IFTU President sends message to the Labour Party Conference

Supporting the democratic process in Iraq
Monday 26 September 2005

Freedom to live our lives in peace

By Rasem Alawady, President of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU) and member of the Iraqi National Assembly

My country has suffered terribly for decades from murder, violence and hatred. The tyranny of Saddam’s rule cost the lives of tens of thousands of Iraqis. Many, like me, were jailed and forced to flee into exile to stay alive.

As you see on your TV screens, this suffering continues today. Iraq is not yet the peaceful, free and democratic country we had hoped would follow the end of Saddam’s dictatorship.

Your soldiers are under attack from extremists and terrorists. I understand the anxiety this must cause to their families and why it has fuelled demands for your forces to be withdrawn.

But in this anger and pain, you must remember that coalition forces are not the main targets or victims of these fanatics. The principal targets are Iraqi security forces, Iraqi democratic politicians and trade unionists like myself and, above all, ordinary Iraqi citizens whose only wish is to be allowed to get on with their lives in peace.

It is these Iraqi citizens who, in their millions, defied the threats and bombings to cast their vote to elect us to draw up a national constitution. They will vote on our efforts next month. It is these people that those calling for the immediate withdrawal of coalition forces would, unwittingly, be abandoning.

Iraqis are a proud people. We do not want foreign forces in our land. We want them to leave quickly. But we understand, reluctantly, that these forces remain necessary at the moment if we are to defeat the foreign-backed extremists intent on preventing the kind of country Iraqis want to build.

‘When we ask you to leave, we would expect you to do so. But that time has not come yet.’

It is why your and the other international forces are in Iraq at the request of the interim Iraqi government under UN mandate. When we ask you to leave, we would expect you to do so. But that time has not come yet.

Our security forces are not yet strong enough to defeat the terrorists and extremists in our midst. With the help of the UN, our forces are being built up quickly as are the other democratic institutions essential for a free and peaceful Iraq.

I am glad that British trade unions, whose solidarity and support for their fellow trade unionists in Iraq has been so important, understand this position. Whatever their views on the military action in 2003, they recognise that the priority now is to support the democratic movement in Iraq and, in doing so, the hopes of ordinary Iraqis.

Do not be fooled by the terrible pictures you see on your TV screens from Iraq. We want democracy. We want the freedom to live our lives in peace.

But there are those in our country – remnants of Saddam’s fascistic regime and foreign fanatics helped by our neighbours who fear a strong and free Iraq – who will use any murderous method to prevent us realising our hopes.

Withdrawing your troops now, for whatever reason, would play into their hands.