I would like to point out that Iraq was invaded and occuppied for a very good reason! Because Iraq was a rogue state which in 1980 attacked neighbouring Iran provoking a war which cost a million lives and in which chemical weapons were used with horrifying result. The Iraqi regime also persecuted the Kurds in the north and the Marsh arabs in the south. Remember Halabja in which 5,000 Kurds were gassed?

Then there was the invasion of Kuwait in 1990, in which the Iraqi regime refused all negotiations to quit Kuwait and had to be driven out by force. Upon surrendering after being driven out of Kuwait. The Iraqi regime then set fire to hundreds of oil wells, poured crude oil into the Persian Gulf. Then massacred hundreds of thousands of people who rose up in an attempt to overthrow the Saddam regime. The Saddam regime also for 12 year fired rocket missiles at NATO planes patroling the north and southern no fly zones which were there to protect the Kurds and Marsh arabs from being attacked by Saddams' forces.

Saddams' regime also supportted and backed Palestinian terrorists, gave haven to some of the most notorious terrorists in the world such as one of the terrorists who bombed the World Trade Centre in 1993. The Iraqi regime also for 12 years tried to obstruct and harrass UN weapons inspectors and refused to declare and offer up for destruction all its chemical and biological weapons, weapons which had to be found eventually by UN inspectors.

Iraq will now have free and fair elections on January 30th for the first time in many decades. The country is also no longer under occupation as such, the American and British forces are now there at the invitation of the new democratic Iraqi government inorder to help maintain security in the face of attacks by Insurgents loyal to the old regime and insurgents connected to Al Qaeda and other Islamic extremists.

----------
From: "Haifa Zangana"
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2005 19:12:55 -0000
To: "David Wilson"
Subject: Fw: Iraqis Boycott Election Fraud...Please forward


----- Original Message -----
From: Sami Ramadani
To:  sami.ramadani@londonmet.ac.uk
Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2005 4:53 PM
Subject: Iraqis Boycott Election Fraud...Please forward

Dear all,
The letter below was sent to the press today. Please forward to your private lists.

"Dear Editor,
Iraq is being denied free and fair elections, after enduring decades of Saddam‚s brutal dictatorship. The US and British occupation governments have engineered a process for reproducing the US-appointed Iraqi Interim Government, to prolong the occupation and incite sectarian and ethnic conflicts.

Millions of Iraqis, under siege in many parts of their homeland, will be disenfranchised, while hundreds of thousands of second generation Americans and Israelis could vote.

While boycotting this undemocratic exercise, we strongly condemn all forms of violence against Iraqis participating in it. We, as exiles, are confident that the vast majority of Iraqis, at home and abroad, shall unite to end the US-led occupation and establish democracy, whatever their stance on participation.

We echo opinions within Iraq stressing the impossibility of holding free and fair elections while under occupation, and being subjected to war crimes by the US-led forces. However, we support demands for minimal pre-conditions: (1) setting a strict timetable for speedy withdrawal of all occupation forces, (2) ceasing all attacks, and confining all occupation forces to barracks until full withdrawal, (3) ending martial law and releasing all political prisoners, (4) establishing an independent election commission, led by Iraq‚s senior serving and retired judges, and including all Iraq‚s political forces. The commission can be assisted by anti-occupation figures, e.g. Nelson Mandela, and the UN General Assembly."
Signatures:
1. Sami Ramadani: Senior lecture, London Metropolitan University
2. Haifa Zangana: Novelist, UK
3. Professor Kamal Majid, UK
4. Tahrir Numan: Journalist, UK
5. Dr. Imad Khadduri: Nuclear scientist, Toronto, Canada
6. Mundher Adhami: Researcher, Kings College, London University
7. Dr. Nadje Al-Ali: Exeter university, UK
8. Dr. Mousa Al-Hussaini: Writer and journalist, UK
9. Dr. Usama Al-Shabibi: Pharmacist-Pharmacologist, UK
10. Dr. Ali Assam: Computer expert: UK
11. Yasar Mohammed Salman Hasan: computer expert, UK
12. Dr. Mahboub Al-Chalabi, Petroleum expert, UK
13. Dr Subhi Toma: Social studies researcher, Paris
14. Jafar Al-Samarrai: Computer expert
15. Dr. Ali Al-Shahwani: Engineer
16. Zaid Numan, Chartered building Surveyor, UK
17. Hani Lazim, Computer expert: UK
18. Mohammed Aref: Science writer, UK
19. Fenik Adham: Councellor: UK
20. Mahmoud Al-Bayaty: Novelist, Sweden

For further information contact:
--
**************************************************
Sami Ramadani,
Department of Applied Social Sciences,
London Metropolitan University, City Campus,
Calcutta House,
Old Castle Street,
London, E1 7NT

Tel: 020 7320 1280
Fax: 020 7320 1034
Email:  Sami.Ramadani@londonmet.ac.uk

London Guildhall University and the University of North London
merged on 1st August 2002 to form London Metropolitan University
**************************************************