Iraq - Thousands protest as death toll mounts

Thousands attend a protest in London on Saturday
As thousands marked the 3rd anniversary of the Iraq war the violence continued unabated. US forces launched their biggest offensive on Wednesday since hostilities began, making both land and air assaults on targets near Samarra.

And as sectarian violence continued in many parts of the country there has been a wide variance of opinion as to whether the country is slipping further towards civil war. Jalal Talabani the new Iraqi prime minister rejected comments made earlier by the former interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi, who had said the prospect of civil war was closer than ever before. Mr Allawi told the BBC Iraq was already in the grip of a civil war that could tear it apart, although Iraq had not got to the point of no return. “We are losing each day as an average 50 to 60 people throughout the country, if not more - if this is not civil war, then God knows what civil war is” Mr Allawi said. His opinion was not shared by US and UK authorities. John Reid, the British Defence Secretary, dismissed the comments whilst on a visit to the country. “The terrorists want a civil war… but the miracle here is that the Iraqis after three years of this are extending the hand of friendship and unity to each other and forming a national government, rather than dividing along the lines terrorists want to see”. In Washington, Vice President Dick Cheney said Zarqawi and others were becoming desperate. “They are doing everything they can to stop the forming of a democratic government” he said, but insisted they were not succeeding. And President Bush was also up-beat saying, “We are implementing a strategy to bring about freedom in Iraq”. That strategy has been seen in initiatives such as the US-led ‘Operation Swarmer’, against insurgents and foreign fighters near Samarra, which is now into its fourth day. At least 80 ‘terrorists’ were said to have been rounded up according to Fox correspondent Andrew Stack. But there were also civilian casualties. Police say that at least eight civilians - including a woman and a child - were killed when US forces opened fire after coming under attack in the town of Dhuluiya, north of Baghdad. And whilst insurgents are rounded up in one area, the insurgency continues elsewhere. Gunmen killed three Iraqi police in the northern town of Mosul and two bomb attacks killed a policeman and wounded 12 other people in Baquba, north-east of Baghdad on Saturday. There were also reports of a mortar shell exploding in the southern city of Karbala as Shias gathered for one of the biggest events of their religious calendar. No casualties were reported. In other developments the Saddam Hussein trial, which has been through months of delays and changes of judges and lawyers, reconvened this week. But the farce continued here too as the former leader spent much of his time in the stand criticizing the US led invasion and calling on his countrymen to continue the insurgency [BBC].
Throughout the world thousands demonstrated their opposition to the ongoing conflict and the possibility of an attack on the state of Iran. In London at least 10,000 filled the streets which culminated in a rally in Trafalgar Square where the crowds listened to speeches from Tony Benn, Bruce Kent, George Galloway MP, and Brian Eno amongst others. Marches and protests were also held in other cities around the globe including the New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles in the USA, Sydney, Australia and in Tokyo, Japan.