The Gates Of
Hell Are Open In Iraq
By Jawad al-Khalisi
02 April, 2005
The
Guardian
The
US-British occupation of Iraq is poisoning all political processes in
my country and across the Middle East. The elections held under the
control of the occupying forces in January were neither free nor fair.
Instead of being a step towards solving Iraq's problems, they have been
used to prolong foreign rule over the Iraqi people.
Only when the occupiers
withdraw from the country can Iraq take the first secure steps towards
peace and stability. Once a strict timetable for withdrawal is set,
Iraq's political forces could freely agree and set in motion a process
of genuinely free and fair democratic elections, a permanent constitution,
and a program that meets the demands of all the Iraqi people.
The occupying powers
are now following a policy of divide and rule, encouraging sectarian
and ethnic divisions and imposing them on all the institutions they
have created.
Incidents such as
the recent kidnapping of an Italian journalist, released only to be
received by a hail of bullets from the US liberators, have fueled widespread
suspicions in Iraq as to who is in fact responsible for many of the
terrorist acts - kidnappings, assassinations, and indiscriminate bombing
and killing -that are engulfing the whole of Iraq. These have coincided
with a cover-up of significant military operations being conducted against
the occupation forces across the country.
Not one of the terrorist
crimes has been solved and not a single perpetrator put on trial. After
each major terrorist crime, the arrest of perpetrators is proclaimed,
using names and personalities spread by the US-controlled media. This
media effort - which also seeks to bury the news of the destruction
of entire towns, brutal night raids, kidnappings, curfews, and the detention
and torture of thousands of prisoners - is overseen by the information
department of the US forces, who earned the US defense secretary's special
thanks during his visit to Iraq.
These crimes are
a taste of the hell created by the US project in the Middle East. And
now this hell is beginning to be visited on Lebanon, opening the prospect
of endless wars of unimaginable consequences.
Syria is now withdrawing
its forces from Lebanon and laying the responsibility of what happens
next squarely on the other side. But what will happen next? Will the
Lebanese resistance (led by Hizbullah) be disarmed? And if it refuses
to surrender its weapons, how will it be disarmed? Will it be by landing
new occupation forces in the country?
This was tried in
the early 80s and led to the defeat of the US and the Israeli occupation
of Lebanon. This could occur again, but on a wider scale across the
whole region, which can no longer tolerate this endless US pressure,
regarded by the peoples of the area as the implementation of Israeli
demands.
Efforts must be
directed at resolving the problems of the Palestinian people, who Israel
refuses to allow to return to their lands, despite UN resolutions and
all precepts of right and justice. The Palestinian problem cannot be
resolved with exhibitionist gatherings such as Tony Blair's recent London
conference. The big powers - particularly Britain, which helped create
the problem in the first place - have a moral responsibility to resolve
it.
In the same way,
the Iraq crisis cannot be resolved by patching up a detested occupation
with fraudulent elections and sectarian and ethnic caucuses supported
by the occupiers. The only solution is the immediate withdrawal of occupation
forces - or as a minimum, a strict internationally guaranteed timetable
for withdrawal. Talk about freedom and democracy is seen as an endlessly
repeated sham by our peoples because these words are being uttered by
the very powers that have stood behind the corrupt dictatorial regimes.
The US today is still the ally and backer of many such tyrannical regimes
in our region and elsewhere.
We do not believe
that the aggressive US stance towards Syria and Iran is intended to
uphold freedom and democracy either, but to get rid of states that are
refusing to go along with US and Israeli plans for the region. Today,
Syria is being held to account in Lebanon because it is refusing to
back the occupation of Iraq, and Iran is facing threats over its nuclear
program because the US is worried about its role in relation to Iraq
and its rejection of the status quo in Palestine.
Public opinion in
the occupying countries, such as the US and Britain, needs to understand
that the continuation of this unjust and dangerous situation will create
the conditions for a new and more general uprising which threatens truly
to open the gates of hell in the region and beyond.
Ayatollah Jawad
al-Khalisi is secretary general of the Iraqi National Foundation
Congress, an alliance of secular and religious organizations covering
all religious and ethnic groups in Iraq.
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