Iraqi Voices
October 18, 2002
Best
British Articles:
Only the West can free us from Saddam
Yasser Alaskary
opendemocracy.com
As the Western world weighs up the pros and cons of attacking
Iraq, says Iraqi dissident Yasser Alaskary, there's one
thing no one seems interested in: how the Iraqis themselves
feel about it. What those who call for peace fail to take
into account is the 'continuous psychological oppression'
inflicted on ordinary Iraqis by Saddam's regime. People
are scared of letting their eyes drift in case they are
seen looking at a picture of Saddam in a disapproving
manner. Whole towns are wiped out within hours if anyone
is found opposing the government. It is no good arguing
that if Iraqis want regime change they should instigate
it themselves - over half a million Iraqis have died trying
to do so. An attack on Iraq might kill thousands of innocents,
but it would still be the lesser of two evils. The alternative
is 'for another million Iraqis to be slaughtered' by Saddam,
and for the whole nation to continue to suffer. The 'moral
and ethical grounds' for enforced regime change are 'indisputable'.
