Demonstrators oppose Iraq war on anniversary

[KiwiCoromandel]

Demonstrators oppose Iraq war on anniversary of invasion

20.03.05 UPDATED at 9.45am

By Jeremy Lovell

Two women have begun a fast outside the US Embassy in Wellington to show their solidarity with the people of Iraq.

Hana Plant and Emma Wills were part of a 150-strong demonstration in the capital yesterday.

Twenty protestors have pitched their tents on the lawn nearby.

Their protest came as thousands took to the streets across Europe to protest on the second anniversary of the war in Iraq.........

Read more.......

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10116250

[KiwiCoromandel]

No time for rejoicing as Iraq toll keeps climbing

By Frank Walker and agencies

March 20, 2005

The Sun-Herald

Two years after the invasion of Iraq the rate of US soldiers being killed is averaging 18 a week, almost double the rate in the first year after the war.

The country is far more dangerous than 12 months ago, say security experts, and reconstruction has slowed to a crawl.

Between 40,000 and 50,000 US military personnel are in Iraq despite serious medical conditions that should have ruled them out of combat, according to the National Gulf War Resource Centre. The GI Rights Hotline, which counsels troops, says it fielded 32,000 calls last year from soldiers seeking an exit from the military, or suffering from post-combat stress.

Others vote with their feet. Last year the Pentagon admitted that 5500 of its forces had gone AWL, although it claims many returned to their units after resolving personal crises.

At the same time that Kevin Benderman's unit was called up for a second tour in Iraq with the US Third Infantry Division, two soldiers tried to kill themselves and another had a relative shoot him in the leg. Seventeen went AWL or ran off to Canada, and Sergeant Benderman, whose family has sent a son to every war since the American revolution, defied his genes and nine years of military training and followed his conscience.

As the division packed its gear to leave Fort Stewart, Georgia, Sergeant Benderman applied for a discharge as a conscientious objector - an act seen as a betrayal by many in his unit.........

Although they may not be part of any organised anti-war movement, the conscientious objectors, runaways and other irregular protesters suggest that, two years on, the Iraq mission is taking a heavy toll.

Just 93 Australian civilians are now in Iraq, a third of the number that were there a year ago, as corporations, aid agencies and government departments decide the personal risk is too great.

A total of 284 Australian troops are in Baghdad with another 400 RAAF at air bases in the region and 22 sailors on board HMAS Darwin in the Persian Gulf. Another 450 troops will start arriving around Anzac Day to protect Japanese troops doing reconstruction work in southern Iraq.

Prime Minister John Howard last week refused to rule out sending even more troops after Italy said it would start pulling out.

Despite the hopeful sign of so many Iraqis turning out to vote, most of those with hands-on experience of what is going on there despair for the future.

"I was there for the elections and a little afterwards and it is worse now than it has ever been," said former SAS soldier and security operator Paul Jordan of AKE Australia. "Every time I go there it is more restricted than before," said Mr Jordan, who does security protection for media and business people visiting Iraq.

"The average Iraqi is worse off now than before the war. Iraqis are as much a target for kidnappings and crime as foreigners."

Dr Michael Humphrey of the University of NSW said not many Iraqis would feel they benefited from the war. He said Shiites could seek revenge for decades of repression and that would mean years of fighting.

[Kooperman]

no doubt a national holiday here soon....

[KiwiCoromandel]

no doubt a national holiday here soon....

did you photoshop that koop? it`s very clever... :)

[Kooperman]

did you photoshop that koop? it`s very clever... :)

I don't do clever.....I do, however, steal clever..... :)

[slum_goddess]

kooperman, that's just great, found or created or whatever. we should all email that shit to the whitehouse (easy for me to say). Chris and i were to be in london yesterday for the demo but when yesterday came it was too much effort. yes i feel guilty for not being there. *sigh*

[method77]

There was major rallies around Greece to

[slum_goddess]

what i really dig here are the protests w/o any condemnation that the protesters are hippies or whatever (what i found in NYC after 1975 or thereabouts). here, it seems like a normal thing to do when there's dissatisfaction.

[Kooperman]

kooperman, that's just great, found or created or whatever. we should all email that shit to the whitehouse (easy for me to say). Chris and i were to be in london yesterday for the demo but when yesterday came it was too much effort. yes i feel guilty for not being there. *sigh*

SG, here's the source of that photo:

http://www.americanprogressaction.org/site...210&lftnav=home

[slum_goddess]

thank you and bookmarked. :)

[KiwiCoromandel]

Formation of Iraq govt drags on

Mar 25, 2005

Shi'ite and Kurdish figures delayed the second session of Iraq's elected parliament until at least Monday and warned that bargaining over the formation of a government could drag on for another week.

As the political drama played itself out, Iraqi troops battled insurgents in their former stronghold of Fallujah and five Iraqi policemen and soldiers died in a friendly-fire incident yesterday.

US ambassador to Bulgaria, James Pardew, yesterday asked that Bulgaria's parliament not set a definite date for the withdrawal of its troops from Iraq, a parliament spokesman in Sofia said.

The request came a day after the Bulgarian defence ministry said it would pull its 450 troops out of Iraq by the end of the year.

"The request...was to not necessarily set a deadline for withdrawal of Bulgarian contingent from Iraq," spokesman Borislav Velikov told journalists after talks with Pardew.

Pardew also called for Bulgaria "to take into account the concrete circumstances and conditions in Iraq and the progress towards democratisation after the new Iraqi parliament adopts a constitution," Velikov added.

Meanwhile, in Britain, the head of an information watchdog said today he expected to gain access to secret advice on the legality of the Iraq war that the government received in the run-up to the March 2003 invasion.

Read more.......

http://tvnz.co.nz/view/news_world_story_sk...8%3fformat=html