The death of Rachel Corrie, and the invasion of Iraq, five years on

A brief update from northern Paris.

Five years ago today, International Solidarity Movement activist Rachel Corrie was crushed under an Israeli/American Caterpillar bulldozer in Gaza. As Tom Wright and Therese Saliba report, Rachel Corrie's parents are in Israel this week to ttend the first Arabic-language production of My Name is Rachel Corrie, an immensely powerful one-woman play (we've mentioned it before) brought to New York last year thanks to the courage and tenacity of Alan Rickman and Katherine Viner. Cindy and Craig Corrie come against the backdrop of an utter lack of accountability regarding the circumstances of their daughter's murder; neither Caterpillar, Inc. nor the Israeli government/IDF seem to face any danger of prosecution, and they certainly haven't made any efforts to appear contrite.

RIP, Rachel.

Another (almost anniversary) sees the lead opinion piece in this weekend's Observer making the claim that

Whatever the tragic consequences of the Iraq war, we must learn from them, and when the circumstances are right, not flinch from using all the power at our disposal.

Earlier in the piece it is stated that no one could have foretold the catastrophe that eventually unfolded in Iraq, despite an overwhelming amount of journalistic evidence and political opinion to the contrary. The UK's 'liberal' newspapers continue to lose their way...