Hana Ibrahim & Tahrir Swift

Work of Women Will Association:

 

See attached WWA leaflet. WWA led many protests in the years 2004, 5 and 6 calling for the release of prisoners men and women in the custody of the US forces or Iraqi security forces. However, WWA had to change its methods of work and  agitation against the occupation due to the introduction of the emergency rules by the occupation government. We were terrorised out of our centre in Baghdad in 2006 and we now work from our own homes.  Many of our activists received death threats warning them against their stance against the occupation. Some of our activists had to leave Iraq to Syria, so we established a branch in Syria  that mainly supports, displaced widows and orphans.

 

Security situation:

 

Complete break down of law and order, the US trained Iraqi forces are complicit in this situation. Members of the Iraqi police, steal people’s possessions when conducting house raids, they ask for ransoms when people ask for their sons to be released, even if their son is innocent. Worse than that they tell women who go to the police stations seeking their husbands or sons, that the prisoners can be released in exchange for sexual favours. Many cases have been documented and published by human rights organisations, as is the case in Tikrit prisons.

 

Situation of Iraqi women today:

 

The typical day of ordinary Iraqi woman today is a series of battles for survival, this is a form of resistance;  a battle for clean water, a battle for fuel, a battle for preserving food without  electricity, a battle against hunger, a battle to keep her children healthy, a battle to get her children to school and back safely and a battle to get her son or husband out of prison.

With 70% of Iraqis without adequate supply of water and 80% without proper sewerage, the number of water borne diseases such as Cholera and hepatitis A & C are on the increase.  181 hospitals in Iraq lack basic supplies and basic medicine according to Oxfam and the Brooking Institute reveals a shocking picture on the death and desertion of our medical staff in Iraq. Please bear in mind, hospitals and medical centres in the Green Zone have all the medical provisions and the up to date technology while the rest of the Iraqis suffer in silence.

 

The unemployment figures for Iraq are put at 70% between women it is believed to be near 90%. Iraqi occupation government figures state that the number of widows in Iraq is 1-2 million. However, that same government is failing the widows and orphans in Iraq, they are now withholding payment of financial assistant for the widows, orphans and those who became disabled in the previous wars. This government is failing the 4.5 million displaced Iraqis. 

 

WWA has called for the instigation of a national fund for our republic of widows and orphans.

 

There are 28 women prisoners in Tikrit alone, being subjected to abuse and mal treatment. Three of them are pregnant because of rape in detention. This is replicated in prisons up and down the country.

 

Iraqi security forces are replicate the behaviour of the American forces by arresting women in lieu of their men folk under the pretext of fighting terrorism. The recent statement by the now ex women affairs minister Dr. Nawal Al Samarrie vindicates everything we in WWA  have been saying in the last 5 years.

 

As to the marriage and divorce laws (personal Status laws known to be one of the best in the region), is effectively suspended, amongst the complete break down of law an order. There is an increase in the number of undocumented marriages which leaves women vulnerable to loss of all rights in terms of custody of children and maintenance.

 

On the Resistance:

 

The resistance is organic and community based, in the current environment it is regional as well. Women are the main players in supporting and preserving the resistance. The resistance has never killed any woman because of her dress code, as is claimed by many self appointed experts. The resistance is developing an acceptance of the importance of the role of women in its survival and are accepting  to deal with women leaders and listen to them. People in these communities see no other choice but to resist the occupation.

 

The Sons of Iraq and Sahwat:

 

What the US occupation has created effectively is yet another militia, to do its dirty work and to act as human shields for the occupiers. The number of attacks on the occupation has not dropped as it is claimed, on the contrary the number of attacks on the bases has increased. But because the occupiers are shielding behind the Sahwa, the number of American casualties decreased.

These Sunni militias have played its role in supporting the sectarian Islamic party, headed by Tareq Al Hashimi the vice president of occupied Iraq.

 

Obama:

 

Please find attached our statement to Obama.  We do not expect him to change his policies in the Middle East . Towards the end of his presidential campaign there was a convergence between his vision and the Bush administration’s intention in Iraq. Obama’s plans for Iraq, coincide with the terms of the Status of Forces Agreement, legitimising the presence of US troops in their military bases.

We need a radical change in the US’s policy on the Middle East, we need a return to international legality both in Iraq and Palestine, but it seems Obama will be more preoccupied with the economy crisis.

While we welcome the apparent stepping back from escalation in the region, the proof as they say is in the pudding! It is very hard to be worse than Bush!

Will the promised withdrawal of the troops if it takes place, be sufficient liberate Iraq? Will it end the foreign interference in Iraq? what about the mercenaries? there are at least 200 000 of them. What about the massive US embassy they are building at the heart of Baghdad without permission? will they clean up the mess they made with their deadly weapons? will they pay

war reparations?will they pay for the reconstruction of everything they destroyed? What about the prisoners will they be freed and compensated? I ask the anti war campaigners to be on their guard.

The SOFA agreement signed by the occupation government can be changed by either party, so I am not convinced that this is a genuine change of heart.

And anyway there is nothing to convince me so far that what Obama is offering is no more than a redeployment. He will be sending the troops into Afghanistan, not to the US.

 

 

Provincial Elections

 

These elections hailed by Staffan de Mistura the UN envoy to Iraq as a milestone for Iraqi women because of the guaranteed quota for them as was the case for the Iraqi parliament. We never benefited form such quotas and the women in parliament represent the political parties that put them there not their sisters outside the Green Zone. But I want to mention first that there was a whole year of preparations for the provincial elections, there has been campaigns of mass arrests up and down the country  weeks before these elections . These elections were conducted over pools of blood of our civilians after being put off at least twice because of the lack of numbers of people who registered to vote.

 In 2008 we witnessed military campaigns in Basra against the Sadr supporters in order for Maliki to get more votes. In the provinces of Diyala and Mousel  military operations were conducted for the sake of the Islamic party. There are many credible reports that the results are false. We in WWA see no reason for optimism or hope. The politicians elected are from the same crowd as the politicians in the Green Zone who have achieved  Iraq’s high ranking in the Tranperancy International league of corruption. Only two countries in the world are more corrupt than the government of Iraq.

De Mistura, seems to have forgotten the rights of the 4.5 million displaced Iraqis, do their votes not count? What about the obligations of the provincial councils towards the Iraqi refugees? Why are these people ignored?

 

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