- Speakers
- Dr. Burhan M Al-Chalabi, Ken O'Keefe and Jeremy Corbyn,
MP
- London, January 29 2003.
-
- Last week's City Circle event was at the Brunei Room,
School of Oriental and African Studies; 6:45pm to 9:00pm on Friday 24 January
2002. It was titled: "TRUE LIES - An Iraqi Story". The speakers
were Dr Burhan M Al-Chalabi, Jeremy Corbyn MP and Ken O'Keefe. There was
also a film shown called "Greetings from Missile Street" (40
minutes).
- Dr Burhan M Al-Chalabi is the Chairman of the British-Iraqi
Foundation and is a member of the Royal Institute of International Affairs.
The media including the BBC and Sky News often quotes him.
-
- Jeremy Corbyn MP is the Islington North representative
in the House of Commons. He has been a member of the Campaign for
Nuclear Disarmament since the 1960s and is one of the most prominent members
of the Stop the War Coalition.
-
- Ken O'Keefe is a former US Marine who fought in the last
Gulf War in 1990-1991. Currently he is an ardent peace activist.
-
- Summary:
-
- The film "Greetings from Missile Street' graphically
showed the effects of the American-sponsored UN sanctions against Iraq
" genocide. It highlighted the fact that over a million Iraqis have
died as a result of the sanctions which Madeline Albright, former US Secretary
of State, said was "worth it" in the interest of implementing
American foreign policy.
-
- Dr. Al Chalabi explained that the War on Iraq has nothing
to do with democracy, or with human rights or the need to install a kinder
regime. It is do with the USA wanting to steal Iraq's oil wells to feed
their greedy overindulgent lifestyles. The fact that the UN has estimated
that 500,000 people will lose their lives as a result of the war has made
no difference to the Bush and Blair axis.
-
- Jeremy Corbyn talked about the strength of the growing
anti-war movement in the UK and US. It is already extremely strong in the
UK where the majority of the population are against the war.
-
- Ken O'Keefe declared from his position as a former US
soldier who fought in the last Gulf war that it was a Criminal war. He
stated that Palestinian martyrdom operations were justified because victims
have the right to fight back. He was forced to leave the USA for his own
safety as he been very outspoken in speaking against the American regime.
-
- I have also highlighted the most important facts, which
came out from the event. Not from the panel, but by some members of the
audience who rightly informed us that the American attack and sanctions
would not have been possible without the connivance and cooperation of
the rulers of the Muslim world and in particular the ones in the Middle
East. Therefore, the only real solution to the problems faced by Iraq is
that offered by the Quran and Hadith, which in any event should be the
reference point for all Muslims.
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- Film: Greetings from Missile Street (40 minutes)
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- In Summer 2000, a small group from the U.S. lived for
a month on a street in Basra, Southern Iraq, which had been hit by US missiles
in January 1999. This film documented the lives of the families who live
there, their grief as they remember those who died and the grinding hardship
after a decade of sanctions.
-
- The film showed life in sanctions-hit Iraq in the year
2000 " the start of which was celebrated with such extravagance by
the two countries responsible for raining misery upon the lives of millions
of innocent Iraqi Muslims. While people were falling around drunk all over
Central London on the evening of December 31 1999, our Muslim brothers
and sisters were suffering the effects of non-existent medical treatment
amongst the numerous privations being visited upon them by the Crusader
axis of Bush and Blair.
-
- The No-fly zone imposed by America has directly killed
at least 300 innocent people. For example at Basra, missiles were fired
at the power station. It also damaged homes. Those children who survived
this murderous attack were left traumatised and psychologically damaged.
The film showed these kids shaking uncontrollably long after the bombing.
-
- The UN has reported that to date one and a half million
people have died as a result of the UN sanctions. Currently one out of
ten Iraqi children die before their first birthday! American bombings have
destroyed water treatment plants, which have caused the deaths of countless
numbers as the majority of child hood diseases are water borne. One hospital
reported they have 400 patients suffering from thalassemia, which is a
very serious blood disorder, and there are no supplies in the blood bank!
The UN has banned Blood supplies for Iraq as they might contain trace elements,
which could be used in chemical weapons! Why not simply say, "We want
to massacre Muslims in Iraq." At least then the UN can claim to speak
the truth!
-
- All it takes is just one out of the five permanent members
of the UN security council to prevent medical supplies from reaching the
needy in Iraq " no prizes for guessing which leading Crusader nation
is responsible for this crime against Islam!
-
- The film featured Madeline Albright the US secretary
of State telling the world that the deaths of 500,000 Iraqi children was
"Worth it" in the interest of American foreign policy! Yet the
Crusaders have the cheek to call brother Osama Bin Laden a criminal! In
January 1999 a single missile attack on Iraq destroyed 36 homes and killed
9 people. This is a regular occurrence, which the purportedly unbiased
Western press chooses to ignore in favour of sanitising and misrepresenting
politically motivated raids on mosques in Europe and America!
-
- Most Iraqi neighbourhoods are strewn with festering rubbish.
Open drains are the norm. We saw a child with a severely infected foot,
which had turned completely black after she cut herself. Many Iraqi children
walk barefoot as they cannot afford footwear. New schoolbooks have not
been available since 1989. Only 24% of school-age children are enrolled,
because most families can only afford to send just one child to school.
-
- There is no doubt that US sanctions are clearly responsible
for the suffering of the Iraqi people, which is of genocidal proportions!
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- Dr.Bourhan Al Chalabi
-
-
- James Baker, the former member of Bush senior's cabinet
said in 1990, "This war (the Gulf war of 1990) will send Iraq back
to the stone age." If only that were true because life in the Stone
Age was better than life in Iraq now for ordinary people.
-
- Bush's talk of regime change is a red herring. Both Cheney
and Rumsfeld were flocking to Iraq when they were supporting Saddam's war
on Iran. Over one million Iraqis lost their lives in that conflict.
-
- No democratic country can tolerate the insults heaped
upon them as Bush as done to the Arabs. He does not want democracy for
the region because that would spell the end of their lackey regimes in
places like Saudi Arabia and Egypt. None of the conditions, which Bush
has set for Iraq, are linked to peace. Recently he described the murderer
of Sabra and Chatilla as "A man of peace."
-
- The issue is not about weapons of mass destruction as
America has the largest arsenal of those weapons. Iraq is broken and unarmed.
The issue is oil, and there is plenty of it! Iraq has reserves of about
200 billion barrels. Iraq is weak, isolated and falling apart. Bush is
simply looking for excuses to attack and steal the oil. The American-imposed
"no-fly' zone destroyed the infrastructure of Iraq. In fact American
bombs are killing Kurds in the north and Shias in the south. There is no
justification for American forces being in Saudi Arabia and in the Gulf.
-
- The US Needs war on Iraq to cover the cost of their huge
military. It needs to seize the Iraqi oilfields. When it comes to interests
the Americans will only take care of their own.
-
- Jeremy Corbyn
- We in the West are not allowed to see the suffering of
the Iraqi people. I do not believe that war is to do with just oil. After
September 11th, the world was in shock. Bush showed no capacity for leadership.
The bombing in Afghanistan killed 8000 civilians. American allies massacred
3000 Taliban soldiers after they surrendered while US officials were there.
The American solution for Afghanistan has resulted in criminality and war
lordism. Most dead Afghan civilians never even heard of Bush!
-
- Also in the West civil liberties were lost. Politicians
took powers to arrest people and imprison them without trial. Linked to
that has been the growth of racism and Islamophobia.
-
- The idea that Iraq is a threat is nonsense. It is a broken
country. When Bush made his "axis of evil' speech he was lying through
his teeth!
-
- When UN resolution 1441 was passed it did not give authority
to attack Iraq. It merely authorised IN inspectors to go there. Hans Blix
said that he was in Iraq to carry out the UN's instructions and to "stop
a war." America will go to war irrespective of the UN.
-
- The peace movement in the UK is young, multiethnic, inclusive
and participatory. The next big demonstration in London will take place
on February 15th. The police estimated that about 400,000 attended the
last peace demonstration in September 2002. We expect much bigger numbers
to turn up to the next one.
-
- I went to a peace demonstration recently in Washington.
200,000 people attended despite the freezing conditions. The demonstrators
were worried of the fact that Bush was going to war when 41 million Americans
have no access to healthcare. The world cannot allow itself to be run by
oil companies.
-
- This war is by the rich against the poor for their natural
resources.
-
- Ken O'Keefe
-
- I grew up in California. I would have been a militant
Palestinian activist had I been brought up in Palestine. Victims have the
right to fight back. They want us to believe that Muslims are the enemy.
-
- I was part of a criminal war to get troops into a region
to dominate it. The presence of troops in the holy land has inflamed anger.
-
- Sanctions are the biggest weapons of mass destruction
in the Middle East. In 1989 Iraq was a developed nation. Now it is one
of the most deprived countries of the Third World. This is the most primitive
sanctions regime. The Americans blew up civilian power stations. The oil
for food programme has failed. Most deaths will come from the collapse
of the infrastructure. There will be a mass exodus of refugees.
-
- The cost of this war needs to be made known!
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- PERSONAL COMMENTS
-
- There you have analysis from three different sources
" a Muslim academic, an English politician from the ruling party and
a former American soldier. Of the two I would say the two non-Muslims were
the most revealing. Who will accuse them of being "Extremists' which
is what happens to Muslims when they say same the same things. It seems
that many Muslims are worried about expressing what these gentlemen have
said for fear of being labelled "Extremist' not only by non-Muslims
but more disgracefully by hypocritical Muslims (Munafiq) who have jumped
on the "kiss-Kuffar-backside' bandwagon and are intent on attacking
pious Muslims from the safety of a TV camera for saying exactly what Jeremy
Corbyn and Ken O'Keefe have said. Moreover, these two individuals are saying
what Muslims ought to be saying!
-
- Ken O'Keefe's analysis was spot on because it has been
reported in the Guardian today about UN assessments of likely casualties
caused by an American attack on Iraq:
-
- "The assessments are dramatic, though for reasons
of internal diplomacy or because of American pressure the UN is unwilling
to go public with the figures. But a newly leaked report >from a special
UN taskforce that summarises the assessments calculates that about 500,000
people could "require medical treatment to a greater or lesser degree
as a result of direct or indirect injuries", according to the World
Health Organisation.
-
- WHO estimates that 100,000 Iraqi civilians could be wounded
and another 400,000 hit by disease after the bombing of water and sewage
facilities and the disruption of food supplies. "
-
- Whenever you ask those Munafiq who proclaim themselves
"Moderate Muslims' if they have ever faced any of the "Extremists'
in a proper debate and explained with reference to Quran and Hadith the
justification for labelling sincere believers as "Extremist'"
These maggots will always give a resounding no. Is it not enough to be
simply Muslim" Why do some separate themselves as "Moderate'
Muslims" Is Islam like smoking and drinking " something you do
in moderation"
-
- I have no problem with referring to slanderers of active
Muslims as maggots as they always appear whenever anything rotten happens
to the Ummah to capitalise on the rancid lies and insults being heaped
upon the sincere sections of the Ummah by the Kuffar media " as happened
recently following the politically-motivated attack upon the Finsbury Park
mosque.
-
- Instead of standing with the Ummah these maggots were
popping up national TV to mouth off about "Extremist Muslims' for
their five minutes of fame courtesy of Sheikh Abu Hamza, who has the distinction
of leaving the comfort of his home to sacrifice his body for Jihad in Afghanistan.
-
- None of the detractors of active Muslims ("Extremists'
according to the slanderers) can claim to have sacrificed even one hundredth
of what Abu Hamza has done. He lost both of his hands and his eye for his
trouble. Why did he go to war in Afghanistan" Nobody told him to go.
He was motivated to help his Afghan brothers and sisters in a practical
way. Some may think that simply writing letters and protesting is enough.
It may be commendable, but nothing can compare to the one who risked his
life for the Ummah. I would not be surprised as Abu Hamza lay there after
his hands and eye were blown off by a bomb; covered in his own blood, that
he wished he had died in the blast as the agony of that kind of injury
must have been indescribably excruciating. Yet I have never heard him complain
about his lot " as if sacrificing your hands and eye is part and parcel
of being an ordinary Muslim! No doubt he has made mistakes in the past,
but you have to respect the man for the sacrifices he made for us, the
Ummah. The one who can make that kind of sacrifice can never have anything
but good intentions.
-
- During the 1980's time the Jihadis were not "Extremist'
according to the Kuffar media because the Mujaheddin were fighting the
communist Russians. They were "Freedom fighters and heroes'.
-
- Today, Abu Hamza is still the same man with the same
ideals. A decent society would have given him a huge pension and heaped
honours on him for the personal sacrifices he made for the Ummah. Instead,
we saw last week human maggots popping up in the media and singing the
Kuffar hymn of "Abu Hamza the extremist'.
-
- The fact is that nothing has changed with Abu Hamza,
but the Kuffar have re-defined their enemy, because today Islam is the
threat and not the communist Russians. That is why Abu Hamza is an Extremist
today but 15 years ago he was a hero for standing up to the Communists.
Then it was in the West's interest for him to carry out Jihad. The terms
"Extremist' and "Moderate' have their origins in the West and
appeared at the time of the Islamic Revolution in Iran when anyone who
supported the Shariah of Allah is an Extremist. These terms have no basis
in Islam with reference to Muslims.
-
- In fact, Sheikh Abu Hamza has praised the British people
because they have given him refuge and a place where he can talk about
Islam, as it should be " on the basis of Quran and Hadith. He has
never disrespected any of the "Muslims' who are attacking him from
the safety of a newspaper, or microphone. His Munafiq (hypocritical) detractors
have so far done their best to avoid a proper face-to-face debate!
-
- Some members of the audience asked some very pertinent
questions at the City Circle talk. The thrust of the organisers was to
publicise the planned anti war march on February 15th 2003 to show the
Kuffar (anti Muslim) politicians of this country of the depth of feeling
against the war. The City Circle purports to be composed of Muslims and
yet they did nothing to promote the Islamic analysis of the impending war
and what Muslims ought to be doing according to Quran and Hadith. Some
members of the audience rightly pointed out that the real culprits responsible
for the suffering of the Iraqi people are the rulers of the region without
whose cooperation the war would not be possible.
-
- Members of the audience also said that the only reason
America is able to prosecute a war and maintain sanctions on Iraq is because
the West's puppets in the region are doing everything to blame the victims
of the crime for the crime itself and conspiring with the criminals to
continue the crime! I feel that was the most crucial fact, which the panel
omitted, but then two of them were non-Muslims and the other one was keen
to show how much he empathised with the non-Muslims. Therefore, it was
not surprising they avoided the Islamic perspective.
-
- The fact is that the American and British governments
are Crusader Kafirs (Disbelievers). They are only doing what is in their
nature " attacking Muslims and doing their utmost to destroy the Ummah,
because Islam is the only way of life, which can stop the exploitation
of the poor by the rich. In a way, saying that the war is about oil is
partly true, as the main objective is the destruction of Islam. Allah says
in the Qur'aan that the Jews and Christians will never be happy until the
Muslims become disbelievers.
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- We may demonstrate to show our displeasure, but at the
end of the day the real work of evicting the Kuffar from the Middle East
will be determined direct action by activists " the "Extremists'
in Kuffar parlance. When the Vietnam analogy is followed, the Americans
were gung-ho at the outset of the war when they thought that all they had
to do was to drop bombs from the safety of the skies at lightly armed yellow-skinned
peasants. However, when the peasants fought back and started sending even
small numbers of American invaders back home in body bags, then the soldiers
>from the "Land of the Brave' went wobbly and ran away as fast
their shaking legs could carry them. I still remember seeing TV pictures
of them fleeing in panic and ditching helicopters into the sea to make
room in their aircraft carriers!
-
- We saw the same scenario in Lebanon in 1983 when a single
martyr drove a truck bomb into the Crusader Marine compound in Beirut.
I saw a CIA agent stating on a British TV documentary by Robert Fisk that
a single truck bomber derailed American foreign policy in the Middle East
and it would be in America's best interest to come to terms with the Islamists.
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- There was a repetition of American cowardice in Somalia
when for a while general Farrah Aideed was enemy number one as Saddam has
become now. The Crusaders heard that General Aideed would be attending
a traditional meeting of Somali elders in Mogadishu. The Americans fired
rockets and dropped bombs on the compound where the meeting was taking
place. A thousand Muslims were murdered as a result " not just due
to the bomb blasts, because afterwards crusader foot soldiers went to the
killing ground and executed the wounded as they lay there! At that point
the Somali people had enough and attacked the Crusaders in numbers even
though many Somalis were unarmed and were killed as a result. 13 Crusaders
were killed that day. The sight of a few crusader corpses being dragged
through the streets of Mogadishu was enough to frighten the world's superpower
into "doing a runner' as we say in England.
-
- There you have practical examples of what really causes
Kuffar America to desist from attacking the poor and helpless: actual bodily
harm! Not even harm to large numbers. Just a few have been enough to bring
them to their knees. As brother Osama Bin Laden has said from personal
experience, "These are the cowards of the age".
-
- The fact that the war has nothing to do with justice
is now so obvious that a poll by LBC radio in London today showed that
70% of Londoners disbelieved George Bush's State of the Union addresses
and they believed that the war is wrong. Even 60% of Americans today are
against an attack on Iraq without UN approval. I am disappointed that the
non-Muslims have been the loudest voices against the war, with significant
numbers of British Muslims keeping quiet and worse calling Muslim Activists
"Extremist' in order to toady to the Kuffar. Whenever a Muslim stands
up to these apologists who are embarrassed about Shariah, then the apologists
begin singing the tired old song of Extremists causing "divisions',
even though they are the only ones attacking sincere believers!
-
- I say the least we can do is:
- 1. Identify with the Muslim activists.
-
- 2. Support and encourage the activists. The activists
of all Muslim organisations ought to unite for the sake of the Ummah and
share resources. Forget your differerences and petty pride. Our survival
is at stake! Compromise with each other for the good of Islam but do not
compromise with the Kuffar.
-
- 3. Propagate the Islamic analysis of the current situation:
the reason why the Crusaders feel confident enough to attack Muslims at
will is because of the connivance the treachery of client western rulers
in the Muslim world. This war is part and parcel of an ongoing Crusade,
the benefit of which is the theft of resources from the impoverished Ummah.
Even the majority of non-Muslims in Europe are convinced Bush's war is
all about stealing Iraq's oil. We are in a unique position in the West.
We have access to information and the means to propagate it, which our
brothers do not have so readily in Muslim countries. That means, we can
help the Islamic cause by taking all this information, analysing it and
packaging it in a form which will motivate the Ummah to carry out action
and to do it effectively.
-
- 4. Attend the anti-war rally on February 15th in Central
London, but make your presence overtly Islamic. It will be a great opportunity
to show that Muslims are in the forefront of the resistance to the Crusade.
We should go armed with Shahada flags, Islamic literature and good manners
in order to invite people to look into Islam. Huge numbers of non-Muslims
will participate to tell their politicians how wrong they are " that
is a window of opportunity for Muslims to explain the difference between
being led by dishonest politicians and being led by the Qur'aan and Hadith.
-
- 5. Attack the slanderers of active Muslims with sound
arguments and publicise them.
-
- 6. Work like mad to propagate Islam in Europe and America.
Never has so much interest been generated in Islam as now. As 70% of the
UK population is against the war it might indicate they are reasonable
people and would respond favourably to intelligent and reasoned Dawah (Islamic
propagation).
-
- 7. Allah is the best of plotters as the recent raid on
Finsbury Park Mosque actually had a massive silver lining for the Ummah.
As a result the local Ummah prayed Friday Jummah (congregation) prayers
in the street! This was reported and seen all over the world. In fact the
actual congregation may have been in the millions when the TV audience
is taken into account! This action will be repeated every week until the
mosque is re-opened. But the longer the Crusaders keep the mosque closed,
the more non-Muslims will see Muslims performing prayers in a busy London
street! What better dawah is there!
-
- 8. Pray to Allah that he grants the activists the opportunity
to take direct action in defence of the Ummah that their actions bear fruit
with minimal loss to themselves. May Allah remove whatever fear they may
have and turn it into anger against the Kuffar Crusaders. May Allah motivate
us all to activism. Enough of the humiliation!
-
- By
-
- Shahin
- Eaglet1163@yahoo.co.uk
-
- CDLR
- The Committee for the Defence of Legitimate Rights
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