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 Kamil and list, ?Salih Mahdi Ammash was a military attache in Washington in the 1950s and subsequently participated in the bloody 1963 coup in which many?..? I agree with you. Yet; Dr. Huda is not her father. She was and still my friend. I am not trying to open a back door for the ex ba?thist.. still Barbara, the other friends of Iraq and I know that she has not any guilt except being in the last two years a part from regional leadership of the ba?th party. You do not know how brave she was in facing the regime at least in protecting those who were hate and attacked by Uday. She herself was a subject of one Uday?s editorials in Babil through which she was attacked by bad words when she was the dean of the college of science. Huda deserves her friends defense.. far from Huda, those most wanted Iraqis and more than 5000 are being detained in the airport for months now regardless human rights in a just trail. I know that there were not human rights for 35 years, still Iraq was invaded and occupied according to many pretexts among which was HUMAN RIGHTS.. let us feel that ?occupation? would teach us how to approach human rights even with criminals. But do you think that occupation could behave as NOBLE as human right charter? Because of the pretext of deba?thification and WMD programs the reconstruction of NEW IRAQ did not begin and won?t begin. Dr Huda is an obvious example for the unachieved promises of the Americans. Best regards Ner >-----Original Message----- >From: Kamil Mahdi [mailto:K.A.Mahdi@exeter.ac.uk] >Sent: Sunday, August 24, 2003 06:09 PM >To: casi-discuss@lists.casi.org.uk >Subject: [casi] on the appeal for the release of Huda Ammash > >Dear CASI, > >I am intrigued by Nermin Al-Mufti's appeal to women Worldwide. Nermin's >article in Al-Ahram fails to mention that Huda Ammash was a member of the >Ba'ath Regional Command. The earlier appeal by Barbara Nimri Aziz appended to >Nermin's message is misleading in that it speaks of Ammash's election to what >she calls the "Iraq Supreme Council" when we know that there was no such thing >resembling an election to the Ba'ath leadership. In fact, Ammash can plead >that she could not have rejected a position she had been forced into by Saddam >Hussain. Barbara Aziz also speaks of Ammash's "distinguished family, with a >father [Salih Mahdi Ammash] who was once a popular political figure". > >Salih Mahdi Ammash was a military attache in Washington in the 1950s and >subsequently participated in the bloody 1963 coup in which many thousands of >leftists were murdered and the country was plunged into chaos for the best >part of a year. Ammash senior was involved in another conspiracy that brought >the Ba'ath back to power in 1968 with himself as Interior Minister. In this >position, Salih Mahdi Ammash was at least nominally in charge of the Amn >Al-Amma (Public Security Department) headed by the notorious torturer Nadhim >Kzar. Kzar was in reality answerable to Saddam Hussain (before they fell >apart) who was building up his own separate security agency as well. To be >sure, Ammash was more moderate and more cultured than the thuggish Saddam and >Kzar, and he was also popular among the then tiny band of Ba'ath Party >faithful, but he was a conspirator who disgraced his high public office and >who was responsible for assasinations and military coups. Ammash's power >relied not so much on popularity, but on the military and on Saddam's and >Kzar's brutality, and because of that, he himself was soon made dispensable >and kicked up to ceremonial positions which he accepted without protest. >Saddam went ahead corrupting Iraq's politics and public institutions and >plunging the country into a series of crises that ultimately led to the >catastrohpic conditions it is in today under a US colonial regime. > >I write the above because I believe that solidarity with the Iraqi people in >their struggle against the occupation must not be hijacked through the back >door by supporters of the old regime. Now for Dr Huda Ammash herself, there >is no evidence that she was responsible for any specific crime apart from her >collective responsibility as part of the Ba'ath leadership. Furthermore, the >reason why she is being held has almost certainly nothing to do with >involvement in a weapons programme either. Nevertheless, with all the human >rights violations going on in Iraq today, Huda Ammash's incarceration is not >one that should execise the greater energy of the friends of the people of >Iraq. > >Huda Ammash should not be held out as the prime example of Iraqi scientists >being persecuted by the occupation authorities in order to cover the lies of >the absence of so-called WMD. It is important to continue to highlight the >plight of Iraqi scientists who are in US custody or who are otherwise being >persecuted by the occupation. It is also important to state that many of >those scientists and engineers were responsible for the remarkable >rehabilitation of Iraq's infrastructure after the destruction in 1991 and that >they are being prevented from doing so today by the occupation, Bremer and >Haliburton. However, List members would be doing the Iraqi people a >disservice if they fell into a trap of defending the record of the Ba'ath >regime. I do not wish Dr Huda Ammash any harm, but she is not my hero. > >Kamil Mahdi > >Dr Kamil Mahdi >University of Exeter > > >_______________________________________________ >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