Peace Group says 'Bring Them Home!'

Members of the Peace Group during the march from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square on Saturday 24 October 2009.

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Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group held two minutes silence at their meeting on Wednesday evening (11 November 2009) to remember the countless thousands of Afghan civilians and 232 British men and women and who have been killed since NATO invaded Afghanistan in October 2001. They also condemned the arrest earlier the same day of Lance Corporal Joe Glenton, the soldier who faces desertion charges for refusing to return to Afghanistan.

Members reported on their participation, last month, in the national demonstration called by the Stop the War Coalition, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the British Muslim Initiative on the 8th anniversary of the US led invasion. The protest was led by the group, Military Families Against The War, including parents and partners of British soldiers killed in Afghanistan and former and serving soldiers, like Joe Glenton, who are refusing to return there.

Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group carried a placard reading ‘Rochdale says "Support Our Troops. Bring Them Home!"’ and on Wednesday resolved to continue the campaign by collecting signatures for the current Stop the War petition. This notes the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, and the destabilisation of Pakistan arising from the NATO military intervention in the region. It states the belief that only the Afghan people
themselves can generate a political solution to their country’s problems and demands that the government commence the withdrawal of all British military forces from Afghanistan.

Philip Gilligan told the meeting in Rochdale: "It was particularly moving on 24 October to hear from people who have lost their sons or daughters in Brown’s and Blair’s wars and there was, of course, loud applause for Peter Brierley, the man who recently refused to shake Tony Blair’s hands because of the metaphorical blood he has on them. It was also inspiring to see serving soldiers, like Joe Glenton who is facing court martial and arrest to share his opposition to NATOs futile war in Afghanistan. He told us, in Trafalgar Square, that politicians have abused the trust of the Army and the soldiers who they have sent to places like Helmand. Joe feels that he has no choice but to disobey orders when Britain follows America in continuing to wage war against one of the world's poorest countries. His arrest are signs of panic by the government and military commanders. They know that an ever growing majority of the British public oppose their war.The bravery and fortitude of people like Joe and Peter makes us all the more determined to demand that British troops be brought home. The killing in Afghanistan must stop."