Ten years ago

Ten years ago today
The bombs rained down
'Shock and awe'
We watched, helpless, our TVs ablaze with exploding buildings
We knew that people were inside
Crushed
Burned
Dead

School Children and others took to the streets and city squares.
But most were just stunned
We had marched on Parliement and our leaders had dismissed us.

We knew deep down it was all a lie
Iraq was not about to attack our troops in Cyprus
There was no WMD
Or nuclear capacity
It was all a lie.
We knew Bush was a fool
But that Blair would jump at is every command.
We would allow war crimes to be carried out
Killings
Torture
The imprisonment of resistance
This was a war with not just blood on our hands, but oil.

And 10 years on:
50 killed in car bombs today
179 British troops killed
1 in 30 Iraqi people have died
1,000 000 people are displaced
Just numbers
Numbers
Numbers are people
Numbers have mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers
Numbers have children

10 years on
Our pledge must be this
Never again
Not in our name

War is never a solution
Violence just masks one injustice with another