Child Victims of War - meeting in manchester.
Prudance Dancer | 05.11.2004 21:58 | Social Struggles
On Wednesday 3rd of November, I went to the meeting to hear the childrens charity Child Victims of War, speak at the Cross Street chapel in Manchester.
I went there because I was ignorant about the issue of Depleted Uranium and wished to learn more from people who supposedly worked in this field.
I came away shocked and disgusted by the speech of the gentleman speaker Abdul Haq Al-Ani from Child Victims of War, who after his partner Ms. Joanne Baker, spoke of DU in Iraq, Abdul Haq Al-Ani, spoke on a completely different issue - such as the war being motivated by racism alone and we in the UK were the cause of the war because we voted in Tony Blair and he said that every body in the United Kingdom was a "racist".
He informed us, the audience that under Saddam Hussains regime every person, who had been detained by the Iraqi Police, was entitled to representation by a lawyer and was treated fiarly by the courts. This was after he told us, the audience, that all the laws in the UK were silly, and were the laws of terrorism, what about the years of terror brought to the UK by the IRA and the Iraqi's by Saddam!
He also said that he is so disgusted by the United Kingdom, the country where he has got his law degree from (from the way he went on that was debatable) and he intends to go "home" to Iraq "and die with his people" in the relatively rich area of Monsoor.
A question to ask Child Victims of War, if this is how you feel, then why have you lived outside of Iraq, for over twenty years, when Iraqi's were being persecuted by Saddam, being killed in the Iraq/Iran war, people were dying under sanctions, war and the current invasion - and you wait till now to make your choice to die in Iraq, after all, is'nt your organisation about IRAQI CHILDREN?
He also made the point, that all the work people in the UK were doing, to have DU banned was pointless and stupid because apparently secret laws exist that have prevented any evidence being brought to the courts and according to him, he has tried but failed in taking a court case against the British government due to these secret laws. A vallid point was made by another Iraqi chap and that was, why not take it to another country? Al-Ani went absolutely ballistic, calling this man names and the chair person had to calm the situation down - this behaviour was coming from a barrister.
I was saddened and disgusted that children were used this way because his comments also gave an opening for peoples to talk about their opinions of Fidel Castro, Land mines, anti-semitism in the USA, RESPECT and the presentation of the meeting and not about the effects of Depleted Uranium in Iraq.
This meeting was supposed to be about the effects of Depleted Uranium in Iraq, and how it has affected men, women and espeacially children, the first two speaker, Cammile Warren frm CADU and Joanne Baker were good but the the gentleman from child Victims of War was an absolute TUBE!
I would not recommend Child Victims of War as the organisation for the Iraqi people or anybody associated with Abdul Haq Al-Ani, founding member of this charity, sorry, I mean Limited Company.
I came away shocked and disgusted by the speech of the gentleman speaker Abdul Haq Al-Ani from Child Victims of War, who after his partner Ms. Joanne Baker, spoke of DU in Iraq, Abdul Haq Al-Ani, spoke on a completely different issue - such as the war being motivated by racism alone and we in the UK were the cause of the war because we voted in Tony Blair and he said that every body in the United Kingdom was a "racist".
He informed us, the audience that under Saddam Hussains regime every person, who had been detained by the Iraqi Police, was entitled to representation by a lawyer and was treated fiarly by the courts. This was after he told us, the audience, that all the laws in the UK were silly, and were the laws of terrorism, what about the years of terror brought to the UK by the IRA and the Iraqi's by Saddam!
He also said that he is so disgusted by the United Kingdom, the country where he has got his law degree from (from the way he went on that was debatable) and he intends to go "home" to Iraq "and die with his people" in the relatively rich area of Monsoor.
A question to ask Child Victims of War, if this is how you feel, then why have you lived outside of Iraq, for over twenty years, when Iraqi's were being persecuted by Saddam, being killed in the Iraq/Iran war, people were dying under sanctions, war and the current invasion - and you wait till now to make your choice to die in Iraq, after all, is'nt your organisation about IRAQI CHILDREN?
He also made the point, that all the work people in the UK were doing, to have DU banned was pointless and stupid because apparently secret laws exist that have prevented any evidence being brought to the courts and according to him, he has tried but failed in taking a court case against the British government due to these secret laws. A vallid point was made by another Iraqi chap and that was, why not take it to another country? Al-Ani went absolutely ballistic, calling this man names and the chair person had to calm the situation down - this behaviour was coming from a barrister.
I was saddened and disgusted that children were used this way because his comments also gave an opening for peoples to talk about their opinions of Fidel Castro, Land mines, anti-semitism in the USA, RESPECT and the presentation of the meeting and not about the effects of Depleted Uranium in Iraq.
This meeting was supposed to be about the effects of Depleted Uranium in Iraq, and how it has affected men, women and espeacially children, the first two speaker, Cammile Warren frm CADU and Joanne Baker were good but the the gentleman from child Victims of War was an absolute TUBE!
I would not recommend Child Victims of War as the organisation for the Iraqi people or anybody associated with Abdul Haq Al-Ani, founding member of this charity, sorry, I mean Limited Company.
Prudance Dancer
Comments
Hide the following 3 comments
Abdul Haq Al-Ani
15.11.2004 14:05
He has raised suspicion across the board and there is much about this man to be seriously cautious about. I cannot say any more.
Anon
Re: Abdel Haq al-Ani and Joanne Baker
08.11.2005 14:59
I am somewhat surprised at the negative report given on Indymedia, of a talk by Joanne Baker and Abdel Haq al-Ani, about Child Victims of War, and other matters.
Jo Baker is an old acquaintance and fellow activist from my home city of Bristol. We leafleted together on many occasions, protesting against the sanctions on Iraq that were having devastating effects on child mortality between 2000 and 2003 - something well documented by the World Health Organisation, and also by Jo herself, during her visits to Baghdad. (Madeleine Albright, Clinton's Secretary of State during that period, is on record as having made the breathtakingly callous remark: '"We think the price is worth it.")
As for Abdel Haq, I can't claim to know him that well, having only met him three or four times. He has always struck me as both pleasant, and highly intelligent. I can imagine that he might be a little 'over-the-top' in defence of his homeland, which has suffered so terribly at the hands of the West - beginning in 1919, when Churchill ordered the bombing of Iraqi villages that were resisting the British occupation of the time.
Abdel Haq could not return to Iraq till recently, as he had fallen foul of Saddam Hussein't regime - a regime that we should remember was propped up by the US and Britain during the 1980s and most of the 1990s, and supplied by them with chemical weapons to use against Iran.
For Prudence Dance to represent Abdel Haq as talking total nonsense - as opposed to exaggerating somewhat - seems untypical of the man I know. If anyone saw and heard him on Newsnight a couple of weeks ago, talking about his role as a defence lawyer in Saddam Hussein's impending trial, and running intellectual rings around Ted Koppel, I think they would have received a very different impression from the account given in the pieces on Indymedia.
I hope this brief account may serve to set the record straight ?
In peace -
Margaret Jones
Dr. Margaret Catherine Jones
e-mail:
nabataat@yahoo.co.uk
IS 'PRUDANCE' THE SAME AS 'ELVIRA' ? THEY SEEM TO HAVE WRITTEN THE SAME ARTICLE
08.11.2005 15:26
I found this piece (copied below) in 'The Weekly Worker'. It seems to be identical to the contribution that appeared in Indymedia under the name "Prudance Dance." But here the author signs herself
"Elvira Braun."
Whichever one you are, how about going public, being up-front, and using your REAL name ? Then at least, when one's friends get slandered, one knows who one is speaking with, and might be able to correct any misunderstanding ....
Sincerely,
Margaret Catherine Jones
(Tel. 0117 - 94 66 885)
CHILD VICTIMS
On Wednesday November 3, I went to the meeting to hear the children’s charity, Child Victims of War, speak at the Cross Street chapel in Manchester. I went there because I was ignorant about the issue of depleted uranium (DU) and wished to learn more from people who supposedly worked in this field.
I came away shocked and disgusted by the speech of Abdul Haq Al-Ani from Child Victims of War, who after his partner, Ms Joanne Baker, spoke of DU in Iraq, spoke on a completely different issue - such as the war being motivated by racism alone and we in the United Kingdom were the cause of the war because we voted in Tony Blair and everybody in the UK was a “racist”.
He informed us that under Saddam Hussein’s regime every person who had been detained by the Iraqi police was entitled to representation by a lawyer and was treated fairly by the courts. But the laws in the UK were silly and were the laws of terrorism - what about the years of terror brought to the Iraqis by Saddam? He also said he is disgusted by the UK, the country where he has got his law degree from, and intends to go “home” to Iraq and “die with his people” in the relatively rich area of Monsoor.
A question to ask Child Victims of War: if this is how you feel, then why have you lived outside of Iraq for over 20 years, when Iraqis were being persecuted by Saddam, being killed in the Iraq/Iran war, when people were dying under sanctions, war and the current invasion - and you wait till now to make your choice to die in Iraq? After all, isn’t your organisation about Iraqi children?
I was saddened and disgusted that children were used this way because Al-Ani’s comments also gave an opening for people to talk about their opinions of Fidel Castro, land mines, anti-semitism in the USA and Respect. The meeting was supposed to be about the effects of depleted uranium in Iraq.
I would not recommend Child Victims of War or anybody associated with Abdul Haq Al-Ani, founding member of this charity - sorry, I mean limited company.
Elvira Braun
Liverpool
Dr Margaret Jones
Homepage:
http://Nabataat@yahoo.co.uk