HYDERABAD, DEC. 20.

"The Americans are losing the war in Iraq and in
their frustration have started using chemical weapons and napalm bombs on
civilian populations," alleges Khudur al-Azawi of the Iraq National
Democratic Party.

Speaking to The Hindu on the sidelines of the recently-held Anti-War
Assembly in Hyderabad, Mr. Azawi dismissed media accounts of the war in
Iraq as "U.S. propaganda".

He denied there were divisions within Iraqis on sectarian and ethnic
lines. "When the Shia city of Najaf was attacked, more than 300 fighters
from Falluja came to fight with them. Similarly, Falluja refugees are
being provided shelter by Shias," he said. The resistance is organised
into two groups, the Iraqi National Resistance and the Iraqi Islamic
Resistance. "Cooperation, rather than disunity, mark their relations," he
said.

"Everyone recognises one enemy - U.S. occupation," he said. It is not
just the violence and killings, it is the humiliation of a proud people,
he added. "They even used the stones from the ruins of Babylon to make
the gate of their army camp."

"The U.S. Army admits that there are about 125 military operations
everyday. Even if one soldier is dying in 10 operations, that would mean
more than 12 U.S. soldiers are killed by Iraqi resistance every day, " he
argued.

Mr. Azawi claimed that Iraqi resistance had discovered and identified
mass graves of occupation soldiers in Iraq. "They are hiding their
dead." This massive loss of personnel was forcing the U.S. Army to mobilise
another 40,000 troops in Iraq, he said.

"We are willing to take any journalist and scientist to Iraq and show
them the evidence on the ground," he said and assured that "the
Resistance will provide you security and bring you back safely."

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