Refugee likens Bush and Blair to bin Laden

An Afghan refugee today compared US President George W Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair with Osama bin Laden at an anti-war demonstration.

Houra Qadir, 20, told a crowd of over 100 demonstrators in Edinburgh that the two Western leaders were engaged in violence just as much as the leader of the al Qaida network.

The refugee, who has been in Britain for 10 years and in Scotland for one year, won loud applause from the activists gathered in the Parliament Square.

Ms Qadir said her country had been suffering the brutality of war for 23 years.

‘‘Their misfortunes seem to increase year by year, and now one of the poorest and most defenceless countries in the world is being attacked by one of the greatest superpowers the world has ever known.’’

Ms Qadir, who has several family members living in Kabul, said her cousin had told her it was ‘‘better to die than live in this world’’.

She went on: ‘‘However, the possibility of a better government is bleak and the powers that are promising to help are the powers who have fed Afghanistan with similar lies before.’’

She accused the US and the UK governments of abandoning her country after the Taliban came to power.

She said: ‘‘How can Afghans trust America again? And if America really cared why did they not acknowledge the suffering of the Afghan people under the Taliban regime over the last five years?’’

Ms Qadir, who is studying medicine at Edinburgh University, asked what the difference was between President Bush, Tony Blair and bin Laden.

She said: ‘‘If the free, democratic and most humane governments in the world know nothing but violence how and why are men perceived as less humane, like bin Laden, supposed to act any better?’’

SNP MSP for West of Scotland Lloyd Quinan also addressed the crowd, which has pledged to gather each Friday between 4pm and 6pm while the war goes on.

Mr Quinan called the bombing campaign a ‘‘form of torture against people who have no idea as to why this is happening’’.

He said: ‘‘This is not brave and it is not just and it will not bring justice against those who were responsible for September 11. All it will do is cause more pain and suffering.’’