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Re: [casi] Question - Iraqis' attitude toward "regime change"



Whatever you may think of Saddam Hussein surely the US/UK have deliberately
brutalised your country and its people to a far, far greater extent than he has over his
whole reign. This is without saying that the US/UK installed him and supported him
(even before, during and after his use of chemical weapons), I protested at the time
about what our government was doing. It really annoys me that Tony Blair has the cheek
to now use this an an excuse to attack Iraq and depose SH.

It looks like 1.5 million Iraqis have died of sanctions and the Gulf War. These include
mainly children. Millions of other Iraqis are permanently 'damaged' eg stunted growth,
health problems, mental health problems, unemployment, poor education etc. The
US/UK have prevented any investigation in southern Iraq of the effects of DU so heaven
knows what is happening there and how long it's going to last. Agriculture has been
devastated, soil ruined by salination, thousands of date trees destroyed, pollution and
environmental damage increased by an oil industry crippled by US/UK holds.

The damage to Iraq has been immense. I know no Arabs and have no connections to
Iraq but I felt physically ill when the US/UK started the air war. They were not after
freeing Kuwait - that would have been easy to achieve without a war if they'd wanted to.
That would have been better for Kuwait as well. They were after destroying Iraq and
reversing your development and future capacity to develop with dire consequences for
ordinary civilians. Your military were no obstacle - a far bigger kill ratio than soldiers
shooting indians with machine guns. Our leaders have been fighting 'just' wars all over
the place for years. We're experts.

Do you really think that the US/UK have the interests of the Iraqi people in mind with
their current plans to topple SH? The same countries enforcing the no fly zones are the
same ones who prevent (with veto power) the UNSC resolving this whole issue through
diplomacy and prevent the 'protected' people having proper power, water, sewage, DU
cleanup, medical services etc

On 13 Sep 2002 at 2:18, Yasser Alaskary wrote:

> we, the Iraqi people, cannot get rid of Saddam Hussein, and believe me we
> have tried very hard. we have given up hundreds of thousands of lives to get
> rid of Saddam and we cannot. 200,000 people died during the uprising trying
> to achieve this. 100,000 were murdered in prisons over the last 30 years
> because they were trying to achieve this. the opposition parties themselves
> admit that even if they were to all unite they cannot get rid of Saddam for
> another 30 years.
>
> so it's not like we have a great deal of options available. its comical when
> people say 'let the Iraqi people decide'.
>
> also, whichever way you get rid of Saddam it will involve bloodshed, whether
> it be the people rising up (like '91 where 200,000 got slaughtered), or if
> it's the US with its regime change.
>
> that's why several of the opposition have gone and worked with the US,
> because they have no alternative, it's either Saddam or the US - and for an
> Iraqi nothing is worse than Saddam.


Mark Parkinson
Bodmin
Cornwall



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