Next Saturday 15 March, the fifth anniversary of the Iraq invasion, will see a day of global
protests. The London demonstration will assemble at 12 noon in Trafalgar Square and march down Whitehall on a route which will surround Parliament. The rally in Trafalgar Square will
highlight the disasters of five years and more of war.
Speakers will include Tony Benn, ex-SAS trooper Ben Griffin, representatives from Palestine, Green Party MEP Caroline Lucas, Lindsey German from Stop the War Coalition and film director Nick Broomfield. Joining us on the stage will be Omar Deghayes, recently released from the Guantanamo torture centre, where he was held for five years.
In late February, Ben Griffin, former member of the SAS, released a statement on the attempts by the UK government to suppress his testimony on British involvement in rendition and torture during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“As of 1940hrs 29/02/08 I have been placed under an injunction preventing me from speaking publicly and publishing material gained as a result of my service in UKSF (SAS).
I will be continuing to collect evidence and opinion on British Involvement in extraordinary rendition, torture, secret detentions, extra judicial detention, use of evidence gained through torture, breaches of the Geneva Conventions, breaches of International Law and failure to abide by our obligations as per UN Convention Against Torture. I am carrying on regardless “
Meanwhile, the non-debate, being held in the US on the definitions of torture and ill treatment were placed in context by an ex-prisioner of the Japanese during world war II , Eric Lomax (The Railway Man). Having survived waterboarding he is left in no doubt as to what this means and its legal status.
The American Civil Liberties Union comment on the moves by George Bush to retain torture for legal use by the US:
In a brazen move signaling a callous disregard for human rights, President Bush today vetoed the 2008 Intelligence Authorization Act largely due to a provision that would have applied the Army Field Manual (AFM) on Interrogations to all government agencies, including the CIA.