ALI ISMAEEL ABBAS OF BAGHDAD

Early day motion 1046, tabled 9 April 2003 by Llew Smith (Labour). Signed by 8 members.

That this House congratulates the Daily Mirror of 8th April for printing the horrific picture of Ali Ismaeel Abbas, aged 12, of Baghdad, both of whose arms were blown off and his body damaged by severe burns arising from missile attacks by the military invasion of Iraq by the US and UK coalition forces; is deeply disturbed that the policy of Her Majesty's Government to liberate Iraq, which has led to such predictable civilian casualties, has been defended by the Secretary of State for Defence in media interviews in the knowledge that these injuries are the direct and indirect result of Government policy; believes that Dr Osama Saleh al-Dulheimi, assistant director at the Kindi Hospital in Baghdad and his staff who treated Ali Ismaeel Abbas for his horrific wounds, deserve our praise and support for the medical treatment they have carried out with little supplies and under permanent threat of attack from the 'coalition' military forces; believes that the Government of the United Kingdom owes Ali Ismaeel Abbas and other Iraqi children like him a lifelong debt to allow him to live as normal a life as possible in the circumstances; and calls upon this Government to make sure that, having destroyed this little boy's future, he, his family and others like him are treated in a financially generous fashion for the actions caused by the coalition invasion of Iraq.

Signatures by party: Labour 5, Liberal Democrat 2, Plaid Cymru 1.