Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Diana]

The following article actually appeared in my local newspaper today.

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Iraqi woman says Saddam must be removed
by Katrin Michael

As an Iraqi woman who wages peace and has fought in war, I am compelled to support a U.S.-led action to remove Saddam Hussein. After 26 years of resistance against Saddam, I have come to the conclusion that only forces from outside Iraq can bring an end to the nightmare of his rule.

The stories of Saddam's brutality are all true. Ethnic cleansing, summary imprisonment and execution, torture and rape are all part of the nightmare. I know this from personal experience. My father founded an Iraqi peace movement, a crime for which he was murdered. At the age of 14, I was arrested by the regime merely because I joined the Iraqi Women's League. I was not the only young girl arrested for such a trivial offense.

Later, I joined the Kurdish resistance, even though I was, in their eyes, a mere woman and a Christian. I traveled in disguise to Baghdad and around the country to organize the opposition to Saddam. But when I was injured in one of his chemical bombardments against hundreds of Kurdish villages in 1987 and 1988, I was forced to flee to a refugee camp in Southern Turkey, where I stayed until I recovered and finally reached freedom in the United States in 1997.

I continue to suffer to this day from lung, nerve and eye damage caused by these weapons. No one in Iraq is immune from Saddam's brutality - not even the closest members of his family. He even executed two of his own sons-in-laws in 1996. But women are especially targeted as part of his broader policies of intimidation. A commonly used form of torture is to bring in a detainee's female relative, preferably his wife, daughter or mother, and gang rape her in front of him. Members of the Iraqi opposition in exile receive videotapes of their female relatives in Iraq being raped.

Women who criticize or merely offend Saddam are accused of being prostitutes and regularly beheaded in public. His son, Uday, often leads these beheadings. They occur in Bagdad, as well as in smaller villages throughout Iraq. The heads of the executed women are hung on the doors of their houses for all to see.

I am saddened when I see people who sincerely care for the fate of the Iraqi people resist the American-led effort to remove Saddam and restore hope for the Iraqis. We cannot do it alone.

Iraqis had their closest brush with freedom in 1991, during Operation Desert Storm. I regret, as do most Iraqis, that the United States and its allies allowed Saddam to quash this resistance and remain in power. Those who care about peace and justice for the Iraqis should not make the same mistake again.

Saddam will never leave power willingly. He will never give up his weapons or allow the Iraqi people to live in freedom.



Karen Michael is a member of Women for a Free Iraq, a Washington-based advocacy group.

[ecc]

the war is on now.it is very disappointing that the united nations is absent on such an important issue .now that america can abandon the UN it helps to set up about fifty years ago,other countirs can also follow america's example.the precedent may indicate all countries can have a free hand to settle their disputes with the precondition that they have the necessary economic and military powers .american goes further in the way of unilaterialism and it is a blow to multilaterialism. .

[Diana]

Hi Eccentric,

I think the United Nations need some major reforms anyway. Now that the war has begun, I can only hope that it would be a very short war. I hope that not many innocent Iraqis are killed in this war.

[compassnorth]

Diana,
Could you post the complete article reference ie publication, article title, writer, date etc. I would like to use the article you posted but need a direct citation.

Thanks

[Diana]

[ecc]

hi Dianna! could you suggest more websites about american politics and history?thank you in advance .

[Diana]

Hi Eccentric,

American politics and history is too broad a subject. There are countless books written on different aspects of American politics and historical eras. Is there a particular area you are more interested in?

Regards,
Diana