[Peace-discuss] Independent Iraqis Oppose Bush's War

[C. G. Estabrook]

[This article from today's Guardian, the British paper, relates to recent
discussions on this list about Saddam's victims.  It's also a reply to an
Iraqi speaker on WILL's Focus 580.  Regards, Carl] 

Independent Iraqis Oppose Bush's War

Not every group takes US cash. Some worry about their people 

by Jonathan Steele
                
A new myth has emerged in the pro-war camp's propaganda arsenal. Iraqi
exiles support the war, they claim, and none took part in last month's
march through central London. So if the peaceniks and leftwingers who
joined the protest had the honesty to listen to the true voice of the
Iraqi people they would never denounce Bush's plans for war again.

Wrong, and wrong. A large number of Iraqis were among the million-member
throng, including two key independent political groups. They carried
banners denouncing Saddam Hussein (thereby echoing the sentiments of many
non-Iraqis since this was not a protest by pro-Saddam patsies, as the
pro-war people also falsely claim). They represented important currents in
the Iraqi opposition, and ones whom the Americans have repeatedly tried to
persuade to join the exiles' liaison committee.

"No way," says Dr Haider Abas, London spokesman of Da'wa, Iraq's moderate
Islamic party. "When we met Zalmay Khalilzad (the US special envoy for
Iraq) we told him we didn't want to give a cover to US military
operations. It's not our role. We won't be respected by our people."

His party has other reservations. It fears the US will retain control of
Iraq long after Saddam is toppled and will not hand power to Iraqis for
months to come - and then only to its placemen. Da'wa also doubts US plans
for ethnically based federalism, arguing that this will create the risk of
Balkan-style discrimination and pogroms, when the reality of Iraq is that
every major city is culturally mixed. Sunnis, Shiites, Kurds and Arabs are
found everywhere.

Saddam's repression cost Da'wa thousands of its members over the past two
decades. It argued for human rights in Iraq long before Washington and
London stopped backing Saddam and took up the cause - another reason why
it distrusts US motives. Dr Abas says there is a paradox in that while his
party opposes the war he believes many Iraqis inside the country have
become so desperate that they may support it. His argument reflects the
psychological dilemma which keeps Iraqis awake at night. "People in hell
think nothing can be worse. They just want to end it. But we see the
bigger picture as well as fearing it will lead to death and destruction
for our families at home. We have two problems with the United States.
First, its track record. In 1991, when the aim was simply to get Saddam
out of Kuwait, they destroyed the infrastructure of the country. People
couldn't understand why they bombed power stations and bridges all over
Iraq."

His other doubt is over US intentions. One camp in Washington, he feels,
wants to rebuild Iraq. The other wants to keep it undemocratic by only
removing Saddam and his closest colleagues. "We don't know which camp will
win," he says. In the meantime, any Iraqi group which ties its flag to a
foreign invader's mast without any guarantee of its postwar intentions
loses its patriotic and democratic credentials.

Salam Ali, another marcher and spokesman for the Iraqi Communist party,
has similar criticisms. The ICP, the biggest party in Iraq before Saddam
Hussein's regime came to power, also lost tens of thousands of its cadres
when the Iraqi president turned against it. Its strength cannot be
reliably assessed, but its Da'wa rivals concede it has widespread support
among Iraqis of all classes. Ali has just returned from northern Iraq
where his party's central committee was meeting. They turned down yet
another US invitation to come out in support of the looming war and join
the coordinating committee to work with Iraq's postwar US governor. "We
reject the war on principled and moral grounds as well as being the worst
and most destructive alternative," the party said.

The ICP supports the approach taken by France and Germany but says it
should be integrated into a broader framework for restoring democratic
rights in Iraq in line with earlier UN security council resolutions. These
are no less important than the recent resolution, 1441, which concentrates
on disarmament and ignores human rights. The party calls for a genuinely
independent conference of the opposition groups.

Like Da'wa, the ICP opposes the economic sanctions on Iraq which the
United States and Britain continue to back in spite of the hardship they
have caused to ordinary Iraqis but not the regime. "We want sanctions
lifted and replaced by an effective UN mechanism for controlling Iraq's
oil revenue for the benefit of people. We said the Oil for Food program
would strengthen Saddam's hand," says Salam Ali. "Sanctions have crushed
people and weakened their will to resist. If they are lifted, people can
start living and thinking politics again."

Most parties on the opposition committee set up under Khalilzad's pressure
last week are paid by the US government. Da'wa and the ICP have not
succumbed. Pro-war pundits who claim to know the views of Iraqi exiles
should check they are not listening to opinions made in Washington.

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