Call for two minutes silence to remember the death of the 100th British soldier in Iraq

2.10.02am UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 2nd Feb 2006

Crawley Lib Dem Councillors Gordon & Linda Seekings have written to Crawley's Mayor, Councillor Ben Clay, asking for a 2 minutes silence before the next Full Council meeting to remember those who have died, and are dying, in Iraq.

The background to the request is the death of the 100th British soldier in Iraq - 34 during and 66 since Britain joined in the invasion of Iraq.

In writing to Ben, Gordon & Linda hope that if he agrees to the 2 minutes silence then we will not just think about the 100 dead British soldiers but the tens of thousands of civilians, the many humanitarian workers and the troops of other countries.

The BBC news report of 31 January - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4406134.stm - says that at least 2445 military personnel have been killed from 18 countries and an estimate of between 10,000 & 100,000 Iraqi civilians; 309 civilian contractors and 101 Journalists and support staff.

Gordon & Linda, in their request for the silence to the Mayor said "It seems to us that the vast majority of the people in this country and in particular Crawley are against the continuing presence of British Soldiers there."

Since making the request Gordon & Linda have received support for this 2 minute silence from other Councillors across the political divide. "With both Conservative and Labour members expressing support for it I hope that the request will be agreed."

Gordon went on to say "Irrespective of the rights or wrongs of the conflict we should do all we can to ensure that nobody forgets the thousands of people being killed or maimed in this (now) totally pointless conflict."

Related Link:

BBC News report of 31 January giving details of the deaths of military and civilians in the Iraq conflict.