Cent conditions, under neutral international supervision.
6) Affirmation of the patriotic, Arab and Islamic identity of Iraq, and firm opposition to all positions that might lead to the loss of this identity.
7) Liberation of all prisoners and detainees in the jails of the occupation and the provisional government, in particular the women; cessation of the continuous search operations and violation of human rights in all Iraqi provinces; demanding the reconstruction of destroyed cities and payment of just and fair reparations to their inhabitants. The participant forces call on the other patriotic forces that agree with these principles to sign this statement as a service
The Anti-Occupation Patriotic Forces, 15.2.05 during to see whether the Assembly will carry out the wishes of the people. If no timetable for US withdrawal is set his followers will quit the Assembly.
On February 15 al-Sadr's forces met with the Association of Muslim Scholars and other forces, including secular and left wing forces and even women's groups. (see box).
Their demands and coming together clearly push forward the struggle against the occupation although their Arab nationalism - and therefore anti-Kurdish bias is worrying. The fact that the Kurdish leadership seems to be considering blocking with Allawi will only compound this sectarianism.
The majority of Arab lists for the elections, including the majority coalition, had Andrew Burgin
FOR Supposedly Tony Blair has decided on what
GENTLE Downing Street calls a 'masochism' strategy in the approach to the general election. He is going to meet with all critics - bringing to mind the famous Millwall football chant"nobody loves us we don't care.
There is one group of people that Blair refuses to meet however - the parents of soldiers killed in Iraq. Last week at the Scottish Labour Party son. conference Rose Gentle, mother of 19-year-old fusilier Gordon Gentle who was killed by a
IN MEMORY roadside bomb in Basra, Downing Street to was refused entry. deliver a wreath and a
She was there to letter they received no speak directly to Blair reply from Blair himself. about the death of her He has no answers to
the their questions:
Last November a Why were our sons sent group of twelve from to Iraq? Where are the Military Families weapons of mass Against the War went to destruction? Why is the written legal advice for war not being released?
These families are now joined by a number of soldiers who are refusing to go to Iraq.
George Solomou has resigned from the Territorial Army in protest at the war and Ray Hewitt who fought in the first Gulf War, has decided to become a conscientious objector.
Soldiers throughout the army are now finding that if they are to be posted to Iraq and they object, then the army is quietly transferring them to other duties.
Senior military officials are desperate to avoid a court case, which would bring into the open the whole question of the legal basis of the war and occupation.
The Military Families campaign in Britain has close links with Military Families Speak Out in the United States. Dante Zappala, whose brother died in Baghdad, visited Britain at the end of last year to work with Rose Gentle and others. Later this year that visit will be reciprocated.
These campaigns of military families here and in the US are an essential component of the anti-war movement.
page 12 of the scan
tion.