as a method of distracting the public from the mess that is Iraq and in particular Basra.

Tony Blair snuck into Bristol today for a 2 day visit, under a heavy cloak of secrecy amidst an OTT security operation. His meetings on Thursday & Friday are with hand-picked audiences under the illusion of ‘lets talk’, mainly about crime. His last visit, some two & a half years ago, where he turned up at Barton Hill Settlement, was under the banner ‘The Big Consultation’, otherwise known as The Big Con. Once again he will go to great lengths to avoid contact with reality, otherwise known as random normal members of the public, just in case…

What happened in Haditha may just possibly change the future of the war in Iraq. The lawyer for one of the marines accused of the massacre has told the BBC that criminal charges will probably be brought soon. And we have found that the marines were operating under some very disturbing conditions.

A leaked memo from the US embassy in Baghdad paints a grim picture of the daily lives of Iraqi employees, saying the strains could affect their work.
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A Sunni female is said to have insulted a Shia colleague over her "overly liberal" dress", it says. "Another employee tells us that life outside the Green Zone has become 'emotionally draining'." The memo speaks of rigid dress codes being enforced by neighbourhood vigilantes, as well as power cuts, fuel shortages, and fear of attacks and abductions. It concludes: "Although our staff retain a professional demeanour, strains are apparent...

This is an excellent report by Bill Neely on the appalling conditions that exist in southern Iraq's biggest hospital. Shortages of drugs and blood. More kids die because of diarrhea now than they did under Saddam. This is a top report highlighting the chaos there. (2 minute video)

Last month it was revealed that nearly 3,000 soldiers have deserted the British Army each year since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. Of these, more than 1,000 are still reported to be missing. Official Ministry of Defence (MoD) figures record that 2,825 soldiers went “absent without leave” in 2003, rising to 3,050 in 2004 before falling slightly to 2,725 in 2005.

The MoD has attempted to play down the figures. An official commented, “We regard that figure as fairly constant. It often happens for family reasons and there is no evidence to suggest operational commitments contribute significantly to the figures.”

In reality, the figures must reflect in some fashion the opposition of soldiers being asked to serve in an illegal war. The number of those deserting or going “absent without leave” has more than trebled since 2001.

The defence of the realm is more at risk from a government that seems to aspire to greatness through tyranny... and there are few acts of tyranny worse than forcing a man to kill when he believes it to be wrong to do so.

Amy, as I see it, isn't concerned about those killed in action, wounded and disabled. They are put in that position by a gang of politicians who are only concerned with their own lives, wages and expenses and pensions. Our Forces are supposed to be for the defence of the realm, not to go out abroad on illegal, unwinnable wars. I should have thought Vietnam would have taught the USA that.

I don't think we understand the Iraq bombs - al-Zarqawi was not afraid of death, it was his currency, all he sought is lot of it and for it to be spectacular. His death at the hands of such a mighty dose of firepower is propaganda for his cause; that it took not just one – but two devices to stop him. The military force being used in the war on terror is being turned into propaganda that is part of it. The remains of his war, the nature of his jihad. Killing al-Zarqawi along with the 'collateral damage' of a woman and child is simply closing the circle of his jihad. You cannot bomb your way to peace and peace will not follow the bombs. Indeed how and when will the Iraq war and civil war end? Is the war on terror simply a war without end?

AN MP who believes an RAF Hercules shot down over Iraq could have been saved if vital firefighting equipment had been fitted has urged the Government not to put other lives at risk. North Wiltshire Conserva-tive MP James Gray has written to Defence Secretary Des Browne highlighting the growing concern in the community around RAF Lyneham that there was a chance that if the Hercules XV179 had been fitted with foam suppressant around the wing tanks, then it might have been able to crash-land in Iraq in January 2005.

I WOULD like to respond to the letter from Andy Newman (May 29) concerning the issue of punishment for members of Her Majesty's Armed Forces for going AWOL and the British military presence in Iraq.

A RELATIVE of one of the men killed in the Iraq Hercules crash last year has started an online petition to get a safety device installed on the planes. Sarah Chapman has begun the petition to urge the newly-appointed Secretary of State for Defence, Des Browne, to push for the installation explosive suppressant foam in the RAF's Hercules fleet.

Geoff Hoon: I read, for six years, intelligence reports; every one of those for six years said that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction; every other country that looked at Iraq also came to the same conclusion.

Erm, no they didn't...

About 1000 people attended the Seymour Centre in Sydney on 23rd May to hear Cindy Sheehan and Dr Salaam Ismael. I summarize Sheehan in her own words as much as possible, but urge you to read the world between the lines in my shorter summary of Dr Ismael's material. Sheehan and Dr Ismael were welcomed to Australian soil with the story of Pemulway. Permulway died resisting the invasion, and then occupation of Australia, by the British. But the resistance did not die with him.

The ongoing war in Iraq will likely be won or lost based on the availability of one commodity: motor fuel. For the moment, the U.S. military has all the fuel it needs--about three million gallons per day -- to continue prosecuting the war in Iraq. The same cannot be said for Iraqi civilians. Indeed, the supply of motor fuel in Iraq remains highly precarious.

The attorney general was swayed by the Americans when he decided the Iraq war was legal, a former minister has said after new details were published. Labour MP Peter Kilfoyle claimed the new papers showed the US had "decisive input" on Lord Goldsmith's advice.

THE new Italian Prime Minister, Romano Prodi has announced that the war in Iraq was a grave error' and has committed to speeding up the withdrawal of Italy's 2,600 troops by the end of 2006. It is of grave concern that the UK Government may become the last ones, except for the USA, with actual combat troops in Iraq.

A US Army dog handler accused of abusing inmates at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison in 2003 and 2004 has gone on trial at a military court in Maryland. Sgt Santos Cardona, 32, faces several charges including dereliction of duty, conspiracy and assault for allowing his dog to intimidate two detainees.

This is a 600 word article which takes its title from ITN's `Just another day in Iraq` slot. The failure of the mainstream media to adequately cover Iraq related events such as Brian Haw's vigil is covered. 7 photos are included.

Romano Prodi has said the war in Iraq was a "grave error" in his first speech to Italy's Senate as prime minister. "It is the intention of this government to propose to parliament the return of our troops from Iraq," he said. The previous government of centre-right PM Silvio Berlusconi had decided to withdraw Italy's 2,600 troops from Iraq by the end of 2006.

There is a memorial to British soldiers killed in Iraq. One of the dead is a south west lad; 2nd Lieutenant Henry Parkyns Bridge Baines. About a month after he was killed the British Army issued a 'Proclamation' part of which read, "our armies do not come into your cities and lands as conquerors or enemies, but as liberators..." This was an illusion. Henry died for a lie. Despite the high minded proclamation, there was an already existing plan to carve the land up. Just in case you were wondering, these events did not take place in 2004, 5 or 6. This was 1917 and by 1920 Iraqi resistance to the occupation had forced the British out.

SOMETHING horrible happens in Iraq and then they pay someone a lot of money to investigate and then they trot out the same old phrases... no money no communications, nobody to blame. This has happened so often that we don't have to have investigations any more. Just change the circumstances and read out the same old excuses.

Scott Garthley was a Territorial Army soldier who served in Iraq. Mr Garthley, from Northampton, was injured in a Scud missile attack on March 29 2003. His spine, knees and shoulders were injured, and he has since had 13 operations. He has felt he had to pay for all his own healthcare, because he was not entitled to fast-track military care because he was not a full-time soldier.

"Under-nutrition should not be accepted in a country like Iraq, with its wealth of resources..." Malnutrition among Iraqi children has reached alarming levels, according to a UNICEF survey showing people are struggling to cope three years after US-forces overthrew Saddam Hussein. The report on food security and vulnerability in Iraq said almost one child in every 10 aged between six months and five years, suffered acute malnourishment. "Children are major victims of food insecurity," it said, describing the situation as "alarming". 15 per cent of households are classified as "Extremely Poor." A total of four million Iraqis, roughly 15 per cent of the population, were in dire need of humanitarian aid including food, up from 11 per cent in a 2003 report, the survey of more than 20,000 Iraqi households found...

Home Secretary John Reid has rejected suggestions London bomber Sidique Khan blamed his actions on the Iraq war. Mr Reid was asked if ministers wished to avoid a public inquiry because they feared it would fuel a debate about Iraq being a motive of the bombers.

THE Government has turned down a request for a Commons debate on whether firefighting equipment should have been fitted to a Lyneham Hercules shot down in Iraq. Leader of the House of Commons Geoff Hoon rejected Liberal Democrat calls for a debate on defence procurement. An RAF board of inquiry last year revealed that while the crash of Hercules XV179 was not survivable, the lack of a fuel tank safety system could have contributed to the incident.

DEFENCE Secretary John Reid has admitted that with hindsight an RAF Hercules shot down over Iraq could have been saved if vital firefighting equipment had been fitted. But the cabinet minister insisted the decision not to fit explosive suppressant foam earlier was a reasonable one.

A FORMER Hercules pilot who claims that defence chiefs ignored his warnings that aircraft lacked vital safety equipment has been branded a self-publicist. Tory MP James Gray has urged Flight Lieutenant Nigel Gilbert to let it lie. Flt Lt Gilbert believes the crew of a Lyneham transport plane downed last year in Iraq would probably have survived if firefighting explosive suppressant foam had been fitted.

Deaths of 10 UK personnel in Iraq would not definitely have been prevented had a safety device been fitted to their plane, says the Ministry of Defence. The Hercules crashed in January 2005 after being hit by ground fire, which caused a fuel tank explosion.

The deaths of 10 UK personnel in Iraq in 2005 could have been avoided if a safety device had been fitted to their Hercules plane, the BBC has learned. RAF pilots requested that explosive- suppressant foam devices be fitted to fuel tanks two years before the attack in which the men died, RAF papers show.

THE sister of a serviceman who died when an RAF Lyneham-based Hercules was shot down in Iraq plans to sue the Ministry of Defence. Sarah Chapman's brother Robert O'Connor, 38, was one of 10 servicemen killed when Hercules was shot down by insurgents in January last year. According to a report in the Times she wants compensation from the Government on the ground that too little was done to protect the troops.

A senior Conservative MP has called for British troops to withdraw from Iraq - going against his party's policy. Michael Ancram, writing in the Daily Mail, says Iraq is effectively in a state of civil war and because of that, troops should be pulled out.

An internal US embassy report on security in Iraq concluded that the situation in the southern city of Basra is every bit as bad as it is in cities further north. Once considered a "safe zone", the oil-rich governorate is increasingly dangerous for its citizens and the British troops guarding it.

A little-known analysis by Greg Muttitt in November 2005 for Global Policy Forum reveals the breathtaking earnings to be generated by the "production sharing agreements" [.pdf] ready for signing the day Iraq officially forms its new government. These agreements, which in name imply revenue-sharing and state control over the underground assets, in truth are vehicles so skewed in favor of Anglo-American petroleum companies that they have no counterpart in today's oil world.

According to Muttitt's conservative estimates, Iraq stands to lose between $74-194 billion in these agreements over the life of the contracts, which will most likely be in effect for 40 years. Instead of the average rate of return of 12 percent generated by most oil field development investments today, these arrangements will net between 42 and 162 percent. Not since Standard Oil won a 60-year concession from Saudi Arabia in 1933 for $35,000 has the oil industry been poised to make so much money.

Fortunately, other civil servants were not deterred by my prosecution. My leak was followed by others and, bit by bit, the truth about Iraq has emerged - that there were no WMDs; that regime change was always the intention; that there was no al-Qaeda link. The bravery of other officials and public servants has since made us aware of renditions, torture, secret prisons and beatings.

Now, we face the dreadful possibility of action against Iran. Jack Straw may sincerely believe that "the idea of a nuclear strike in Iran is completely nuts", but we in Britain need much more detailed information of the sort that Seymour Hersh and other journalists have been revealing if we are to avoid following the US into another disaster.

This is a 1,500 word piece (including an article from the `Independent`) asking if the rich and powerful can be held to account for war crimes. 6 related photos are included.

RAF Flight Lieutenant Malcolm Kendall-Smith, having refused to serve in Iraq in what he correctly believes is an occupation brought about by an illegal war, is predictably given an 8-month prison sentence, fined £20,000 costs and dismissed from his job. Kendall-Smith, now a national hero, follows in the steps of Ben Griffin who resigned from the Army SAS in a similar protest.

First-hand observations of how the Iraqi people have suffered show why Iraqis--for the past three years and despite a U.S. importation of democracy--have wanted the occupation to end.

At least 65,000 Iraqis have fled their homes as a result of sectarian violence and intimidation, according to new figures from the Iraqi government. And the rate at which Iraqis are being displaced is increasing. Figures given to the BBC by the Ministry for Displacement and Migration show a doubling in the last two weeks of the number of Iraqis forced to move.

Flight-Lieutenant Malcolm Kendall-Smith is a New Zealand doctor serving with the RAF. After serving twice in Iraq and also Afghanistan he decided for himself that the war is illegal and refused a further posting. He was just court martialled and found guilty and so faces unlimited imprisonment and the full costs of his conviction, literally.

We might be obliged to Doug Maugham (New Lab) for informing us (while solemnly castigating Thomas MacLaughlin for his over-colourful use of language) that "ultimately public policy has to be determined by rational argument on the facts as known at the time, not by wild fancies" – were it not for the trifling wee matter of Tony Blair's decision to embark upon the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq, unquestionably the gravest British foreign policy blunder since the Second World War.
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In his latest salvo at Thomas McLaughlin, Doug Maughan makes no mention of New Labour's outrageous grab for totalitarian power through the passage of the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill – which bill occasioned Mr McLaughlin's initial letter touching off the latest round of argumenta ad hominem between these two.

An RAF doctor facing charges over his refusal to serve in Iraq has told a court martial that he disobeyed orders "as a duty under international law". Flt Lt Malcolm Kendall-Smith, 37, who was based at RAF Kinloss in Scotland, has already served twice in Iraq but last year defied an order to return. He claimed his actions were justified as the UK involvement was illegal.

Very few observers have noticed that the fix is in and that the U.S. is readying itself to bomb Iran. Scott Ritter mentioned the fix in his article, "The Art of War for the anti-war movement" (Alternet, March 31, 2006). Writes Ritter: "President Bush recently re-affirmed his embrace of the principles of pre-emptive war when he signed off on the 2006 version of the National Security Strategy of the United States, which highlights Iran as a threat worthy of confrontation." Jorge Hirsch, a professor of physics at the University of California San Diego, has been covering the issue in great, and alarming, detail since September 2005 in the pages of Antiwar.com. His grim prognostic, "War Against Iran, April 2006," is that the attack will take place this month, unannounced until ex post facto. His timing may prove incorrect -- we will know within the next 20 days -- but it's only a matter of time: the U.S. will launch another illegal and deadly aggression on a country that has not attacked, or even threatened to attack, anybody -- not the U.S., not Israel*, not Europe, not its neighbors. The question, like with Iraq, always left unanswered, is what makes the U.S. so determined to create mayhem? The answer has much to do with the status of the dollar and the competitive forces at play.

An SAS soldier who refused to fight in Iraq because he believed that the war was illegal has been threatened with legal action by government lawyers. Ben Griffin, who left the Special Air Service in June last year after spending three months on operations in Baghdad, has been informed that the Government is considering "civil proceedings" against him after he described the war as "illegal" in a Sunday Telegraph interview.

On 2 April 2006 an event took place on the second anniversary of an attack on Fallujah, Iraq which started on 2 April 2004. The event started at 12:00pm with people starting to gather in the middle of Parliament Square. A plan had obviously already been made by those involved to start reading out the names of some of those who have been killed in the war in Iraq. The participants at the event had signs hanging around their necks with a series of pictures of people who have been killed in the war also marked with the slogan 'Who Dies?'. Another set of signs was used, marked 'Who lies?' with photos of those who had lied about Iraq - one particular sign was a photo of Condoleeza Rice who was recently forced to face protests during her visit to Liverpool. A third set of signs had the slogan 'Who profits?', and had some of the names of companies who had profited from the war - such as Control Risks, and BAE Systems. A large banner was held up with the message "Who Lies, Who Dies, Who Profit$". Five large puppets were also present - intended to depict the victims of the war.

Today, 3 April 2006, the Home Office were appealing the decision taken in the High Court last July, that Brian Haw is exempt from the measures in the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 which ban unauthorised protest near Parliament. The Home Office, the Metropolitan Police (as an interested party) and Brian's barrister all made submissions based on arguments about what the relevant sections of the law say and how they should be interpreted, what Parliament's intention was in passing the law and the legality of the extra measures included in the secondary legislation under which Brian would have to seek authorisation.

Naming the Dead, Mass Civil Disobedience Against the Occupation of Iraq took place in Parliament Square and Whitehall, London on 2 April, 2006. Photographs of the event

SPY chiefs have warned Tony Blair that the war in Iraq has made Britain the target of a terror campaign by Al-Qaeda that will last “for many years to come.” A leaked top-secret memo from the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) says the war in Iraq has “exacerbated” the threat by radicalising British Muslims and attracting new recruits to anti-western terror attacks.

The first official recognition that the Iraq war motivated the four London suicide bombers has been made by the government in a major report into the 7 July attacks. Despite attempts by Downing Street to play down suggestions that the conflict has made Britain a target for terrorists, the Home Office inquiry into the deadliest terror attack on British soil has conceded that the bombers were inspired by UK foreign policy, principally the decision to invade Iraq.

The Observer has seen the Home Office narrative (first draft) which is what we have been told we are getting instead of a public enquiry into July 7, and it is official: the link between Iraq and July 7th. ''Despite attempts by Downing Street to play down suggestions that the conflict has made Britain a target for terrorists, the Home Office inquiry into the deadliest terror attack on British soil has conceded that the bombers were inspired by UK foreign policy, principally the decision to invade Iraq. ''

Much of the 2006 emergency funding is earmarked for beefing up security and facilities at just a handful of large airbases in Iraq. This has prompted some to wonder whether the US has plans to maintain a permanent military presence - something the government has repeatedly denied.

Fourteen of the group, known as the Marchwood 14, are Greenpeace volunteers who say they should not have been convicted of aggravated trespass near Southampton docks because they were trying to stop an "illegal war". The same argument was also offered by five people who entered RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire and allegedly tried to immobilise American B52 bombers which were later involved in "shock and awe" attacks on Baghdad.
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The protesters argued that a crime of aggression under international law should also be considered an offence under section three of the Criminal Law Act 1967. But on Wednesday, Lord Bingham - one of the five law lords - dismissed that assertion, adding: "I am of the clear opinion that the crime of aggression is not a crime in the domestic law of England and Wales within the meaning of section three."

I paused on the Sharqiya channel which many Iraqis consider to be a reasonably toned channel (and which during the elections showed its support for Allawi in particular). I was reading the little scrolling news headlines on the bottom of the page. The usual- mortar fire on an area in Baghdad, an American soldier killed here, another one wounded there… 12 Iraqi corpses found in an area in Baghdad, etc. Suddenly, one of them caught my attention and I sat up straight on the sofa, wondering if I had read it correctly.
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“The Ministry of Defense requests that civilians do not comply with the orders of the army or police on nightly patrols unless they are accompanied by coalition forces working in that area.”

That’s how messed up the country is at this point.

An anonymous blog by a young woman in war-torn Iraq has been longlisted for BBC Four's Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction. Baghdad Burning, a first-hand account written under the pseudonym Riverbend, is one of 19 books in contention.

Briton Norman Kember and two Canadian fellow peace activists held hostage in Iraq for almost four months have been freed by multinational forces. Mr Kember, 74, of north-west London, James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32, were three of four men seized in Baghdad in November. Mr Kember said in a statement: "It is great to be free, and I'm looking forward to getting back to the UK."

After the American hostage Tom Fox was killed two weeks ago, people were starting to fear that the British man might be next. Naturally, then, Norman being safe and free is the most wonderful news, the most fantastic relief. But I still believe Norman was right to go to Iraq - and I don't think that he will regret having gone. And here's why. Norman totally, bitterly, opposed the invasion of Iraq and all that was done there. He could see there were a lot of people in Iraq who were hurting and suffering, who had lost relations or been imprisoned. Whatever their nationality, our job as Christians and as people interested in peace was to offer help and consolation to people who were suffering. That was Norman's basic wish.

An RAF doctor who refused to serve in Iraq because he thought the war illegal is to go before a court martial. Flt Lt Malcolm Kendall-Smith, 37, will face trial, ruled a judge advocate at Aldershot Court Martial Centre, Hants. The officer faces five charges of failing to comply with a lawful order after refusing training and deployment to Basra, southern Iraq, last June.

The decision to capture the soldier's perspective in rap music was one thing, but the reality of recording in a war zone was quite another. Sgt Saunders had to set up a recording studio in the middle of a 30ft by 30ft (9m by 9m) room he shared with eight other soldiers. Each piece of equipment was shipped from America - much to the bemusement of his comrades. And he single-handedly built a vocal booth - out of old sheets of plywood, with traditional mats used as dampening.

The numbers opposing the occupation now are even larger, with fewer people believing what the government says but, sadly, fewer people believing they have any power to make a difference. If the millions marching on a single day around the world did not stop them, the thinking goes, what can I do? Yesterday, March 18th, thousands of people marched in London. The police, who always underestimate, claimed around 15,000. The organizers, who always overestimate, asserted 100,000. Though the marches are the most visible face of the anti-war movement in the United Kingdom, they are not its sole focus. As I said to Ahmed, they were our bombers. They were made by arms manufacturers in our towns. Companies in our cities are still gobbling up the financial spoils of war and occupation. If the millions marching on a single day around the world did not stop them, the thinking goes, what can I do?

Three years after the invasion of Iraq by the US-led coalition life for many Iraqis remains uncertain, with continuing violence and political instability. The BBC News website spoke to four Iraqis and asked them for their memories of the invasion, what life has been like in the country since and what they feel the future holds.

SWINDON'S anti-war protesters marked the third anniversary of the invasion of Iraq by joining worldwide demonstrations. More than a dozen campaigners headed on a coach from Swindon to London on Saturday to join protests and make their voices heard in urging the Government to pull British troops out of the war-torn Middle Eastern nation.
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Andy Newman, of Swindon's Stop the War Coalition, who went on the march, said: "It was a lively day and it shows that we are still determined to get the message across. "We have come to a point where few believe we were right to go to war and almost nobody believes that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. There was also a lot of emphasis on the future of Iran, and the threat of action over its nuclear programme. I am sceptical myself, about any possible attack. I think it is megaphone diplomacy. What was really missing from the weekend's protest were concerns about the increased numbers of troops heading to Afghanistan. Having our troops in both of these countries is not achieving anything and is making the situation over there worse. It would be much better to bring them home out of harm's way."

What was it Bush told us a few weeks ago? That 30,000 Iraqis had been killed since the invasion, his very words a racist admission; for what he actually said was: "30,000 more or less". More or less, give or take a few hundred. Would he have dared to say that US casualties were "2,000 more or less"? Of course not. Our dead are precious; they are individuals with widows and children. The Iraqis? Well, they are lesser beings whose casualties cannot be revealed to us by the Iraqi Ministry of Health, on orders from the Americans and British; creatures whose suffering, far greater than our own, must be submerged in the democracy and freedom in which we are drowning them; whose casualties "More or less" are probably nearer to 150,000. After all, if 1,000 Iraqis could die by violence last July - in Baghdad alone; and if they are being killed at 60 or 70 a day, then we have a near genocidal bloodbath on our hands. Iraqis, however, are now ourUntermenschen for whom, frankly, we do not greatly care.

Three years on from the “shock and awe” invasion of Iraq, Stop the War Coalition, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the Muslim Association of Britain held a march and rally in London, as part of an international day of protest (see http://www.stopwar.org.uk/march20/index.asp ). Here are photos, audio clips, and a report of the day.

Nine days after the start of the American president's 2003 "shock and awe" uranium bombing campaign in Baghdad, an invisible radioactive uranium oxide gas cloud swept through Britain's towns and countryside and throughout Europe. Respected scientists reported on the unrevealed gas cloud after conducting research on specialized high volume air filters in England. Dr. Chris Busby and Saoirse Morgan stunned Europe in a Sunday Times of London article on Feb. 19, 2006. Their scientific paper, released March 1st, 2006, [1] proved the event. With all the vigor of delusional drunkards, British nuclear and military spokesmen predictably denied the reality of an invisible radioactive cloud. The military claimed that a Chernobyl-like event in the area was probably responsible, but no explosive meltdowns of operating reactor cores have been reported or observed in 2006 anywhere in the world. Evidence of the truth of the gas cloud panicked the military into frantic, irrational, ludicrous denials. The military spin was later refined and the new Chernobyl claim quietly dropped.

As people make their way home from the London march and rally today, over in Cities throughout the United States people are coming together to express their own growing anger at the continuing occupation of Iraq... Protests are also being held in other cities across the world. They include Baghdad, Basra, New York, Madrid, Rome, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto and Dublin. Organisers said it was the first time there have been co-ordinated demonstrations in the US, Britain and Iraq...

Independent - Blair on Iraq: 'I'd do it all again': Unrepentant and unmoved in spite of the rising death toll, Tony Blair has declared that if he was faced with the same circumstances, he would support the invasion of Iraq all over again. And it looks like he's going to get his chance... Iran is next. Jack Straw beats the drum here. (Related article here.)

Yesterday, the White House released George W. Bush's second term National Security Strategy (document / fact sheet). It reaffirms the doctrine of pre-emptive war. Here, it should be pointed out that a 1986 law requires that this strategy be revised annually, but this is the first new version since 2002 (source). Ignore the wrist-slapping that Bush is sure to avoid and instead consider this; the first revision was essentially a declaration of war against Iraq (money shot)... and this second revision is essentially a declaration of war against Iran.

The wages of Bush's Iraq War can be found not only in grieving hearts and cemeteries, but also in the wards of Walter Reed and other U.S. military hospitals. There, thousands of wounded American soldiers from Iraq pass through for a respite on their way back to civilian life. But, it can't be normal life as affirmed by the all the terribly broken bodies with stumps, missing limbs and mangled faces. Soldiers wrapped in blood soaked bandages keep their eyes covered in agony, soldiers who will never walk again are frustrated with their state of constant dependence and soldiers with leg braces and neck supports struggle to take a few stumbling steps. They have just cheated death, but many will never be done fighting Bush's war because their situation will be for a lifetime.

REGARDING the death of the 100th British serviceman to be killed in Iraq, will the politicians who get our country involved in these conflicts never learn? I wrote to Anne Snelgrove, the South Swindon MP, about this and I received a letter from her no answers, no mention of Iraq, just four pages of doubtful claims, which in my days in the Forces would have been called "bull".

ON September 2, 2002 I wrote you a letter warning readers of a possible action by Blair over Iraq. For some time before the attack, the public was softened up with stories of weapons of mass destruction which appears to have been a new invention of our Ministry of Defence. Neither we, nor the Americans, seem to have made any plans to restore the damage to Basra and other cities, and far more soldiers have been killed since peace' was declared by President Bush.

Here are some thoughts on murdered US hostage Tom Fox. I never actually met Tom though I was due to go on the ill-fated CPT (Christian Peacemakers) delegation along with James Loney, Harmeet Sooden and Norman Kember. The group (minus Tom who travelled separately) met up in Amman, Jordan in preparation for the trip to Iraq. Last year I did an inordinate amount of travelling through 11 different countries and was dog tired by the time I reached Jordan. The group leader, Canadian James Loney, felt that I wasn’t up to the trip and consequently I was left behind. Though disappointed my miss was of course my mercy as the group were kidnapped in Baghdad on November 26th and have been held hostage since.

It just goes to show that you can't build a new Eden without the slugs and the snails and the cockroaches getting in and chewing on the flowers. Tony Blair should embrace this fact and give a speech, "Only when the streets of Baghdad are slick with Bacardi Breezer vomit and its gutters lined with inebriated teenagers having emotional episodes will we bring the troops home. We owe it the Iraqi people." Then we can bomb them again when they start exporting anti-social behaviour and refuse to implement a culture of respect.

This afternoon, there was a small but poignant vigil staged by members of Campeace to mark the 100th day of British Peace Activist Norman Kember being held hostage in Iraq.

Since the death of my son on October 2005, three days before his tour was to end, I have started to question why the invasion of Iraq occurred. My son's remit in Iraq was as a "peacekeeper", helping with the rebuilding of schools and the infrastructure, and training the Iraqi police to enable them to maintain stability in the future. At the time of his death, Chris was the platoon commander and was responsible for clearing a safe route for a large convoy.

It is difficult to imagine that the perpetrators of this heinous attack didn’t anticipate its disastrous effects. Certainly, the Sunni-led resistance does not benefit from alienating the very people it is trying to enlist in its fight against the American occupation. Accordingly, most of the prominent Sunni groups have denied involvement in the attack and dismissed it as collaboration between American and Iranian intelligence agencies.

In the Afghanistan turkey shoot the CoW forces used vast numbers of hard target weapons and other munitions containing depleted uranium (DU). This substance is almost twice as dense as lead. When it punches through concrete bunkers, armour, or mud huts, DU disintegrates into a chemically toxic and radioactive dust. In contrast to the earlier DU weapons used in Gulf War I, the newer ordinance produced deaths and deformities within weeks of the start of military action by the CoW. Between 1990-91 and 2001 the US arms manufacturers are thought to have "improved" the DU technology by introducing milled uranium ore to their warheads. This non-depleted uranium (NDU) is - wait for it - cheaper to produce and far more potent than DU. It poses massive health risks to civilian populations exposed to it, and constitutes, in every sense of the word, a weapon of mass destruction, or WMD.

For nearly two years, we have been inundated with US and British "exit strategies". So, why do you need a strategy to pack up, end the occupation and let the Iraqi people decide their own future? The "threat of civil war" of course. But that is to ignore the war unfolding in Iraq thanks to the continued occupation.

None of these exit strategies will work for the simple reason that they are based on an unrealisable ambition: to have the Iraqi cake and eat it. All the Bush and Blair strategies are based on maintaining a pro-US regime in Baghdad. Freed from this hated occupation, proud and independent Iraqis will never elect a collection of US- and British-backed proteges.

A new letter from the Ministry of Defence, written in reply to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) enquiry, has revealed that statements on British casualties in Iraq have been seriously misleading. These statements have been attributed to John Reid, the Minister for Defence.

Arms trade. Government sweeteners. Tax havens. Dodgy corporations making a killing. Directors paying themselves a packet. Ridiculous company names. Welcome to Neo Labour’s first full blown privatisation.

Plus, Fairford Five, Peace Tax Seven, and Milton Keynes in Najaf

The legality of the Iraq war should be able to be questioned in court and not given the immunity of being an "act of state", the Law Lords have heard. Lower courts have said that the legality of the Iraq war is a political matter and not for the courts. But Keir Starmer QC, for five anti-war protesters, said the 2003 Commons' resolution approving military action was "no more than a vote... it was not an act of Parliament, it was a discussion of Parliament". He cited the world community's reaction to the crimes of General Pinochet, and asked why the Iraq war decision should "be an act of state which the court should not inquire into". He was speaking at the end of a four-day hearing before five Law Lords - Lord Hoffman, Lord Rodger, Lord Carswell, Lord Mance and Lord Bingham. A judgement is expected in about six weeks.

There was an explosion this morning in a mosque in Samarra, a largely Sunni town. While the mosque is sacred to both Sunnis and Shia, it is considered one of the most important Shia visiting places in Iraq.
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All morning we’ve been hearing/watching both Shia and Sunni religious figures speak out against the explosions and emphasise that this is what is wanted by the enemies of Iraq- this is what they would like to achieve- divide and conquer. Extreme Shia are blaming extreme Sunnis and Iraq seems to be falling apart at the seams under foreign occupiers and local fanatics.

No one went to work today as the streets were mostly closed. The situation isn’t good at all. I don’t think I remember things being this tense- everyone is just watching and waiting quietly. There’s so much talk of civil war and yet, with the people I know- Sunnis and Shia alike- I can hardly believe it is a possibility. Educated, sophisticated Iraqis are horrified with the idea of turning against each other, and even not-so-educated Iraqis seem very aware that this is a small part of a bigger, more ominous plan…

"Anarchy" could prevail if anti-war protesters are allowed to argue that they were right to take action to prevent the Iraq war, Law Lords heard. David Perry, for the Crown, said if this was the case there would be little to stop foreign belligerent states from using the same argument. But Keir Starmer QC, for five of the activists, said the rule of law should apply irrespective of the consequences.

Dear friends, revolutionaries, progressives, anti-war activists, etc.

The attack today on an Iraqi Shiite mosque must be seen for what it is. This and other such events are the work of “psychological operations teams” working for our imperial bandits. It is obvious to anyone with a string of ten or more functioning neurons! Such an attack is roundly condemned by all religious factions in Iraq. All the mosques are sacred to all Muslims throughout that country. Persons that would do such things would be attacked mercilessly by either Sunni or Shiite. Only the neocon imperialists would be capable of such a crime and hope to have anything to gain from the act. And Iraqis know this!

Human Rights First’s new report, “Command's Responsibility: Deaths in U.S. Custody in Iraq and Afghanistan,” provides the first comprehensive accounting of the U.S. government’s handling of the nearly 100 cases of detainees who have died in U.S. custody since 2002.

“Looking closely at these cases, we found time and again badly flawed investigations, and a lack of command responsibility for what’s gone wrong – especially in cases where victims were tortured to death. The result across the board has been to create a culture of impunity, where no one, especially not command, is held fully accountable for detainee deaths,” said Deborah Pearlstein, Director of the U.S. Law and Security Program at Human Rights First. “If the United States is serious about preventing torture going forward, there must be accountability up and down the chain of command.”

Almost 100 prisoners have died in US custody in Iraq and Afghanistan since August 2002, according to US group Human Rights First.
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Of the 98 deaths, at least 34 were suspected or confirmed homicides, the programme said.
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UK MP Bob Marshall-Andrews told the Press Association that the report confirmed "in statistical terms the appalling evidence already available in footage. If it is indeed systemic, then the responsibility for it must go right to the top, and that would apply to both British and American governments," he said.

Information on the actual number of casualties has been withheld by the UK government since the start of the war in 2003 and it has only been due to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) that any information at all on the true situation has emerged. We first attempted to obtain information from the MOD when the FOIA first came into force in the UK at the beginning of 2005, and subsequently posted our findings in September. The analysis we presented suggested that by September 2005 total British casualties approximated 1000. The latest, frankly unbelievable, statements from John Reid prompted another letter to the MOD and a fresh request for information disclosure under the FOIA.

Well, the reply has now arrived and it seems that the MOD has decided to stall on releasing full information on British casualties. Interesting indeed, given the latest position adopted by the minister...

IF you press the right button on people of a certain ilk, it triggers an automatic response "they went to war to steal Iraq's oil" although there is no recorded evidence that this is true.

The crime of aggression, the waging of an illegal war, was labelled "the supreme war crime" at Nuremberg. Most international lawyers believe the Iraq war was unlawful. "An unlawful use of force on such a scale amounts to the crime of aggression," wrote Elizabeth Wilmshurst, the Foreign Office's deputy chief legal adviser, when she resigned on the eve of the invasion.

But can peace activists who tried to stop bombers being refuelled or armoured vehicles being loaded on to ships argue in court that their acts were lawful because they were trying to stop a greater crime -the crime of aggression? Is the issue of their right to mount such a defence even open to a British court to decide? Those questions are at the heart of a landmark appeal which goes to the House of Lords today, three years after the fraught weeks when Britain and the US were marshalling their troops and anti-war protesters were desperately trying to put a spoke in the war machine's wheels.

On Monday 20th February UK Law Lords will begin a hearing of great importance for political activism as they decide whether a British court can rule on the criminality of a war started by a UK government.

Among the 14 people whose cases will be directly affected by the hearing are the “Fairford Five”, who seek to know what arguments they will be allowed to use in their defence. Trident Ploughshares pledgers Paul Milling and Margaret Jones, along with Phillip Pritchard, Toby Olditch and Josh Richards, are charged with conspiracy and criminal damage, following their action in March 2003 to prevent or delay the take-off of American B-52 bombers from Fairford air force base in Gloucestershire.

Just what is going on in Iraq? ‘Bad apples’ humiliate, beat, torture and murder internees. Iraqi ministers blame “lower-level officials” for running death squads. It seems whenever they get caught out, military forces cease to be disciplined top-down command-and-control organisations and become autonomous cells of torturers and killers, all without orders or raising suspicion (until they film themselves in the act). But the situation is clearly more complicated, whilst US planners talk of a ‘Salvador Option’, a US general triumphantly declares "We have found one of the death squads. They are part of the police force" without a hint of irony.

The last few days have been unsettlingly violent in spite of the curfew. We’ve been at home simply waiting it out and hoping for the best. The phone wasn’t working and the electrical situation hasn’t improved. We are at a point, however, where things like electricity, telephones and fuel seem like minor worries. Even complaining about them is a luxury Iraqis can’t afford these days.

PEACE tax protester Robin Brookes from Market Lavington and his fellow conscientious objectors of the Peace Tax Seven will appear at the Court of Appeal on March 1. Lord Justice Sedley has asked to hear their case from end to end in a full day's hearing. The seven protesters, all pacifists, have objected that their income tax is being used to fund an illegal war in Iraq.

A PURTON anti-war campaigner who withheld 10 per cent of his income tax in protest over the Iraq war said he thinks the Inland Revenue know they are in the wrong. Douglas Barker, 72, believes that the Iraq campaign was illegal and that he shouldn't be made to fund it.

The Law Lords will decide if there is a defence open to individuals who break the law in order to prevent a greater 'crime of aggression'. The landmark hearing will consider the appeals of nineteen people, who took direct action to try and prevent the Iraq war, including:

* The 'Marchwood 14' - Greenpeace volunteers who took part in a week of action at Southampton docks in an attempt to stop or delay military hardware leaving the country for Iraq, so that the all important 'weather window' for the invasion would be missed (1).
* Margaret Jones & Paul Milling, Toby Olditch and Philip Pritchard and Josh Richards - five people who entered the RAF Fairford base and attempted to damage and immobilise American B52 bombers which were later involved in the 'shock and awe' assault on Baghdad (2).
* Valerie Swain - convicted for trying to enter the RAF Fairford base (3).

Since April 2003, the people of Basra have consistently been bemused by reports that they and their city enjoy a state of calm and stability under the command of the British forces, in contrast to the north of Iraq and the so-called Sunni triangle. As someone born and bred in Basra, I hope that the recent images of British troops beating young Basra boys to within an inch of their lives will allow such claims to be laid to rest and show a fraction of the reality that has made life throughout Iraq a living hell.

An Australian television network today broadcast photographs and video clips it said were previously unpublished images of the alleged abuse of Iraqis held in military custody at Abu Ghraib prison.The images were taken at Abu Ghraib in late 2003 at about the same time as previously published photographs of Iraqi prisoner abuse, the Special Broadcasting Service's "Dateline" programme reported.

I WOULD like to congratulate Douglas Barker, the Purton pensioner who has withheld 10 per cent of his taxes in protest against the Iraq war. By this simple act of civil disobedience, he has gained a tremendous amount of publicity.

Starting on February the 20th, the Law Lords will begin debating a question of great importance for the future of political activism in the UK, and for how the British courts in future deal with international law. Their Lordships are asked to decide: Is a British court allowed to rule on whether a war started by a UK government is a crime ? The hearing brings together the appeals of nineteen people who took direct action against the Iraq war - including 14 already convicted Greenpeace defendants.

Wakefield Peace Group (Affiliated with Wakefield Stop the War) set up vigil with 100 red roses and 100 candles outside army recruitment office in Wakefield on Friday 10th February 2006, almost a week after the 100th soldier vigil in Wakefield Town Centre. This is the start of regular vigils.

FORMER RAF pilot Nigel Gilbert who was a close friend of a number of the Lyneham crew who died in Iraq believes their aircraft could have survived the enemy fire that brought it down. He has hit out at Government claims the Hercules crash in which ten men died, was not survivable and says he has evidence to prove it. He says the main reason servicemen perished in the tragedy was because the aircraft didn't have an anti explosion protection system, known as foam retardant.

The deaths of civilians in Iraq may indeed add up to violations of the Geneva Conventions, especially Article IV. This became apparent to me last year, when I headed a multinational team of medical and public health researchers to investigate the scale of fatalities associated with the U.S. invasion of Iraq and subsequent violence.

The resulting report, published in the British medical journal The Lancet, estimated around 100,000 and possibly far more civilians have died because of the invasion. Our study was based on 988 household interviews in 33 randomly picked neighborhoods from across the entire country, and covered the period between on the beginning of the war (March 2003) and September 2004.

Three years after invading Iraq, George Bush and Tony Blair are still dipping into the trough of deception and disinformation that launched the war: hailing non-existent progress, declaring sanctimonious satisfaction with sectarian elections and holding out the mirage of early withdrawal. In reality, the occupation and divide-and-rule tactics have spawned death squads, torture, kidnappings, chemical attacks, polluted water, depleted uranium, bombardment of civilians, probably more than 100,000 people dead and a relentless deterioration in Iraqis' daily lives.

A PURTON anti-war campaigner who withheld 10 per cent of his income tax in protest at the Iraq campaign could have his assets seized by the Inland Revenue. Douglas Barker, says the Iraq war was illegal and he should not be forced to fund it.

As 100th British soldier was killed in Iraq groups around the country held Vigils and 'Naming the Dead' Ceremonies. Some of the Announcements on the newswire sparked discussion about the tactic in the comments, as it has on the IMC UK features list. Over 100,000 Iraqis have died.

Reports and photos from: Cambridge, Swindon, Birmingham, Nottingham, Sheffield, Swansea, Aberdeen, East London, Liverpool, Bristol

Tony Blair and George W Bush decided to invade Iraq weeks earlier than they have admitted, a new book by a human rights lawyer has claimed. The book by Philippe Sands says the two leaders discussed going to war regardless of any United Nations view.

Tony Blair told President George Bush that he was "solidly" behind US plans to invade Iraq before he sought advice about the invasion's legality and despite the absence of a second UN resolution, according to a new account of the build-up to the war published today. A memo of a two-hour meeting between the two leaders at the White House on January 31 2003 - nearly two months before the invasion - reveals that Mr Bush made it clear the US intended to invade whether or not there was a second UN resolution and even if UN inspectors found no evidence of a banned Iraqi weapons programme.

On wednesday 100 vigils were called in 100 diferent places across the country to remember those that have died in Iraq. The event coincided with the death of the 100th British Soldier. Below are some pics from Whitechapel. Around 30 people from the diferent communities that make up Tower Hamlets showed up to read the names of dead british soldiers and Iraqi civilians.

The present figures are:
Britain 100
USA Over 2,000
Iraqis Over 100,000

Anti-war protestors gathered in Nottingham, holding up the names of all 100 dead British soldiers. They gathered on the steps of the city hall while the soldiers' names were read out, drawing the attention of passers-by.

Anti-war protesters gathered at the cenotaph in Swindon to mark the death of the 100th British soldier in Iraq. Andy Newman, from Swindon's Stop the War Coalition, read out the names of the 100 British soldiers who have lost their lives as well as the names of 100 Iraqi people who have perished. The ceremony, at 6pm last night, ended with a two-minute silence. Vigils were staged across the UK by anti-war groups to mark the death of the 100th British soldier since the conflict began in 2003.

Images from the Peace Vigil organised in Aberdeen on February 1 2006 , as part of dozens similar ones across the UK, to commemorate the 100 dead British servicemen and the thousands of dead Iraqi civilians, since the invasion and occupation of Iraq in March 2003.

A vigil for all those killed in Iraq took place on Wednesday 1st March at Carfax, Oxford, following news of the death of the 100th British soldier. People held candles, banners condemning Bush and Blair for the war, and read aloud the names of those killed and brief details of the circumstances. On a chilly night attendance was modest, but it was nevertheless a dignified and moving occasion.

There was a vigil outside Sheffield Town Hall on 1st Feb to mark death of the 100th British soldier killed in Iraq.

We meet at 6pm and it was very cold. The names of the 100 dead soldiers were read out. I thought about their families, the misery they must be in and how nothing would ever bring these young men and women back.

Tuesday 30th January 2006 saw the death of the 100th British soldier in the war in Iraq. Peace campaigners in Swindon joined others in many towns around the country in a vigil the following day to mark this event. The names of two hundred victims of the war; the one hundred soldiers, and one hundred of the hundred-thousand plus Iraqis, were read out in front of the Cenotaph, followed by a two-minute silence.

Their was a 'Naming the Dead' Vigil in Victoria Square, Birmingham, 5.30 pm Wednesday 1st February 2006. Speakers included the mother of a soldier from Tamworth who was killed in Iraq.

I HAVE little time for Saddam, but he does at least deserve a fair trial. Can anyone explain how he is to get this when the judge comes from a town where Saddam's forces are said to have murdered about 5,000 people.

Vigils are to be staged across the UK by anti-Iraq war groups to mark the death of the 100th British soldier since the conflict began in 2003. Stop the War Coalition supporters turned up in Parliament Square on Tuesday ahead of the nationwide events. Respect MP George Galloway and former Labour MP Tony Benn were among those who read out the names of all the dead.

BREAKING NEWS: The UK Ministry of War have just announced the 100th British soldier has [sadly] been killed in Iraq.

Announcements of the vigils being held across the country to mark this occasion, plus a debate on whether it is appropriate to commemorate the deaths of soldiers in this way.

The family of a Scottish soldier killed in Iraq have spoken of their anguish and claimed: "It wasn't his war". L/Cpl Allan Douglas, 22, from Aberdeen, who was serving with The Highlanders, died after coming under fire in the Maysan area on Monday. His mother Diane said: "It wasn't his war. But as he said, he's in the army, that's his job."

On Saturday Stop the War Coalition draped Nottingham's Armed Forces Recruitment Centre with coffin-shaped placards naming the members of the British Forces killed in Iraq. At this time 98 British servicement have lost their lives. Why wait to demonstrate until the number inevitably reaches 100! The Recruitment Centre, just by the Victoria Centre Clocktower, closed while we were there.

QUESTIONS over the death of 10 airmen in the RAF Hercules disaster are to be raised in the House of Commons.
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Shadow Defence Secretary Liam Fox said he would table Parliamentary questions on whether ministers had talks with the transporter plane's manufacturer, Lockheed, about protective systems.

"We now know that fuel inerting systems were fitted to Australian C130s by the end of 2003 and then by the US Air Force," he said. "We must now be told what discussions took place and when. If ministers sent British servicemen and women on operations with less protection than our Allied counterparts, it would be a gross dereliction of their duty."

A central irony of the invasion of Iraq is that, whilst it has achieved virtually all its goals, it is widely regarded as a disaster. The reason for the seemingly contradictory nature of this ‘reality’ and ‘perception’ lies in the gulf between the professed reasons for the invasion and the real reasons that lay beneath. Of the reasons for war set out by Bush and Blair only one, namely the removal of Saddam Hussein, has so far been achieved. The other professed reasons have either failed or have been shown to be phantoms. The real goals of the invasion, namely gaining oil and strategic influence, have been met. Whilst the ferocity of the insurgency may not have been envisioned, the violence in Iraq cannot be too much of a surprise to the military planners in London and Washington. Although the creation of a liberal democracy, sympathetic to the West would clearly have been preferable, there is little doubt that an Iraq riven by sectarian bitterness and violence offers its own form of stability. To suggest that the Bush and Blair administrations deliberately unleashed the insurgency in Iraq is ridiculous, but equally ridiculous is to suggest that advisors and experts did not see its possibility. Whilst it cannot be said that they did not care about creating a genuine peaceful democracy, it is accurate to say that they cared about other things more.

My son Casey was in the first 1000 to be killed in Iraq. We reached that dismal mark by September 2004. MoveOn.org conducted candlelight vigils for that occasion. Then a little over a year later, MoveOn.org conducted candlelight vigils to commemorate the 2000th soldier. If we don't get off of our collective apathetic and complacent backsides to stop the barbaric killing in Iraq, when will the next candlelight vigil be? George Bush and the evil neocons are killing our precious soldiers at the rate of 2.78 per day. By my calculations, we should be lighting our candles again and singing "Kum bah ya" by October.
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"I would say 30,000 more or less have died as a result of the initial incursion and the ongoing violence against Iraqis," said George on December 12, 2005. Even if one accepts this very low guess-timate by George, his policies have been responsible for ten times the 3000 deaths on September 11, 2001. By his own admission, he is ten times the terrorist that Osama ever was. If George says 30,000 ... who knows what the truthful total is. It fills me with sorrow and hurts my heart to even contemplate the number.

On Thursday January 5th 2006 women from around the world - from the USA to Iraq to Britain to Japan - launched a campaign aimed at ending the war and occupation in Iraq. As a first step, the Women Say NO to War campaign wants to gather 100,000 signatures by March 8th, International Women’s Day 2006. On that day women will deliver the signatures to the US Govt in Washington, to US embassies around the world, and to Downing Street in London.

The campaign aims to bring women together across borders - geographical, religious, and political - to demand an end to the bloodshed in Iraq. “We’re unleashing a global chorus of women’s voices shouting ‘Enough!,’” said Medea Benjamin (co-founder of groups CodePink and Global Exchange).

A NEW military court martial centre complex being built on Salisbury Plain is expected to be the venue for one of the Army's most high-profile trials when it opens in the summer. The hearing, set for September, after the £3.5 million building project is complete, involves allegations against Colonel Jorge Mendonca, former commanding officer of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment, and ten other British soldiers. They were investigated over the alleged torture and death of an Iraqi civilian, who died in British military custody.

PRIME Minister Tony Blair should be impeached over the Iraq war, a former top general said today. General Sir Michael Rose, who commanded United Nations forces in Bosnia, said the Prime Minister should not be allowed to "walk away" from the conflict without being held to account.

Prime Minister Tony Blair should be "impeached" over the war in Iraq, a former top British soldier has said. The ex-UN commander in Bosnia General Sir Michael Rose said Mr Blair had to take responsibility for his actions. "To go to war on what turns out to be false grounds is something that no one should be allowed to walk away from," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

... behind closed doors and against the democratic wishes of the people, the country's major asset, oil, is in the process of being handed over to multinational oil companies. An extensive and detailed research report called Crude Designs (tinyurl.com/a9o37) published at the end of last year by PLATFORM and a group of NGOs including War on Want and New Economics Foundation (nef) uncovers the truth about the future of Iraqi oil and the consequences of these decisions on the fledgling democracy.

Wednesday, January 4
Statement of the Worker-communist Party of Iraq on shooting demonstrators in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk.
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The enraged masses of people in Kirkuk organized a mass demonstration on January1, 2005 [sic] against the poor living conditions, absence of basic services and sharp increase in fuel prices dictated by International Monetary Fund, (IMF.) The USA troops assisted by the local police, which is controlled by the pro-USA ethnic parties, opened fire on demonstrators killing 4 people including, Yokhana Yaqo Yokhana and Omer Foad Othman and wounding at least 10 others.

The minority of Americans who support the war largely do so out of a sense of responsibility to Iraqis. They favor reconstruction and restoration as well as ongoing occupation. And most of the majority who favor ending the war support the financing of reconstruction, which – after all – costs less than war. Reconstruction seems to be something we generally agree on.

Of course, very little reconstruction has been done or appears likely to be done, and recent reports are that the Bush Administration doesn't want any more money for it – having spent most of the money already allocated for reconstruction on other things.

So, I was disgusted to see a website called www.nationalreferendum.org promoting rebuilding New Orleans with payments from Iraqis. We invaded their country, killed 100,000 people, left the place a wreck, and neglected our own cities – so they should pay us?

A few months after the gassing of the Kurds in Halabja, a demonstration was held in 1988 by the Iraqi resistance in the United Kingdom.The demonstration had worked its way around the streets of London and had finally ended up outside of Iraq’s Embassy. Organised primarily by the Campaign Against Repression and for Democratic Rights in Iraq (CARDRI), the shouts of the thousands present, who carried the banners with the faces of those disappeared, called for the downfall of Iraqi president, Saddam Hussain. With her own face covered in a khafir, like many of those around her, the North West’s organiser for the Iraqi Women’s League sat on the shoulders of two members from the Iraqi Communist Party and with a mega-phone in hand, led the chants that we all recited; “Saddam is a murderer, down with the murderer!” Just like in 1958, when the Iraqi Women’s League made history, by electing the first ever female cabinet minister to an Iraqi government, under the leadership of Abdul Karim Qasim, this member of that same organisation was also making history, by introducing an entirely new generation to the world of Iraqi politics.

It was completely unknown to the children on that day, who had previously witnessed the massacre of Halabja through smuggled out pictures and videotapes, that the British government was complicit in the atrocities that were taking place in Iraq.

I REFER to John Utting's letter and Mr Ing's in support and would like to say I have served in the Middle East. Mr Utting asks what does Mr Newman speak for? I hope it is out of concern for our forces as I do.
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On our veteran's badges it says HM Armed Forces. This stands for Her Majesty's, not Tony Blair's private army to get our troops killed, wounded, disabled, or blinded in an illegal war. If I thought that I could save just one of our service people by going and sitting on the top of the Town Hall Cenotaph, I would do it.

An article pointing the spotlight at "Contractors, Marcenaries, Private soldiers -- whatever you call them", especially a company called AEGIS.