A Curious Girl: Don't attack Iraq

I'm back! It's late! I went to Creative Writing! We played a writing game where we each wrote down five words and then picked someone else's list randomly and wrote a story... my words were womb, foetus, willow, lotus and worms. Yay.

I love my car. Beautiful red Lotus, a red that reminds me a bit of strawberries. Without the seeds and green bits. It's not like you can get poetic about a car - well you might be able to, and yay for you, but I can't and frankly it bothers me. You ought to be able to write an ode to a car.

In any case, savouring the wonderfully smooth drive, I manage to draw my mind from the dreadful fate about to crumble the safeness of my reality. Safe in this gorgeously upholstered womb I admire the autumny look in all the trees, mixtures of yellows and browns. I love the willow at the end of my street, swinging in the breeze like a curtain. Hell, before this terror I can even admire the artistic rust patterns in the Lada in front of me as we stop at the lights. Poor little Lada. Nobody loves you, everybody hates you, why don't you go and eat worms? Worms would probably lower sulphur dioxide emissions anyway. They should have good trees in Norway too.

In the car park, I take a little longer than usual. This manoeuvre is like a dance - swing forward, slide effortlessly into reverse, meticulously examining mirrors, then slip gently back and nestle into a parking space. The grace delights me. I get out and reluctantly click the door shut - I abhor it when people slam car doors - and trudge in. I feel nauseated suddenly. Struggling against the desire to curl up like a foetus on the floor, I approach the desk.

"I have an appointment with Dr. Jennings."

"You can go right in," she helpfully assures me, motioning to the gateway of Hell. Here goes. Think of the car, think of the willow - anything! Just don't think of the dentist...

Silly but fun :)

Now, a more serious note... I spent my Halloween night on the march against war on Iraq. Chants such as 'No blood for Oil' and 'Stop the War, Feed the Poor' and my personal favourite '1234 we don't want your racist war, 5678 stop the killing, stop the hate' prevailed. After the march we gathered in the city centre to hear people talk. It was an open thing - anyone who wanted to say something could. Quakers, students - an Arab man who told us how much he hated oil for all the conflict. An American girl who told us that not all Americans are behind Bush in this (we cheered :) ). I am beginning to think that the world hasn't learned anything from the Gulf War (those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it). Scott Ritter, a former UN weapons inspector, has said that Iraq does not pose military threat (in fact, our sanctions were the ones that prevented them helping the children with leukaemia due to our bombs). Yet so many people are ignorant. Saddam Hussein = bad, so War on Iraq = good. So killing hundreds of innocent civilians = good.

I was so deeply convicted by that meeting. I am only one person but I'm one person more - I'd rather do a little than none. How can our leaders even consider mindlessly bombing Iraq? It goes against UN constitutions. It's an unprovoked invasion - an act of terrorism, you might say.

'You cannot fight terrorism without becoming a terrorist yourself - terrorism is a poor man's war, war is a rich man's terrorism.'

'You can bomb the world to pieces but you can't bomb the world to peace.'

'I don't recall the minute's silence observed for all those dead Afghans...'

There's a protest march on February 15th in London - Tony Blair needs to know that we're not behind him. If I possibly can, I will certainly go.

Is anyone else shocked and horrified that the term 'collateral damage' actually exists?

Stop the War.

Random word for today: Welfare

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