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Are you from iraq?

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Are you from iraq?
Anonymous
02/02/03 at 04:12:48
we hear all this stuff about iraq and i was wondering
if there's anyone on the board or visiting who is from
or whose parents are from iraq? If so could you please tell
us from what you know personally or what your parents have shared
with you about what is going on in iraq?
i'm so tired of hearing the media and others I'd truly like
to know from someone who has lived there. What is really going on?
post anonymously if you'd prefer to do so.
Re: Are you from iraq?
Danyala
02/02/03 at 09:23:08
[slm]

I'm not from Iraq but one of my friends is, and the last time she visited (last year) a whole lot of bombing. But I guess you're referring to the whole build up at the mo', in which case I dont know!

[wlm]
Re: Are you from iraq?
ltcorpest2
02/02/03 at 10:54:19
i thought it was interesting, but i was watching the local news on friday and they must have been doing interviews at a mosque and the interviewed about a dozen people and while most of them were against the war the 3 people who were from Iraq were hoping we went in and took Saddam out.
Re: Are you from iraq?
jannah
02/03/03 at 14:19:07
mike do you honestly believe if the US wanted it would not be able to go in and "take Saddam out" ?  do you have such lack of faith in US army intelligence :)  I have no doubt they could, but the issue is infinitely more complex than just that.

what Bush is proposing is not "taking Saddam out", though no doubt they really do like to market like that: "oh the evil despot.. the US is actually sacrificing itself to save the world and the innocent IRAQI people and shall go in and take him out".  yeah right...why the sanctions for 8 years which according to all NGOs in Iraq have only directly killed hundreds of thousands of innocent people and children and done _nothing_ to the regime in power. where's the US's humanitarian efforts towards the iraqi people now?  let's get beyond the oprah media and act like tough analysts. war on iraq is a stratagem and for what purpose? let's think about it.. the Middle East controls a major part of the world's oil, even though the US gets most of theirs from S. America, but no doubt they're thinking of the future.  the Middle East is also where the perceived "Islamic Fundamentalist" threat is coming from. besides Iran and Saudi (in my opinion next on their list) what other country is strong enough to defy the US's economic/civilizational influence? btw if you're thinking it's about nuclear weapons, why doesn't the US start a war with N. Korea or India? both of which have openly admitted to their weapons programs. Sadly this seems like the INS detentions but on a grander scale. The bias the US gov't has against certain peoples/race/religion never seems to end.
Re: Are you from iraq?
BroHanif
02/03/03 at 18:48:05
[quote]btw if you're thinking it's about nuclear weapons, why doesn't the US start a war with N. Korea or India? both of which have openly admitted to their weapons programs. [/quote]

I think the best thing all Muslims can do now is start to develop Nuclear weapons, I mean N. korea is sticking two fingers up at US and UK so to me daft as it sounds if yo have a nuclear bomb then it assures me that no bully will come and attack you.

So if anyone wants to contribute to Hanifs Nuclear Weapons programme or my programme of weapons of super mass destruction please let me know. I'm desparate for volunteers.

Salaams,

Hanif  
NS
Quality satire
Dude
02/03/03 at 21:54:48
:D

Hanif,

How much do you pay? If it is more than the North Koreans are paying me, I'm all yours.

Dude- mercenary for builders of weapons of super mass destruction. ;)

P.S.: I'm not from Iraq. Just to keep on topic.
Re: Are you from iraq?
jannah
02/03/03 at 22:40:46
[slm]

I asked a good friend of mine from Iraq to write something. He's lived here for about 15 years since he came to go to school and ended up marrying an American revert sister. However, he feels uncomfortable being in the spotlight. Many newspapers have asked him as well. [I'm sure I'd hesitate too if I lived in the US and the country was going to go to war against my country of origin. Wouldn't want to be rounded up and all that either :)]

So anyway he said that "the iraqis would love to get rid of saddam", but they don't want a war from outside. He said the best way to get rid of Saddam is to lift the sanctions and let the Iraqi's develop and think of higher things besides starvation and dying.  Once they're at that point they'd do it themselves.
Re: Are you from iraq?
Caraj
02/03/03 at 23:07:19
Was just listening to the radio driving tonight and heard a lady who spent time in Iraq speaking. She said last time during the Kuawiat thing (sorry I know I am spelling that wrong) that the US asked the Iraqi people to raise up against him and a group tired but also many of the up rising leaders got killed after it was all said and done.

I also heard that since Bush Sr didn't help they may not help Bush Jr as many were killed and she talked about a beautiful village with marshes and canals that  saddam have bull dozed and filled in.

Many US citizens are not at all for this possible war and many are speaking out against it where I live.

Why are the countries surrounding Iraq not helping?

I hear Iraqis' would love Saddam out. But this lifting sanctions I don't think is wise unless you can know for sure it is going to the people who really really need it
.
I hear it would get intercepted and used for troops and officials and some things are sold for cash to buy not so good things. Kind of like on the streets here. If someone asks me for money for food, I go in the store and buy them a meal. I do this whenever approached. I don't give them money as I don't want it used for drugs or drink. But I do get them something to eat.

02/04/03 at 02:45:28
Caraj
Re: Are you from iraq?
bhaloo
02/04/03 at 02:23:08
[slm]

The US is only interested in stealing the oil from Iraq.  They have put evil dictators into power in different countries throughtout the middle east and in many parts of the world and control them to do their bidding.  If you examine the history of the United States, anytime they were in a depression, they got out of the depression by going to war.  And they created lies and propaganda to deceive the masses.  

As a reminder here was a great article about some of the recent adventures the US has had in the middle east (including putting Saddam Hussein into power [not to mention supplying him with chemical weapons])
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/taliban_info/message/20

May Allah(SWT) protect the Muslims and guide them and grant them victory!  AMEEN!  AMEEN!  AMEEN!

p.s. Jannah were you talking about Wassitti?  Why don't you get him to join the board.
Re: Are you from iraq?
Caraj
02/04/03 at 02:51:48
bhaloo you make some good points, I am getting more upset as I learn more. I must admitt as a prior single parent I didn't keep up on political matters as I was busy trying to feed and clothe two kids.

Now the more I learn the more I am upset. I love my country I just wish we would mind our own business, worry about things here at home.

Oil??????? What happened to Texas, Oklahoma and Alaska? Why do we need so much from other countries?   :(

Seems like we stick our nose where it doesn't belong then it comes back to bit us in the you know where.
02/04/03 at 02:53:07
Caraj
Re: Are you from iraq?
jannah
02/04/03 at 02:52:00
Bhaloo, Yeah I tried, but he's too shy  :D

btw Cara, the sanctions are doing nothing to hurt Saddam and his regime, nothing. the only one that is hurting is the Iraqi people. This is proven by statements by many of the relief organizations that have been in Iraq and are trying to work against the humanitarian disaster there.  Even groups like Voices in the Wilderness advocate the lifting of sanctions.  
It's like my friend said if you cannot eat, you cannot feed your child, your child dies because simple drugs are not allowed under sanctions how are you even going to think about things like an uprising to remove Saddam. Remember, Iraqis do not blame Saddam for the sanctions, they blame the US and the US alone because it is the only nation that blocks every vote to lift the sanctions.
Re: Are you from iraq?
Caraj
02/04/03 at 02:57:47
Jannah, I was under the impression it is an UN thing not just the US.
Also, if they have weapons inspectors why not send a reputable relief org to monitor distribution of food and meds?
Re: Are you from iraq?
jannah
02/04/03 at 03:21:39
Cara, it's a direct result of the US's votes as part of the security council. The US and the UK supporting US policy has repeatedly blocked any lifting of the sanctions.

Check out http://iraqpeaceteam.org/pages/history.html which has a good history of the sanctions and the effect it has had on the Iraqi people. And http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/sanction/indexone.htm which is from a UN Global Policy think tank that has tons of objective analyses, charts and statistics about the sanctions. This following is also a good summary from an ad in the NYTimes in 1999, paid for by a group of American professors.


Sanctions ARE weapons of Mass Destruction

We the undersigned call upon the United States government to end all sanctions against the people of Iraq.

At the end of 1998, the United States once again rained bombs on the people of Iraq. But even when the bombs stop falling, the U.S. war against the people of Iraq continues--through the United Nations harsh sanctions on Iraq, which are the direct result of U.S. policy.

This month, U.S. policy will kill 4,500 Iraqi children under the age of 5, according to United Nations studies, just as it did last month and the month before that all the way back to 1991. Since the end of the Gulf War, more than a million Iraqis have died as a direct result of the UN sanctions on Iraq.

To oppose the sanctions is not equivalent to supporting the regime of Saddam Hussein. To oppose the sanctions is to support the Iraqi people. Saddam Hussein is a murderous dictator, who promotes those who are loyal to him and kills all those who voice opposition to his regime. But throughout the 1980s, when it suited U.S. strategic interests in the Middle East, the U.S. government was more than willing to ignore Saddam Hussein's brutality. In fact, U.S. and European companies provided Iraq with materials used to produce Saddam Hussein's "weapons of mass destruction." Moreover, the sanctions have not affected the lifestyle of Saddam Hussein or his inner circle. Food and medicine are available for those who can afford it. The sanctions hurt only the Iraqi people.

The sanctions are weapons of mass destruction. When a UN inspections team visited Iraq to survey the damage from the Gulf War in March 1991, it concluded that the bombing has reduced Iraq to a "pre-industrial age." The team said at that time that if the sanctions were not lifted, the country faced "immediate catastrophe." Yet the sanctions have continued for the last seven years, preventing Iraq from obtaining the hard currency to buy basic food stuffs and medicines--or to rebuild its infrastructure. The oil-for-food deal that allows Iraq to sell $5.2 billion of its oil every six months has had only marginal effects. The United Nations takes one-third of all oil revenues for war reparations and its own expenses. The oil-for-food program does not generate enough money to feed adequately a population of 22 million. Raising the ceiling would not help. The refineries were bombed during the war and need to be rebuilt--even now, Iraq is unable to produce all the oil it is allowed to. In October, Denis Halliday, the UN coordinator for humanitarian aid to Iraq, resigned in protest, arguing that the sanctions "are starving to death 6,000 Iraqi infants every month, ignoring the human rights of ordinary Iraqis and turning a whole generation against the West."

The sanctions also prevent Iraq from importing many basic necessities. Most pesticides and fertilizer are banned because of their potential military use. Raw sewage is pumped continuously into water that people end up drinking because Iraq's water treatment plants were blown up by US bombs in 1991--and most have never been repaired. Yet chlorine is banned under the sanctions because it also could be of military use. Typhoid, dysentery and cholera have reached epidemic proportions. Farid Zarif, deputy director of the UN humanitarian aid program in Baghdad, argued recently, "We are told that pencils are forbidden because carbon could be extracted from them that might be used to coat airplanes and make them invisible to radar. I am not a military expert, but I find it very disturbing that because of this objection, we cannot give pencils to Iraqi schoolchildren."

For the past several years, individuals and groups have been delivering medicine and other supplies to Iraq in defiance of the U.S. blockade. Now, members of one of those groups, Chicago-based Voices in the Wilderness, have been threatened with massive fines by the federal government for "exportation of donated goods, including medical supplies and toys, to Iraq absent specific prior authorization." Our government is harassing a peace group that takes medicine and toys to dying children: we owe these courageous activists our support.

This is not foreign policy--it is state-sanctioned mass murder. The Iraqi people are suffering because of the actions of both the Iraqi and U.S. governments, but our moral responsibility lies here in the United States. If we remain silent, we are condoning a genocide that is being perpetrated in the name of peace in the Middle East, a mass slaughter that is being perpetrated in our name.
02/04/03 at 03:28:47
jannah
Re: Are you from iraq?
BroHanif
02/04/03 at 06:50:31
[quote]Why are the countries surrounding Iraq not helping? [/quote]

Perhaps they are too afraid of having sanctions on them
or too afraid of the bully US and UK
or they rule by an un-islaamic law which allows sanctions to be carried out.
or perhaps just to damn lazy to support them

NS
Re: Are you from iraq?
ascetic
02/04/03 at 13:35:22
More about the Aid situation in Iraq from BBC:


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2723401.stm

"United Nations aid officials have warned that they are being given "peanuts" to deal with the humanitarian fallout from a military intervention in Iraq....It is an unusual public expression of anger.
Some agencies have even decided not to take money from countries which attack Iraq."


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