KUWAIT — During a historical Civil Affairs Symposium held at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, the Iraq Charge d'Affaires (the equivalent of an ambassador) to Kuwait presented a lecture where he detailed his hopes for the future of Iraq.
Hamid R. Al Sharifi, who has survived Saddam's secret police (the Mukhabarat) and three assassination attempts, said that Iraq is now no different from any other democratic country in that it wants freedoms that the United States enjoys.
His message — America, and all the coalition forces involved in helping depose Saddam Hussein — did the right thing.
"A question is always asked of Americans," said Sharifi. "Why are you in Iraq? Americans could all be home safe and secure and enjoying the freedoms that your people have long enjoyed. But do you think the bad guys will leave you alone? Of course not!"
Sharifi, who is the highest ranking Iraqi official to address a military audience in the State of Kuwait, had been living in exile for 25 years before Saddam Hussein's fall from power. Before he began his lecture for the 377th Theater Support Command's Symposium, he requested a minute of silence from all the attendees at the lecture to give prayer to the American Soldiers who have lost their lives in helping free Iraq. The attendees also dedicated a minute of prayer for the Iraq citizens who had lost their lives in gaining freedom.
Then, the servant of the Free Iraq People began his lecture. "Freedom from fear, freedom from want, freedom to worship and freedom to speak," said Sharifi, "are the four golden interests that Iraq needs. To be without them, we would be sub-human."
For freedom of want he pointed out the economic growth.
"We have achieved most of those interests since April," he continued. "The economy and standard of living has risen sharply and almost immediately. The average monthly salary was around $20 U.S. a month, now it is around $800."
For freedom of speech, he acknowledged the growth of the free press.
"The access to free media has improved beyond belief," he said, in referring to old standard of about five state run newspapers, two state run television and radio stations to the amount of more than 165 free newspapers and more than 50 satellite television and radio stations.
For freedom of worship, he also pointed out improvements.
"At no time, ever, in Iraq's history have people been allowed to worship freely. This, too, has changed."
But, Sharifi admits that there are still problems in gaining the freedom from fear.
"Iraq still has terror in the country. But, there is a difference between State terror and insurgent terror," he said.
Sharifi's confidence is not shaken, though, from not attaining all his goals.
"This insurgent terror can be overcome with a strong government," he said, shaking his partially paralyzed right arm from the latest assassination attempt. "It cannot last forever."
"The way ahead for Iraq is victory, and we are almost there. We will achieve it through relentless effort of unity with the people in the free world—not only through the Americans, but through all Iraq and the coalition forces involved."
He said Iraq should not seek violence to obtain power, and the Muslim faith has changed over the years to be used as a tool for government.
"We should not seek violence to obtain power. But, there are those that have vowed to fight you [Americans], they are born to hate you—not because you've done anything wrong to them, but because they want to change you."
"Islam brought many good things to Iraq—peace, tolerance, freedom—these things were the main theme of Islam. But these main principles were the first victims after the death of the prophet."
"We fall into traps in the interpretation of the Koran," Sharifi said.
"There would have been [many] of days like September 11 by now if nothing was done. Perhaps we could have done some things differently, but the world is safer now, and we need to encourage Iraq to build more centers and schools for security and education," he said. "We should be brave enough to learn from our mistakes of the past and correct them
Sharfi said Saddam was not unique. But, even though he ignored how the rest of the world was, the Muslims in the area through the electronic age, saw and learned how the free world prospered and lived. The people wanted the same—taboo things, such as human rights, democracy and freedom.
"In America, your ancestors built a 'Heaven on Earth' for you to enjoy. You did not decide to keep it for yourselves, but were willing to give it your fellow humans to benefit from it. Can you afford to lose all this treasure to a group of thugs?"
| Date Taken: | 03.03.2007 |
| Date Posted: | 03.03.2007 02:46 |
| Story ID: | 9313 |
| Location: | KW |
| Web Views: | 552 |
| Downloads: | 518 |
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