The following is an archived copy of a message sent to a Discussion List run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
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Dear John thank you for your humanitarian concern. I don't know whether your posting is serious or not but, any way I will say this from Baghdad. You said <a) It is important to minimise casualties and think of the Iraqi people rather than just the oil> If you want to minimize casualty then DON'T attack for oil or any other greedy, or phony, pretex. No one can "DEMOCRATIZE" a country by killing thousands and thousands of people. And then what? Killing thousands and thousands more because of lack of clean water, electricity, sewage system, transportation, telephones, hospitals, and .. and refined oil product because UK,& US will destroy all these facilities, like they did in 1991 only this time much more savagely, in their effort to "liberate" the Iraqis. Who are you, or Bush, or Blair, to say we Iraqis want to be "liberated" that way, or in fact any other way? You are NOT an Iraqi to say what we want or not want. May I suggest that you re-read [casi] News, 13-20/12/02 (4) you will find out that very few Iraqis want to be "liberated" by Blush daisy cutters, thermobaric bombs, bunker busters bombs... etc.. These "humanitarian" instruments of "liberation" and "democratization" does not prevent people from returning from Jordan and Lebanon to defend their country and/or their families. You said <b) It is a bad idea to have an invasion which results in Iraq ending up being controlled by the US government. This would be bad both for Iraq and the rest of the world (with the knock on effects).> Are you objecting to this on principle or are you objecting to it because the British think that Iraq, and the Gulf States should be, like it has been, in the British sphere of influence? You said <unless there is a clear strategy that involves US support for an uprising by the Iraqi people that the US understand can work that they are likely to go for what they see as the easy option of invading.> Again did you ask the Iraqi people if they want the uprising or not? You are assuming that without knowing what the people ON THE GROUND, not at the five star hotels, think. If you think that the Rolex opposition represent the people of Iraq you are mistaken. Most of them were at one time or another instruments of regime, and have bad record, that you can't change. Don't tell me John that you don't know the record of the ex-director of the military intelligence, or the record of the ex-director of psychological warfare, or that Talabani was an instrument of Saddam fighting Barazani? The "civilized" west might want to wash their record clean but at the end the truth can't be buried by you or any other it is a recorded history. You said <We will be having further meetings with various people (mainly Iraqis) over the Christmas holiday period.> Wishing you a merry Christmas, but who is going to pay the bill? You also Said <We are arguing the case with the Military in the UK that in the event of a decision for some action to be taken to remove Saddam Hussein from power the opposition should be given support for an uprising before any invasion decision.> "Military in the UK" why not the foreign office for example? isn't it a foreign problem!. "remove Saddam Hussein " this is your wish not the Iraqis. "support for an uprising " I thought that is interference in others affairs and that is contrary to the UN charter blah blah and will make the UN irrelevant! In short John the "civilized west" accused Saddam of killing his people the "civilized west" killed probably 20 times more people, by war or sanctions, and are going to kill even more. The "civilized west" accused Saddam of "gassing his own people" but the "civilized west" used depleted uranium which killed thousands of people from cancer and will kill more people for the next 4.4 billion years. The "civilized west" will use even more DU to kill people and contaminate the environment. The "civilized west" accused Saddam of taking hostages but the "civilized west" have been taking 20 million of us hostages for 12 years now and will continue to take us as hostages until the "civilized west" control the Oil. The "civilized west" accused Saddam of denying us our political rights but the "civilized west" is denying the people of Iraq every other rights including to live without fear of being attacked by your "humanitarian" instrument of "democratization and liberation", i.e. B-52, B-1, daisy cutters, thermobaric bombs, bunker busters bombs.. The "civilized" west accused Saddam that his non-compliance with UN resolution might make the UN irrelevant. Looking at the history of the UN it is the "civilized" west that made the UN irrelevant and your suggestion to "support for an uprising" makes the UN even more irrelevant! I do thank you again for your humanitarian concern about the plight of the Iraqi people. I think, and I know better than you, that the majority of "barbaric" Iraqis will resist your "civilized" solution to the Iraqi problem. After all you are not an Iraqi and you have no voice in shaping the future of Iraq. Wishing you a merry christmas and a happy new year. Ghazwan Al-Mukhtar Baghdad, Iraq ----- Original Message ----- From: <john.hemming@jhc.co.uk> To: <casi-discuss@lists.casi.org.uk> Sent: Monday, December 23, 2002 7:20 PM Subject: [casi] Iraq - what next? For a number of months we have had the view that some form of military action from the US in Iraq is inevitable. The assumption which we made in September appears as this year draws to a close to be more and more accurate (although only hindsight has 20:20 vision). In the last fortnight we have held meeting with various members of the varying Iraqi opposition groups, the UK Ministry of Defence and attended the opposition conference at the Edgware Metropole. We are arguing the following case: a) It is important to minimise casualties and think of the Iraqi people rather than just the oil b) It is a bad idea to have an invasion which results in Iraq ending up being controlled by the US government. This would be bad both for Iraq and the rest of the world (with the knock on effects). It is, however, the case that unless there is a clear strategy that involves US support for an uprising by the Iraqi people that the US understand can work that they are likely to go for what they see as the easy option of invading. We are, therefore, trying to put such a strategy together. We will be having further meetings with various people (mainly Iraqis) over the Christmas holiday period. If anyone feels they can add to this process please email me as above. We think we have successfully made the point that an invasion of Baghdad with the consequent street fighting in a city that is the home to 20% (plus) of the Iraqis in Iraq would be something to be avoided. We are arguing the case with the Military in the UK that in the event of a decision for some action to be taken to remove Saddam Hussain from power the opposition should be given support for an uprising before any invasion decision. Other issues are on the website at www.operationdeserthaven.org We are looking at the issue of using UN resolution 949 to create safe havens in the South of the country particularly in the sacred cities. One difficulty is how to resolve the issues around Kirkuk in the North. _______________________________________________ Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk _______________________________________________ Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk