Shall Iraq Have a Foreign Executioner or a Local One?: From Iraq’s Azzaman
November 22nd, 2008
By WILLIAM KERN
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The Iraqi man in the picture above looks like he’s enjoying slapping the face of an effigy of President Bush, just before he and his associates set it alight in Firdous Square, which is where that huge statue of Saddam was so memorably pulled down in 2003.
But there are many of his fellow Iraqis who are fretting a great deal over the planned withdrawal of U.S. forces from that unfortunate country.
Two days ago, WORLDMEETS.US translated ‘Beyond Allah, Only America Can Save Iraq‘ by Khadir Taahar, who is well-known for his pro-American tendencies.
But this article is more surprising. It is written By Fateh Abdulsalam, a moderate Iraqi columnist that the people of this project have translated over 50 times. A regular critic of the U.S. occupation, in this article he warns that life after an American withdrawal is likely to be far worse than it is now.
In somewhat chilling fashion, Abdulsalam warns in part:
“After the passing of three more years, the U.S.-Iraq Security Agreement promises to restore Iraq its sovereignty. At first sight, this might appear to be the highest aspiration of people who have suffered so long under occupation. But this alone isn’t enough, and may not completely secure freedom. … There is no clear political horizon for Iraqi security after the implementation of the Status of Forces Agreement. If Iraqis live under occupation today, it is at least an internationally-imposed occupation. But what will be our fate if we enter a tunnel of policies and arrangements outside the notion of a united country, imposed by butchery, isolationism, sectarian division and oppressive parties, most with connections to outside powers? … It will be a dark fate imposed by sophisticated foreign executioners, or reckless and fanatical local ones.”
By Fateh Abdulsalam
Translated By Iacob Jacobson and Nicolas Dagher
November 18, 2008
Iraq - Azzaman - Original Article (Arabic)
After the passing of three more years, the U.S.-Iraq Security Agreement promises to restore Iraq its sovereignty. At first sight, this might appear to be the highest aspiration of people who have suffered so long under occupation. But this alone isn’t enough, and may not completely secure freedom. This is because replacing the Americans as executors of the emergency law to local troops, transferring prisoners and converting prisons built and/or run by the Americans into “Iraqi prisons,” will open the gates of hell to settlements of all kinds by uncontrolled and unaccountable individuals. [The author means that long-simmering and political and sectarian scores will be settled].
There have been no promises nor even a reference to creating new laws which would grant the government the right to continue various forms of arrests, raids or combat, as practiced by American forces and the private security firms that up to now, have protected most of the politicians in the Green Zone.
READ ON AT WORLDMEETS.US, your most trusted translator and aggregator of foreign news about our nation.
This entry was posted on Saturday, November 22nd, 2008 at 7:29 pm and is filed under Human Rights, Military Affairs, Foreign Policy, Political Islam, Moktada al-Sadr, Withdrawal, Sectarian Violence, Surge, Radical Islam, Newspapers, Islamism, Iraq War, Diplomacy, Protesters, Legitimacy, Leadership, Pentagon, State Department, Saddam Hussein, Democracy, Anti-Americanism, Iraq, War On Terror, Sunnis, Religion, Military, Politics, Domestic Programs, Foreign Affairs, Minorities, George W. Bush, Muslims, Columnists, Civil Liberties, Ideology, Foreign Politics, Shi'ites, Social Commentary, Terrorism, History. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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