NONVIOLENT RADICAL PARTY “VIGIL FOR TRUTH”, 20 JANUARY 2011

A vigil will take place in London at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, Broad Sanctuary, City of London SW1P 3EE, this Thursday night from 16.30pm on the eve of Tony Blair’s second appearance before the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq War to denounce the continuing cover-up over the Iraq War.

The US Administration has confirmed that the British government put measures in place to protect American interests during the Iraq Inquiry (2).

Speaking for the organisers of the vigil, former MEP Marco Pannella said, “It is shameful that the Chilcot Inquiry seems to be respecting a taboo over uncovering the real reasons which drove Bush and Blair to attack Iraq on 20 March 2003. For years, we have documented how Saddam was willing and ready to go into exile, and how such a scenario was boycotted at the beginning of March 2003, why the panel has never ascertained that fact?”

“Bush and Blair said they went to war because of weapons of mass destruction, but the Head of the UN organisation charged with investigating these claims maintained that the Iraqis were co-operating fully with his UN inspectors.” (3)

“The Iraq War was a massacre of the law, a massacre of our democratic way of life. In 1938 in Munich, there was a similar massacre of legality. We must not allow our Governments to do this. The Iraq Inquiry must not cover up the reasons for the Iraq War.”

“I urge everyone who cares about justice, truth, and what our Governments do in our name to join us on Thursday night”.

Notes:

1. The vigil will take place at the seat of the Iraq Inquiry: the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, Broad Sanctuary, City of London SW1P 3EE from Thursday 20 January to Friday 21 January 2011.

2. On 22 September 2009, in a meeting with officials of the UK administration during the UN P5 conference in London, U.S. Undersecretary for Justice Ellen Tauscher officially stated that the General Director of the British Ministry of Defence Jon Day had assured her that the UK had “put measures in place to protect [American] interests” during the UK inquiry into the causes of the Iraq war.

3. Hans Blix, Head of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, signalled the Iraqis’ full and “proactive” cooperation with his UN inspectors on the search for the existence of Weapons of Mass Destruction on the Iraqi soil.

4. The vigil is organised by the Nonviolent Radical Party, a transnational and transparty NGO which has held Consultative Status at the UN ECOSOC since 1995. The NRP brings together citizens, parliamentarians and members of government of various national and political backgrounds who use Ghandian nonviolence to achieve concrete objectives to create an effective body of international law which respects individuals and supports democracy and freedom throughout the world.

5. For more information about the NRP’s Iraq War campaign, please visit:

http://bushblairagainstsurepeacewagedwariniraqpreventingexiletosaddam.org/ [1]