Hands up if you support peace (From Stroud News and Journal)

Hands up if you support peace

PEACE protester Grace Trevett has returned from Iraq and has launched a global appeal for children to campaign against military action.

Just hours after landing in the UK the Stroud mum held a conference at the perimeter fence at RAF Fairford.

Grace, one of a group of human shields who travelled to Iraq in opposition to the conflict said she left Baghdad when the Iraqi government gave them the ultimatum to position themselves at more strategic sites or leave the country.

She said: "I was prepared to go to one of those sites but it became safer for me, as a mother to leave.

While in Baghdad, Mrs Trevett collected the palm prints of 50 Iraqi children, which will be pinned to the fence at RAF Fairford.

She is calling on children throughout the world to join her Palms for Peace campaign and send further prints in support of the anti-war stance.

Pictures of Iraqi children have been placed on the fence within sight of B-52 bombers. She said her time in Baghdad has strengthened her resolve to do everything possible to stop the invasion.

One of the most distressing things she said was knowing the people she met and the places she visited could soon be the target of the most intense bombing campaign in history.

"There was very little sign of a country gearing up for war," said Grace. "Although they know an invasion is a strong possibility they also know there is little they can do.

"How can children prepare to die? "They can't imagine it so they are still skipping and laughing in the streets.

"That makes the thought of all that destruction and death even worse." Grace said there were huge murals of Saddam Hussein looking down from walls all over the city.

"Everyone is afraid to mention his name," she said.

Many of the peace campaigners wanted to be stationed at schools, hospitals and archaeological sites but were offered places elsewhere by the authorities.

"We were beginning to be dictated to and I was not prepared to stay and support the regime in that way."

"I didn't want to worry my family, so I came home."

"I feel like I've left part of me there," she said.

Grace and other campaigners have faced some criticism for leaving Iraq before the bombs started falling.

But she said: "We don't need to defend ourselves.That initial feeling of knowing we were doing the right thing can't be taken away from us."

*Children are invited to send their prints to the Palms for Peace project to show their solidarity with the children of Iraq. For details see www.palmsforpeace.org or send hand prints to Palms for Peace, 8 Castle Street, Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL5 2HP.