Press Release Thursday 18 September 2003
Voices UK 0845 458 2564 / 0208 8806 6272 www.voicesuk.org
Contact: Gareth Evans on 020 8806 6272 / 07791 486 484
PHOTO OPPORTUNITY: PARLIAMENT SQUARE, 7PM.

Caroline Lucas MEP demands public inquiry as Memorial for 20,000 dead marks six months since invasion

Friday September 19th 2003, 6.30pm, Parliament Square: Marking the six month anniversary of the US/UK invasion of Iraq (19.3.03), there will be a memorial ceremony to remember the thousands who have died during the invasion and occupation. A number of placards, each bearing the name and picture of one of the dead, will be displayed at a candle-lit vigil, accompanied by short readings about the lives and deaths of the individuals pictured. So far, at least 6,000 - 8,000 Iraqi civilians, 13,500 Iraqi soldiers and 340 “coalition” forces have died in the invasion and occupation of Iraq [2].

Caroline Lucas, Green MEP for South-East England and a member of the European parliament's inter-group on peace, who visited Baghdad and Basra just weeks before the onset of war, said: ‘Six months on, it is clear that those who argued against this tragic war have been proved right - with Iraq in chaos, it has proved counterproductive; with thousands of innocents dead, it has proved to be immoral and, as an increasing number of lawyers and tribunals are coming to accept, it was illegal under international law.

‘Lord Hutton's inquiry into the death of weapons expert David Kelly is, slowly, exposing some of the divisions between the Government's justification for war and the reality on the ground in Iraq, but it remains an inquiry into the death of just one British civil servant. A public inquiry must be held into the responsibility for the decisions that have left thousands dead - civilians, journalists, soldiers and aid workers, from Iraq, the US, the UK and many other nations’.

Gabriel Carlyle, for voices [1], said: ‘We are gathering to remember all those who have been killed, and to tell the stories of a tiny fraction. We are also demanding that the US and British governments be held responsible for this criminal invasion and its consequences. Today, Iraq lives in chaos and US/UK forces - attacked on an almost daily basis - continue to kill Iraqi civilians with apparent impunity. This cannot be allowed to continue. The US/UK military occupation of Iraq must end.’

Notes:
[1] Established in 1998 to campaign against the economic sanctions on Iraq, voices uk has sent 11 sanctions-breaking delegations to Iraq and organised numerous anti-war actions, both big and small. See www.voicesuk.org.
[2] For Iraqi civilian casualties see www.iraqbodycount.org. Figures derived from a comprehensive survey of online media reports and eyewitness accounts, independently reviewed and error-checked by the Iraq Body Count project team. For estimates of Iraqi military casualties see ‘Body Counts’ (Guardian, 28th May 2003): www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,965089,00.html. For “coalition” forces see www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2003/iraq/forces/casualties/index.html.

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