Dr. Raied Al-Wazzan is an Iraqi living in Belfast since 1990. He has just returned from a visit to family in the city of Mosul in northern Iraq. He looks almost shell-shocked remembering what he saw – but his words come in torrents.
“It is absolute chaos. There is no freedom and no law and order. There is no electricity, no water and no road services. Before the occupation, the vast majority of Iraqis depended on rations from the oil-for-food programme and the government.
“Now the rations have almost stopped. Many people do not have enough to eat. Since my last visit at Christmas, the situation has worsened. You cannot even go out to the mosque for night prayers because US soldiers shoot at everything that moves.
“People remember when the US destroyed everything in 1991 and then Saddam rebuilt Iraq in only six months under sanctions. Now we have the superpower in control, who can’t bring electricity after two years. That’s what’s making people fed up with the situation.
“Inflation is higher now; there is less food and no medicine. Two years ago there was a shortage of medicine but you could find anything on the black market. Now there is not even a black market and you have to cross the border to get medicine. If you are rich enough, you can get it. But what if you are poor? If you can’t even afford daily food?
“Casualties since the invasion definitely exceed 100,000,” he adds. “That is who was killed directly by the US and their allies. But when you count the people who have died because of a lack of medicine or who couldn’t reach a hospital, then that number doubles or triples. Bush and Blair are responsible for this.”
The Resistance
The spin doctors may paint a different picture in the run-up to the referendum on a new Iraqi constitution, but Raied is convinced that the resistance to US and British occupation is growing in strength.
“The US are not in charge in any way; they don’t control anything except the green zone [a small area in Baghdad]. They patrol the country in tanks because it’s not safe for them to get out of the tanks. They have to rely on Iraqis to police and control the situation, but fewer people are joining the police force as it’s seen as a tool of the US.
“The vast majority of the Iraqi resistance are Iraqi people,” he insists. “It is a nationalist resistance for Iraqi unity against the occupation. The media try to say that it is only Arab Sunnis. You will find Shia, Kurd and Christian in the resistance. They all want to drive the occupation out of Iraq.
“There is not going to be a civil war. There is huge cross-religious and ethnic intermixing in Iraq. Many Shia and Kurds marry Sunni and vice versa. We will never see a civil war, but a political war. This is already happening. All the political parties are fighting each other. The US is fuelling this by arming the paramilitaries linked to the parties.
“People said at the beginning of the occupation, ‘Let’s give the US a chance to prove themselves.’ We gave them the benefit of the doubt, but everything we have seen from the Americans is the opposite: e.g. humiliating Iraqi people at checkpoints and women at house searches, Abu Ghraib. Now nobody trusts the US administration.”
Democracy? What democracy?
While the D-word is used as an emotive trump card by Bush and Blair, Raied sees the US version of democracy as a form of institutionalised theft.
“The proposed constitution will divide Iraq into a few smaller federal states. The US wants to divide Iraq on the basis of ethnic background, into weaker states that will be easier to control.
“When the occupation ends, over 90% of the resistance will stop. We need a political solution. We need to have a proper election – not like last January, which was a farce. It was like a lottery. We could not vote for a candidate, but had to select numbers. The only information we had was the party name.
“The only people who could stand for election were those who signed up to the laws set by former US proconsul Paul Bremer. Everything, including the new constitution, is based on his laws. It enshrines sectarian division and privatisation.
“Before he left Baghdad, Bremer enacted 100 orders as head of the occupation authority in Iraq. Order 39 decreed that 200 Iraqi state companies would be privatised, that foreign companies could have complete control of Iraqi banks, factories and mines, and that these companies could transfer all of their profits out of Iraq.
“Bush and Blair talk of democracy. It is a very beautiful word, but it depends on how you apply it. When you bring in your own puppet government – is that democracy? When only one part of the nation can stand for election – is that democracy? We would like democracy which has the candidate’s name on the ballot paper. We want candidates that act on behalf of Iraq, not for the US.”
London bombings
While he does not condone the outrage, Raied is in no doubt that the bombing of London was inspired by the occupation of Iraq.
“When I talk to Muslims in the west and in America, they say they have had enough of double standards. 50 were killed in London. But each day more than 50 Iraqis are killed. Where is the chorus of condemnation for them? Such double standards are not acceptable.
“I was in Iraq when the London bombing happened. I talked to people in the street and many said, ‘Let them taste their medicine.’ But I personally don’t think two wrongs make a right.
“I believe that not all westerners are evil. I have been living in Ireland for the last 15 years and never met anyone supporting this war. When I go to Iraq, I argue that not everyone in Europe or Ireland is evil. Many are good people who support the Iraqi people. But there are a few evil people in power who want to control the wealth of other countries.
“The British want to pass the law which makes it an offence to ‘condone or glorify terrorism’. Which will also be applied to justifying or glorifying terrorism anywhere, not just in the United Kingdom. This could include supporting the Iraqi resistance. This law will drive genuine people out of politics and drive most organisations underground. But no matter what they do, this organisation will survive. Just look at Northern Ireland. They barred Sinn Fein from the media, introduced internment and mass arrests – but at the end of it they had to talk. Peace only comes after negotiation.
“The new terror laws specifically target Muslims. The same laws will not apply to BNP. This has implications for the anti-war movement. We now have to be careful of what we are saying. But I will keep saying this: I support the resistance. They are occupied, and therefore, even under international treaties, they have the right to defend themselves.
“The best thing Irish people can do for the Iraqi people is to refuse the US permission to use Shannon Airport for the war on Iraq. By allowing them use it, that’s support for mass murder, and supporting murder is a crime.
“Ireland was always neutral in its foreign policy. It had a good relationship with Arab nations because Ireland supported Palestine. But we must stop the Irish government allowing the US to use Shannon Airport as a base for aggression.
“The Irish people have to show the Iraqi people that they don’t agree with the government. That the aggression is not done in their name. That’s why we hope to see many people opposing the use of Shannon on September 24.”