{"id":17206,"date":"2025-03-18T09:07:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-18T09:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/?p=17206"},"modified":"2025-03-15T10:22:44","modified_gmt":"2025-03-15T10:22:44","slug":"troops-home-from-iraq-dont-invade-iran-2005","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/?p=17206","title":{"rendered":"Troops Home from Iraq; Don&#8217;t Invade Iran &#8211; 2005"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Troops Home from Iraq; Don&#8217;t Invade Iran<\/strong>: Saturday March 18th 2006 I went to the large protest on the third anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, photographing as the march gathered in Parliament Square and then as the march went along Victoria Street on its rather indirect route to a rally in Trafalgar Square. As often with large marches, by the time the end of the march had passed me I was too late for it to be worth going on to the rally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/mylondondiary.co.uk\/2006\/03\/18\/060318_d0429.jpg\" alt=\"Troops Home from Iraq; Don't Invade Iran - 2005\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Marchers in Guantanamo fatigues and chains leaving Parliament Square, March 18, 2006<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Here &#8211; with the usual tidying of capitalisation and a few minor clarifications is the post I made on My London Diary at the time. Of course things have become much worse in various ways but particularly so far as civil liberties in the UK are concerned, the situation in Iraq has been dire and there remains a real threat of military action against Iran, an odious regime but whose people would still suffer greatly from any any invasion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/mylondondiary.co.uk\/2006\/03\/18\/060318_d0328.jpg\" alt=\"Troops Home from Iraq; Don't Invade Iran - 2005\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>As always there are many <a href=\"http:\/\/mylondondiary.co.uk\/2006\/03\/mar18-01.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">more pictures on My London Diary<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Troops Home from Iraq; Don&#8217;t Invade Iran<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/mylondondiary.co.uk\/2006\/03\/18\/060318_d0539.jpg\" alt=\"Troops Home from Iraq; Don't Invade Iran - 2005\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The Troops Home From Iraq; Don&#8217;t Invade Iran march on the 18th was another large event organised by Stop The War, part of an international protest in cities around Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific, Asia and Africa &#8211; a total of around a couple of hundred places. In London there were roughly 20,000 who walked out of Parliament Square past where I was taking pictures, although many like me will not have made it to Trafalgar Square, and others will have joined in later on the route.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/mylondondiary.co.uk\/2006\/03\/18\/060318_d0354.jpg\" alt=\"Troops Home from Iraq; Don't Invade Iran - 2005\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The event marked three years since the invasion of Iraq on 20 march 2003. At the front of the march were  Theatre Of War representing both Tony Blair and George Bush along with two police and two judges holding placards declaring the two leaders guilty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/mylondondiary.co.uk\/2006\/03\/18\/060318_d0032.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Put your head in a sack, Guantanamo style\u2026<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Behind them were the march leaders, including representatives of families of soldiers killed in Iraq. They had a long, long yellow ribbon with the names &#8211; no ranks &#8211; of soldiers who have died so far in this illegal war and occupation. Of course many more Iraqis killed &#8211; more than 100,000 have died so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/mylondondiary.co.uk\/2006\/03\/18\/060318_d0279.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The invasion, doubtful on legal grounds, was justified on the basis of false information, including information that was known to be incorrect when it was presented to parliament and the people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/mylondondiary.co.uk\/2006\/03\/18\/060318_d0630.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Already it has led to deaths in Britain; only a small handful of people (that&#8217;s Tony Blair and some of his cabinet) doubt that the London bombings would not have happened if Britain had not joined in the invasion plans. Actually it is hard to believe even they doubt it, but rather they just can&#8217;t bring themselves to admit it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/mylondondiary.co.uk\/2006\/03\/18\/060318_d0053.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>A protester from Glasgow is warned for using a megaphone in Parliament Square<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>We&#8217;ve also seen the passage of draconian measures that attack civil liberties in this country (and attempts still being made to get more.) Muslims in particular have been targeted, with a rise in Islamophobia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/mylondondiary.co.uk\/2006\/03\/18\/060318_d0353.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>At last the march moved off, with stewards pushing photographers away from the front<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The expenditure in Iraq has been vast. If you want to know why there isn&#8217;t the money to raise pensions (and a week of pension protests was ending today with a conference in London) there is a simple 4 letter answer. IRAQ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/mylondondiary.co.uk\/2006\/03\/18\/060318_d0229.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Another four letter country, Iran, is currently under threat. Perhaps most chilling are the denials from Blair and Straw, who state that invasion is not on the table. For too many of us that just seems to make it more likely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/mylondondiary.co.uk\/2006\/03\/18\/060318_d0327.jpg\" alt=\"\" style=\"width:840px;height:auto\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mylondondiary.co.uk\/2006\/03\/mar18-01.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Many more pictures on My London Diary<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" id=\"block-21592268-6698-4884-b8d2-0c04276c63b5\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\" id=\"block-1347990f-e0e8-4f40-a8b0-aa6582de51ac\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/69163004@N00\/albums\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Flickr<\/a> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/peter.marshall.712\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Facebook<\/a> &#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/mylondondiary.co.uk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">My London Diary<\/a> &#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hullphotos.co.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Hull Photos<\/a> &#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/river-lea.co.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Lea Valley<\/a> &#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/peter-marshall.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Paris<\/a><br><a href=\"http:\/\/www.petermarshallphotos.co.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">London&#8217;s Industrial Heritage<\/a> &#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.buildingsoflondon.co.uk\/\">London Photos<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\" id=\"block-8dc66be1-c5ae-47e2-b405-4b303d7ef4e1\">All photographs on this page are copyright \u00a9 Peter Marshall. <br>Contact me to buy prints or licence to reproduce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" id=\"block-1ffbd6e4-34ed-4464-9d11-8ce09bf8d01e\"\/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Troops Home from Iraq; Don&#8217;t Invade Iran: Saturday March 18th 2006 I went to the large protest on the third anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, photographing as the march gathered in Parliament Square and then as the march went along Victoria Street on its rather indirect route to a rally in Trafalgar Square. As &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/?p=17206\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Troops Home from Iraq; Don&#8217;t Invade Iran &#8211; 2005<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7],"tags":[5466,17255,15954,16191,19889,19893,11302,3079,19892,19890,1088,755,3684,19774,19895,17264,17,19894,244,231,3126,83,628,16,1092,19896,19887,19891,4785,19888],"class_list":["post-17206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-my-own-work","category-political-issues","tag-blair","tag-blair-lied","tag-civil-liberties","tag-dodgy-dossier","tag-dont-invade-iran","tag-false-information","tag-george-bush","tag-guantanamo","tag-guilty-leaders","tag-international-protest","tag-iran","tag-iraq","tag-iraq-invasion","tag-islamopbobia","tag-jack-straw","tag-lied-to-parliament","tag-london","tag-london-bombings","tag-march","tag-parliament-square","tag-pensions","tag-peter-marshall","tag-police","tag-protest","tag-stop-the-war","tag-straw","tag-third-anniversary","tag-thousands-died","tag-tony-blair","tag-troops-home"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17206"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17207,"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17206\/revisions\/17207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}