Hi Sarah -- Certainly when we hear about the conditions in Iraq, we feel compelled to take action. What if it is true, however, that a war with Iraq may increase the chances of a retaliatory terrorist attack? Am I willing to increase the risk that I may lose my family to biological terror so that Iraqis might be "liberated"? What about the treatment of women in other Arab countries? What about the various horrors in other countries? If the US are indeed the world police, and we are morally bound to take action when we see injustice, and war is the appropriate catalyst for change, then Iraq should be but the first of dozens of countries bombed.
It unnerves me that we in the US are being fed from a lazy susan full of pro-war arguments. The issue is ultimately one of trust in the leaders of our own regimes. David on 2/16/03 9:41 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > This is from an open email to the peace movement written by Rania > Kashi, the 19-year-old Iraqi student living in the UK. It was quoted > by Tony Blair in his speech yesterday. The entire email can be read > at > http://www.opendemocracy.net/debates/article.jsp?id=2&debateId=88&articleId= 98> 3 > > > "You may feel that America is trying to blind you from seeing the > truth about its real reasons for an invasion. I must argue that in > fact, it is you who are still blind to the bigger truths in Iraq. I > must ask you to consider the following questions: > > * Saddam has murdered more than a million Iraqis over the past > thirty years; are you willing to allow him to kill another million? > * Out of a population of 20 million, 4 million Iraqis have been > forced to flee their country during Saddam's reign. Are you willing > to ignore the real and present danger that caused so many people to > leave their homes and families? > * Saddam rules Iraq using fear; he regularly imprisons, > executes and tortures large numbers of people for no reason > whatsoever. This may be hard to believe, and you may not even > appreciate the extent of such barbaric acts, but believe me you will > be hard-pressed to find a single family in Iraq which has not had a > son/father/brother killed, imprisoned, tortured and/or ''disappeared" > due to Saddam's regime. What then has been stopping you from taking > to the streets to protest against such blatant crimes against > humanity in the past? > * Saddam gassed thousands of political prisoners in one of his > campaigns to ''cleanse" prisons; why are you not protesting against > this barbaric act? > * This is an example of the dictator's policy you are trying to > save. Saddam has made a law excusing any man who rapes a female > relative and then murders her in the name of adultery. Do you still > want to march to keep him in power? > Throughout my life, my father and many other Iraqis have > attended constant meetings, protests and exhibitions that call for > the end of Saddam's reign. I remember when I was around 8 years old, > I went along with him to a demonstration at the French embassy, > protesting against the French sale of weapons to Saddam. I have > attended the permanent rally against Saddam that has been held every > Saturday in Trafalgar Square for the past five years. The Iraqi > people have been protesting for years against the war: the war that > Saddam has waged against them. Where have you been? > * Why is it now - at the very time that the Iraqi people are > being given real hope, however slight and however precarious, that > they can live in an Iraq that is free of the horrors partly described > in this email - that you deem it appropriate to voice your > disillusions with America's policy in Iraq?. . ."
