Iraqi newspaper editor in Bush protest plea

The editor of an Iraqi newspaper has appealed to Irish people to take to the streets during George Bush’s forthcoming visit and march against the ongoing US-led occupation.

Dr Ibhrahim Allawi was sentenced to death in the 1970s and lived in exile from Saddam Hussein’s Baath regime for 35 years. He is the editor of a leading Baghdad newspaper against the occupation, Al Ghad.

“We were told the occupation would liberate Iraq but thousands of people are still living in fear of their lives,” he said.

“The daily struggle for Iraqi people is still to stay alive. Hundreds of people are being killed. It is a very dangerous place.”

Dr Allawi ran the periodical publication in London from 1978 until 1995. Written in Arabic, it reported on the Iraqi economy, the working class movement and the terror of the Baath regime.

The publication was occasionally smuggled into Iraq but those caught with it were considered liable against the state and killed, he said.

It folded in 1995 due to a lack of funds but relaunched with a circulation of 5,000 in Baghdad last year following the collapse of Saddam’s regime.

“We could still be shut down by the Americans at any time,” Dr Allawi claimed.

“One newspaper against the US occupation has already been shut down and the people running it arrested.

“But the Iraqi people need a voice. We need to continue to question and demand the end of the occupation and ask the coalition forces to give power back to the Iraqi people.”

He said the biggest problems facing the population were unemployment and security.

“Millions have no job and no future,” he said. “Children are being openly kidnapped for money and there are no courts and no police force to stop them.

“This is the 21st century and our people are still feeling oppressed and humiliated.”

He claimed the US-led coalition forces were making many mistakes and should have left the Iraqis to choose their own new government.

“They should be bringing people together, not killing each other,” he said. “Unless an international movement is mobilised to express these concerns, it will never stop.”

Dr Allawi will be speaking at a public meeting organised by the Irish Anti-War Movement tomorrow evening at 7pm, Wynns Hotel, Middle Abbey Street, Dublin.

He will be describe the effects the US-led occupation has had on ordinary Iraqi people and call on Irish citizens to express their opposition to war when the US President visits Ireland on June 25-26.