Troops Out report. posted by Richard Seymour

Today, some of the relatives of British troops who died in Iraq converged on Downing Street to lay a wreath in their memory and launch Military Families Against the War . More here and here . Downing Street initially refused to allow the protest, but then caved in after a press release was issued. Rose Gentle and James Buchanan both spoke later at an anti-occupation rally organised by the Stop the War Coalition (see pictures below).



Troops out.

Around 1000 protesters gathered in Parliament Square (which will shortly be illegal if the government has its way) at an emergency rally to hear Tony Benn, George Galloway, Yvonne Ridley, John Rees & Lindsey German speak along with the relatives. Galloway did his usual splendid routine, Tony Benn and Kate Hudson from the CND (speaking consecutively) made solid speeches emphasising the impact that the campaigns were having, and Yvonne Ridley delivered what she said were 'words of peace during Ramadan'. Lindsey German had a few hisses to fill the ears of the spinners who had been lazily suggesting that we were bombing Fallujah so they could have elections. Dead people can't vote, refugees can't vote. You can't organise elections in a destroyed city. She also expressed some scepticism about the prospects of seeing hustings and polling stations amid the rubble and crushed corpses. Surprisingly, the most impassioned speech came from the ordinarily placid beardie John Rees. He reported what Reg Keys had told MPs in the Westminster portcullis, roughly as follows:

"Thomas Keys had spoken to his father a couple of days before he died. He asked his son 'what's wrong? you sound a bit down'. Thomas Keys said 'I've just been to a street where a smart bomb hit. They don't just take out houses, they destroy entire streets.' And an Iraqi man came up to him, and asked him to help rescue his wife and child from the rubble. So he dug, and pulled that Iraqi woman and her daughter from underneath the wreckage. And when they had done that, the Iraqi man went to the back of what was left of his house, which was just the facade, and pulled out an AK-47 rifle. He said 'I'm going north to kill Americans'".

It is only fair to report that one or two people cheered at this point. Rees, surprisingly in one way, rebuked them - he then continued by stressing the importance of the fact the people who had lost their loved ones in Iraq were taking a very dignified stand on behalf of Iraqis. They were, he said, a threat to this warmongering administration like nothing else. He was, so it was later reported, supported in this observation by Andrew Marr, who had apparently told BBC audiences that the day's protests were something of a crisis for the government.


Bring them home now.

The rally was finished with some brief but angry speeches by Rose Gentle and James Buchanan. Buchanan had a few laughs at the expense of Geoff Hoon, demanded the troops be brought home and - as he has done on the news over the last few days - tore into the government for planning to disband the Blackwatch regiment. He also suggested that Geoff Hoon had possibly been lying through his teeth when he promised - some weeks after the US had asked for assistance in Baghdad & Fallujah - that no British troops would be deployed there. Perish the thought.