From the Iraq Freedom Congress (IFC), March 22:

Letter to the Anti-War and -Occupation Forces of the World
On the Fifth Anniversary of US Administration and its Allies' Barbarism
The memory of March 19th puts out terror in the world. On this day the human race realizes that its destiny is in the hands of a bunch of criminals and blood-suckers in the US Administration. March 19th is a message to the world that freedom, civil rights and human dignity have no value to the corporate mafia interests of the US and its allies in the world.

After five years, the lies that were broadcasted by the Bush/Cheney administration in waging its war and occupation of Iraq about WMD are exposed. Saddam Hussein was not as dangerous to his neighbors as Iraq is today, where threats to the region and the world are imminent. Today, Iraq has become the largest base of exporting terrorism to the world and a battleground for terrorist groups to settle their issues. What is even worse is that the Iraqi model of sectarian conflict and the division of people based on non-humane values has become a model for the regional countries. In other words, Iraq is the draft model of the Greater Middle East that is preached by Bush and Condoleezza Rice. Moreover, the flames of sectarian conflict have begun to engulf Iraq's neighbors, where groups with backward mentalities are taking advantage of the situation.

Approximately one million lives have been taken, more than 4 million Iraqis have been displaced inside and abroad, unemployment rates are more than 60%, extreme poverty has overwhelmed millions of children, women and men. Moreover, the looting of billions of dollars of Iraqi wealth is to be put in the pockets of Cheney's corporate friends and sectarian militias....

The experience of five years of war, that is still raging, tells us that the millions of people who took to the streets on the eve of war in London, Rome, Paris, Madrid, Tokyo, New York, Toronto and Sydney... failed to stop the bloodthirsty US administration from carrying out its brutal agenda.

The weak point of our movement is that we demonstrate our power only in reviving this painful anniversary once or twice a year at best, while the US Administration displays its military machinery to kill people in Iraq every day... It dictates new laws and concepts in the region and the world. It supports sectarian groups (Shi'ite and Sunni political Islamists) to preserve their interests... [T]he US Ambassador Ryan Crocker in Baghdad grants $5 million to a sectarian militias [that] kill people on the basis of identity and kill women to force them to stay home every day.

Our anti-war movements, however, only raise the slogan "No to War" and believe that this is sufficient. However, there is a developing movement in Iraq that daily confronts the occupation, political Islam, terrorist groups; and raises the slogans "No Shiite... No Sunni... Ours is a Human Identity" and "No to the occupation; No to sectarian gangs." This movement is part of the world anti-war movement that struggles every day to expel the occupation and sweep out terrorist groups from Iraqi society. This movement needs the support of the libertarian forces who lead the world anti-war movement. The anti-war movement in Japan, with MDS [Movement for Democratic Socialism] and ZENKO [National Assembly for Peace & Democracy] at its forefront, has provided unlimited support to the libertarian movement in Iraq, and has brought about a qualitative change in its position. This model is capable to change the political equation in Iraq and the region.

Without a libertarian and secular alternative in Iraq, the occupation will not end. The defeat of the occupation by the progressive and libertarian forces such as the Iraq Freedom Congress is the first step to change the political map of the region and the world. The defeat of the occupation by political Islam, whether bin Laden or the mullahs in Iran, would only mean dumping the world into the largest vortex of chaos and terrorism.

If the world anti-war movement wishes to end state terrorism, it has only one choice—which is doing just as the US Administration, Western governments and Islamic groups are doing: supporting and funding their allies in Iraq. In other words, supporting the libertarian movement in Iraq is the only way for the peace movement to prevail, and the Iraq Freedom Congress is at its forefront.

Our choice of founding Iraq Freedom Congress on March 19th [2005] was a clear message to the world that we are determined to expel the occupation and terrorist groups from Iraq, and work to form a secular state and government that defines human beings on the basis of human identity.

Samir Adil

President of Iraq Freedom Congress

March 18, 2008

Working For a Democratic, Secular and Progressive Alternative to both the US Occupation and Political Islam in Iraq

See our last posts on Iraq, and the civil resistance.