 2nd May 2003: Iraqi exiles address peace and justice meeting in Newcastle Emlyn
Guests (left to right) Mr Qassim Chafaf retired lecturer in architecture and town planning. Mrs Nawal Chafaf teacher and active member of the Iraqi Women's League. Calvin Tucker political journalist - British and International affairs. Yuri Cohen Iraqi democrat. (click image for larger version).
Three Iraqi exiles travelled from London to address a meeting of the Bro Emlyn
for Peace and Justice group in Newcastle Emlyn last week. Anti war coalition groups from
Cardigan, Newport and Carmarthen attended the meeting at the Emlyn Arms
hotel.
Dr. Qassim Chafaf and Mrs Nawal Chafaf, accompanied by colleagues Uri Cohen
and Calvin Tucker, gave a very different message about Iraq to that conveyed by
the media.
They explained they had opposed Saddam Hussein's Baath Party and brutal
regime and had subsequently been forced to live in exile. Arrests, torture and
executions had silenced Saddam's political opponents within Iraq.
They said the Iraqi people have been living a nightmare for the last 35
years, having suffered 4 wars in one generation and 10 years of hunger and
deprivation from the sanctions imposed after the Gulf War. There is no welfare
assistance in Iraq and women and children had suffered disproportionately. Mrs
Nawal Chafaf formed an Iraqi women's support league working from
London.
The speakers said they were in e-mail contact with friends in Iraq and
conditions were very difficult. Many areas had no water, electricity supplies,
telephones or medical supplies. The Americans had set up checkpoints on all
major roads and were subjecting civilians to humiliating searches including
asking men to undress publicly on the roadside in the presence of women.
In practice the coalition forces are controlling all movement and
communication. The Iraqis feel they are acting like an army of occupation. There
are no radio or TV broadcasts except through US channels. They claim the CIA
recruited hundreds of Iraqi conscript prisoners after the Gulf War and trained
them in camps in Hungary. They are now being sent back into Iraq as a pro
American militia.
Uri Cohen said that Iraqis believe America and Britain should be made to pay
for the damage they had caused and Iraq's oil revenue should be used for
their people. They believe the real reason for the war is American control of
Iraq's oil, which are the second largest oil reserves in the world after
Saudi Arabia.
They do not believe America really supports democracy and self-determination
in Iraq. Mr. Cohen gave an example of more than 2000 Iraqi dissident exiles
opposed to Saddam Hussein but belonging to trade unions or left wing political
groups being denied visas to return to Iraq by the American interim
government.
Mr. Cohen believed the future was bleak. He said that the Iraqi people were
traumatized, in deep shock and depression at recent events. However, they were a
people proud of their county and culture. They had 5000 years of common
experience in a multicultural society and are capable of managing their own
affairs without American interference.
The coalition forces were not welcome and were increasingly likely to become
targets as an army of occupation in a bloody conflict as the Iraqis recovered
from their trauma.
The speakers said that if local people want first hand information about Iraq
it will be possible to set up communication links with Iraqis through the Bro
Emlyn for Peace and Justice website hosted by
www.newcastle-emlyn.com . The
meeting decided to investigate a twinning between local schools and schools in
Iraq and to collect second hand computers to send to Iraq to facilitate exchange
of information.
David Rolstone will address a meeting of the Bro Emlyn Peace and Justice
group in the Emlyn Arms Hotel function room at 7.30pm on Monday 2nd
June. David lives in Effailwen and is part of the International Solidarity
Movement.
He will speak about non-violent direct action and his experiences from 5
months spent in Palestine and 3 visits to Iraq. All are welcome.
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