Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Ancora esuli Irakeni contro la guerra

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,907687,00.html
Independent Iraqis oppose Bush's war 
Not every group takes US cash. Some worry about their people 
Jonathan Steele
Wednesday March 5, 2003
The Guardian 
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 programme 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.

march through central London.
*ROTFL*
-Stefano