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Announcement :: International Relations

Statement by Iraqi expatriates on the Third Anniversary of the Occupation of Iraq

We the undersigned expatriate Iraqi workers, students, scientists, academics, writers, artists, professionals and business people, witnessing with horror the destruction of our people under an illegal foreign occupation, stand together with the peace movement throughout the world in commemorating three years of a brutal military occupation that has killed and maimed hundreds of thousands, displaced millions, blighted the lives of an entire population and spoiled their environment, shattered our country's physical infrastructure, its civic institutions and its life-support systems, assaulted our culture and desecrated sacred sanctuaries, violated people with deviant cruelty and racist intent, implanted mercenaries and death squads, and encouraged corruption and sedition that threaten us as a people.
We support the call for world-wide demonstrations on 18 March and the demand for the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Iraq, the dismantling of US bases, and an end to US domination of economic and social policies and its interference in domestic Iraqi affairs.

We believe that the occupation is the main cause of insecurity in Iraq, encouraging mistrust among Iraqis, and fomenting sectarian strife and ethnic conflict. The occupation has nurtured corruption and fostered gang crime, and it bears primary responsibility for the activities of murderous sectarian terrorists and criminals. The US occupation prevents Iraqis from overcoming the legacy of 35 years of corrupt and vicious dictatorship and of decades of sanctions and war. It promises nothing except more war of one kind or another for a generation to come. We do not believe that the occupation acts as an insurance against civil war, but that sectarian attacks and the threat of civil war are being used to prolong the occupation.

The Iraqi people have a legitimate inalienable right, under International Law, to resist the occupation. We call upon all Iraqi civil society and political activists, community and religious leaders to cease forthwith all meetings and communications with US, British and other occupation officials and military commanders in Iraq, and to pursue instead a national Iraqi dialogue that is inclusive of the genuine patriotic resistance. The United States must not be allowed to wage its war by proxy, and Iraqi security forces will only gain legitimacy if they break links with the US occupation and dedicate themselves to the service of the Iraqi people. We call upon officials in the new Iraqi military and police, together with civilian officials in government, local authorities, public institutions and state enterprises to end co-operation with US and British occupation forces and to boycott all US and British official personnel, except for withdrawal negotiations.

The objective must be to terminate the abnormal relationship between Iraq and the United States and to establish a healthy state–to-state relationship that is based on Iraqi sovereignty, independence, mutual respect and the principles of international legality.

Peaceful resistance, resistance by other means, and non-cooperation with occupation forces and officials must be a prelude for the new Iraqi Parliament to remove the fig leaf of legitimacy from the forces of occupation. Only then would the new state institutions and political process gain respect and acceptance. Iraqis want unity, peace and stability in order to rebuild their shattered lives and to pursue a national programme of reconstruction and development.

The American and British peoples and the whole world can help Iraq by exerting maximum pressure upon the US and British administrations to remove all their troops and bases, along with the forces of the so-called "Coalition of the Willing" from Iraq; to acknowledge the injustice committed against the people of Iraq; and to help a unified democratic fully independent Iraq in a reconstruction effort.

Professor Abbas Alnasrawi
Vermont, USA

Professor Tareq Ismael
Alberta, Canada

Dr Scheherazade Hassan
Paris, France

Dr Sami Albanna Bethesda, MD, USA

Dr Kamil Mahdi Exeter, UK

Dr Mohammed Alwan
Boston, USA

Sami Ramadani
London, UK

Professor Kamal Majid
London, UK

Ghazi Sabir-Ali Bath, UK

Dr Ahmed Al-Kawaz

Dr Haifa Jawad Birmingham, UK

Ja'far al-Samarrai Toronto, Canada

Sabah Jawad London, UK

Hani Lazim London, UK

Fenik Adham London, UK

Mayada Akrawi
Geneva, Switzerland

Dr Ali Al-Assam London, UK

Dr Nada Shabout
Texas, USA

Valerie Sabir-Ali Bath, UK

Dr Nadje Al-Ali Exeter, UK

Rashad Salim London, UK

Zaid Albanna
San Francisco, CA, USA

Ali AlShahwani
New Zealand

Badia Albanna Takoma Park, MD, USA

Nesreen Melek Toronto, Canada

Mumtaz Kamala
UK

Nadhim Al-Qazzaz
UK

Dr Jennan Ismael Sydney, Australia

Fay Mahdi London, UK

Dr Adnan Aldaini Exeter, UK
 
 

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