It's a just war, say Iraq's exiles

Iraqi exiles in Britain yesterday condemned the anti-war march and warned that it would make it easier for Saddam Hussein to continue massacring his own people.

As hundreds of exiles, many of them with first-hand experience of Saddam Hussein's brutality, prepared to stage their own counter-demonstration in London today, many spoke with anger as they watched the peace protesters pour through the streets of London.

Some of the strongest feelings were expressed at a house in Shepherd's Bush, west London, where a group of exiles from Basra in southern Iraq gathered to view television coverage of the anti-war demonstration.

As his sister Nibal, 43, prepared the chicken and rice, Ali al-Ezzawi, 51, insisted that there had to be "a war against Saddam to help the Iraqi people" as he struggled to make sense of protesters' slogans, shaking his head with disbelief as he spotted one saying: "A scud against Bush is worth two against Saddam."

"Why do they say these silly things? No one inside Iraq will agree with what they are doing now. They are waiting day by day for Saddam Hussein to be deposed, for the unfinished business of 1991 to be completed," said Mr al-Ezzawi.

He reflected with sadness upon the brutal suppression which followed the Shi'ite uprising in his home region after the Gulf War in 1991. "I lost my wife, my brother, my wife's sister. The Iraqi soldiers just came and shot them as they put down the uprising. Every Iraqi will tell the same story."

Mr al-Ezzawi's friend, Saad Qasim, 53, recounted his own experiences as he too watched the marchers with visible distaste showing on his face. "My 11-year-old son was killed in 1991 by Iraqi soldiers. He was just a kid. They shot him as he went to get some water," he said tearfully.

"Saddam Hussein doesn't care. He is the biggest criminal in the world. There needs to be a war against Saddam Hussein, a war for the Iraqi people. That has to be better than allowing him to continue killing all these people."

Mr al-Ezzawi was unable to keep the anger out of his voice as he agreed. "Yes, no-one seems to be thinking about that. The people on the anti-war march, they don't seem to realise, they don't have any idea what Saddam Hussein is like, the massacres, the genocides he has committed.

"I am supporting a war against Saddam Hussein. It's not a war against Iraq - it is a war against Saddam. It doesn't seem to be a point that many people on the anti-war march are making."

Mr al-Ezzawi added that, in London, people were allowed "the luxury" of being able to march against their government but in Iraq such a move could end in murder.

"March against Saddam Hussein's government? In Baghdad? You couldn't even think about it," he said. "You couldn't even dream about it. Saddam Hussein's security men would be after you straight away. You would not be jailed for life, of course not. You would be hanged, shot or executed."

Elsewhere in Britain, other Iraqi exiles were equally critical of the marchers. Among them was Dr Khalaf, a consultant neurologist at St Bartholomew's Hospital, London, who worked in the Iraqi army during the country's war with Iran in the 1980s and during the Gulf War, before fleeing to Britain to escape Saddam's regime.

"Most Iraqi people will feel hurt and anger when they see Saddam Hussein show great pleasure at the scenes of the march today on television," he said.

"The march will not serve Iraqi people. It will serve only Saddam Hussein. This is probably the last real chance to get rid of him and finish this dark era in history. They should not even go to the UN. The UN is a system which can be very easily deceived."

Dr Khalaf said he was particularly angry at the lack of action, or even vocal protests, by those on the march against the years of atrocities carried out by Saddam against the Iraqi people.

"Where were you all while Saddam was killing thousands of Iraqis since the early 70s? And where are you now, given that every week he executes people through the "court of revolution", a summary court run by the secret security office?" he said.

"Just ask yourselves why, out of 500,000 Iraqis in Britain, you will not find even 1,000 of them participating in the march? I am so frustrated by the appalling views of most of the British people. Your anti-war campaign has become mass hysteria and you are no longer able to see things properly."

Meanwhile, in Edinburgh, three more Iraqi exiles met Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, handing over a letter urging him to remove Saddam Hussein. The letter insisted that the international community had a "golden opportunity" to remove Iraq's "brutal dictatorship" and claimed the vast majority of its citizens would back a war.

One of the authors, Dr Safa Hashim, a 47-year-old university lecturer living in Glasgow, said: "We have the view that perhaps force is the only way to remove Saddam from power as well as removing his weapons of mass destruction.

"He's a brutal man and he has committed countless human rights abuses leading to the loss of one million lives and the displacement of four million others and he's also a danger to Iraq's neighbours."

Dr Hashim, originally from Basra and who has been living in Scotland for 22 years, said that the opponents of war were misguided. "They are missing the point, they don't understand that Iraqis themselves want Saddam to be removed by force. Let's listen to the Iraqi people for a change."

Dr Hashim said a new UN resolution on war was "not necessary" and he argued that a debate could take place after a war about the future of the country's oil reserves.

Historical Justification For War With Iraq

People talk about the "cost of war" but fail to discuss the cost of inaction. "Those who do not LEARN from history are bound to repeat it."

The nay-sayers, protesters and liberal media "talking heads" are screaming, "Why should we go to war with Iraq?" "What is the justification for taking preemptive action?" "We must not upset the apple cart in the Middle East" The answer to all of these questions is simple: History teaches us we must take action before tens, hundreds of thousands or millions of Americans die as a direct result of our inaction.

While teaching this Spring at a University in St. Petersburg, Russia I took the time to go to Piskaryovsoye Cemetery, a mass graveyard outside the city of St. Petersburg, Russia. I purposely went there as a visceral, visual reminder of what happens when people, leaders and nations of the world try to appease/make peace with or otherwise ignore madmen bent on world conquest and domination.

This site contains over 186 mass graves. I know because I took the time to count each of them and to solemnly ponder their contents. THERE ARE OVER 490,000 PEOPLE BURIED THERE! People just like you and I, people who once lived, breathed, love and dreamed of bright futures for themselves and their children. Over 900, 000 people died in the city of St. Petersburg alone (200, 000 just in Jan-Feb 1942) and MOST of them were civilians; women and children.

In Kiev, Ukraine I visited Babyar, another mass grave containing over 100,000 Jews killed in 30 days shortly after the Nazis conquered the city.

All of this happened because the leaders of the world, including Stalin, sought to appease a little madman who amassed weapons and an army in order to dominate his neighbors and the World, by the name of Adolph Hitler.

A week later I went to London and visited the Imperial War Museum. There, encased in glass I saw the actual Munich Pact letter signed by Hitler and Chamberlain in which Hitler "promised" in writing to end his aggression... promises always look good in writing. After the meeting Adolf Hitler said: "Our enemies are little worms. I saw them at Munich."

Neville Chamberlain waved the letter before the English press and the world and said: "...My good friends, for the second time in our history, a British Prime Minister has returned from Germany bringing peace with honor. I believe it is peace for our time. Go home and get a nice quiet sleep." -- Neville Chamberlain, September 30, 1938.

Europe believed his hollow promises and went back to sleep. They tried to "contain" and "appease" Hitler, the exact same advice people who ignore reality are giving us today regarding Saddam... the result; HE ATTACKED THEM ANYWAY AND 80 MILLION PEOPLE DIED IN THE PROCESS... people like you and me, people like your children, your husbands, your wives, your grandparents.

Like Hitler, Saddam has given his word and made a multitude of promises for the sole purpose of keeping us from stopping his WMD programs and his ultimate aims for aggression. The World needs to be reminded that to date HE HAS KEPT NONE OF THEM. History teaches us this lesson; if we do not deal with and stop Saddam now, the cost will be far, far greater to accomplish this in the future.

So "Why act now?" Because this is the reality of our current situation; Muslim fundamentalists all over the world have declared jihad on America. They want us (civilians, men, women and children) DEAD and are actively plotting to kill, enslave and destroy us. All of this is taking place at the same time Saddam continues to produce weapons grade Anthrax, VX gas, and hastily works on developing nukes and these other "goodies" to give to toady Muslim terrorists to use against America. A report out this week details the "worst case scenario" 3 MILLION DEAD due to the release of 250 pounds of weapons grade Anthrax in either LA or San Francisco.

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/bayarea/3995198.htm

America and it's leaders and people will either learn from history or repeat it. History provides us and our Allies with all the reasons and justification we need to preemptively go to war with Iraq and to rid the world of Saddam. The only other option the is to wait until he or one of his Muslim lackeys hits us and thousands or millions die.

The appeasers advise us to "wait, for “proof” do nothing, to sit around, contain, appease and take Saddam at his word... until we are attacked, the problem is then it will be too late.

America's response must be that of G. BUSH Sr.: 'Sorry, ... NOT GONNA DO IT... WOULDN'T BE PRUDENT!"

History warns us, if we do not deal with this threat now, the next attack, Anthrax, Small pox, dirty bomb, suitcase nuke, etc... (and it is coming if we don't stop them, it is just a matter of time) will make Sept. 11th look like a picnic.

Liberals get all choked up about "innocents" getting killed in Iraq. They fail to mention that 3,000 American innocents were murdered on September 11, 01. WE ARE ALREADY AT WAR, IT IS TIME WE AS A NATION DEFEND OURSELVES.

By the way, I am not some "arm chair general" who never served but is gung-ho to send others off to war (the "straw man argument). I am a former Vietnam vet... USN 68 - 71 who served in the theater of operations. I know the cost of war, but the cost of inaction is, in this case too high to contemplate.

If you don't believe me just take a trip to Piskaryovsoye Cemetery outside of the city of St. Petersburg, Russia. You will not find any names of the dead because there are nearly a half million people buried there; just 186 plus mass graves, each containing a simple marker noting the year those interred in each grave died. This is what we can expect if we do not respond to the "clear and present danger" that Saddam and Muslim fundamentalists represent to America and it's Allies.

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