Some 10,000 protestors staged a demonstration Saturday in London to demand Britain's pullout from the conflict in Iraq, reported dpa. Demonstrators marched from Westminster Palace to Hyde Park, while mothers of soldiers killed in the conflict handed petitions over to Prime Minister Tony Blair's residence at Downing Street to demand the immediate withdrawal of British forces. The demonstrators charged that the Blair government had given false assertions in justifying participation in the war. The protest demonstration came a day before Blair's Labour Party was to begin its annual congress in Brighton, with the Iraq conflict expected to be a major issue. In a commentary published ahead of the congress, former Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon admitted that London had underestimated the extent of fanaticism held by Iraqi extremists. Hoon, who was defence secretary at the time that Britain joined in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, wrote in the parliament newsletter that London had not been adequately prepared for the fanaticism of those prepared to attack pipelines, water supplies and their own countrymen in order to advance their extremist views. --SP 2327 Local Time 2027 GMT
