"This isn't a matter of timetable, it's a matter of victory, and the Iraqi people have got to know, (pause) that they will be liberated and Saddam Hussein will be removed no matter how long it takes." - George W. Bush, March 27 2003. This is the current line we are being fed by the US and UK governments, a quick examination of the facts prove that this line however endearing and morally nice sounding it is, to be false. Breaking down the Iraqi population into main religious divisions we have Shi'a 60%-65%, Sunni 32%-37% and some other minorities. [1] Sunni Muslims wish to establish Shari'ah (Theocratic Islamic Law) within Iraq, a democracy, or the US capitalist version of it would be totally unacceptable. The Shi'ites much called upon by the Administration to rise up have a totally different agenda despite what the media would have you believe. The leading Shia cleric in the Iraqi city of Najaf, Sheikh Mohammed Khalqani issued a fatwa (religious decree) calling upon the Shia's to "fight the aggressors and stand against the invasion". [2] Another cleric one of Iraq's most esteemed Shia authorities Ayatollah Sistani issued a fatwa calling upon all Muslims to resist US-led forces. [3] In the few media sources that this has been reported it has been dismissed as made under coercion, weather true or not is a mute point. There is the 3.5 million Kurd population northern Iraq, who are predominantly Sunni, much touted by those in a position to do so is the incident at Halabja, certainly these people are deserving of liberation from the tyrannical saddam. Well not according to the CIA's senior political analyst on Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war, Dr. Stephen C. Pelletiere: - "But the truth is, all we know for certain is that Kurds were bombarded with poison gas that day at Halabja. We cannot say with any certainty that Iraqi chemical weapons killed the Kurds." "This much about the gassing at Halabja we undoubtedly know: it came about in the course of a battle between Iraqis and Iranians. Iraq used chemical weapons to try to kill Iranians who had seized the town, which is in northern Iraq not far from the Iranian border. The Kurdish civilians who died had the misfortune to be caught up in that exchange. But they were not Iraq's main target." "The agency did find that each side used gas against the other in the battle around Halabja. The condition of the dead Kurds' bodies, however, indicated they had been killed with a blood agent - that is, a cyanide-based gas - which Iran was known to use. The Iraqis, who are thought to have used mustard gas in the battle, are not known to have possessed blood agents at the time." [4] So this begs the question, who exactly is going to be liberated from saddam? By David Bennet [1] World CIA Factbook, Iraq [2] The BBC, The unpredictable war, Barnaby Mason, March 28, 2003 [3] The Guardian, Al-Jazeera tells the truth about war, Faisal Bodi, March 28, 2003 [4] New York Times, A War Crime or an Act of War? Dr. Stephen C. Pelletiere, January 31, 2003