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Save Iraq's Cradle of Civilization, Reclaim it From the Terrorists
(November 6, 2002)

Iraq is an important country for the whole world, historically culturally, economically, and religiously. It is important historically, because it is the country where the first law, the Hamurabi code, was enacted in Babylon thousands of years ago, its where writing was first discovered 5000 years ago at Uruk, and where the seventh wonder of the world, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, is situated. It is important culturally because Iraq was the center of the Islamic Empire (Khilafat), and Arab civilization for hundred of years. Iraq is where science and culture prospered, where Arabic language has its two distinguished schools, Kufa and Basra, and where one of the oldest universities in the world was built, Al Mustansiriyya University in Baghdad.

It is important economically because it has mineral resources such as oil and gas, that are vital to world's prosperity. It is also important religiously, as it has the oldest established church in the world, The Church of the East, founded by St Thomas, one of Christ's 12 disciples. In addition, it has numerous Islamic holy sites such as Karbala, Najaf, Baghdad, and Samara. The holy city of Najaf It is the study center of theology for the world's 150 million Shias.

This very important country has in fact been hijacked by a gang of terrorists led by Saddam Hussain. They have been terrorizing the people of Iraq for over thirty years, and their terror did not stop at the border of Iraq, but spilled over to neighbouring countries, and almost every country in the region has been attacked, one way or another. The first time that chemical weapons were used in the Middle East was in the Iran Iraq war when Saddam used it against the Iranians. The first time in history that a government has used chemical weapons against its own people was the time when Saddam personally ordered his defense minister and cousin, Ali Hassan Al Majid, to use nerve gas against the innocent people of Halbja. Over 5000 of them died instantly. Saddam's government is the only one in the world to imprison, torture, and execute thousands of scholars, scientists, clerics, poets, writers, journalists, and students for holding different views.

The silence of World is deafening.

Saddam's violence has been on the increase since he took over as the president of Iraq in 1979, and more and more people and countries have been the subject of this violence. People in Iraq, Iraqis and non-Iraqis alike, were killed in large numbers on the wym of the president and his ministers or even guards. In 1989, many Egyptians were killed in Iraq after they demonstrated demanding the reinstatement of their right to transfer remittances back home.

In 1990, western ordinary people who were in Kuwait prior to Saddam's invasion of the country, were taken hostages in order to be used as human shields. Ordinary Kuwaitis were taken hostages and prisoners, at least 600 hundred of them are still missing.

In the nineties hundreds of Iraqi currency and commodity traders have been executed in the streets of Baghdad and other cities in order to 'preserve' the value of the Iraqi currency. Jordanians were also executed because they 'smuggled' car parts into Iraq, even though that was the practice of every driver crossing the Iraqi Jordanian border. Many new penalties were introduced, and doctors were forced to cut people's tongues if they utter a word against the president.

This may explain why people 'voted' 100% for Saddam in the latest 'election' held in mid October. Cutting people's ears, noses, and hands, have become common penalties for the simplest of offences. These were all documented by Dr Adil Awadh, who was working in Iraqi hospitals at the time. Estimates put the number of people who have been killed in Iraq since Saddam took over in 1979 at 2 millions, while those who fled Iraq have exceeded 4 millions.

Iraq, the cradle of civilization, is going to the dogs. Day after day, its social and economic infrastructure is disintegrating, while Saddam indulges in all sorts of luxuries and fantasies, from forcing the country to celebrate his birthday, humiliating people by forcing them to hold candles and walk in the streets on that day, to building palaces worth billions of dollars. The world owes it to Iraq, the birthplace of Abraham, Noah, Hamurabi and many great scientists, poets, and philosophers, for many of its great inventions and advances. Is it not right then for the international community to act to save this country, and its ancient people, from the terrorists who are not going to stop at Iraq's borders? Is it not a moral duty of the world's big powers to interfere to save a nation whose death is accelarating by the day. It is time to reclaim Iraq from the terrorists.

Iraqi writer and Journalist- a speech given at the University of Cambridge on the invitation of the Cambridge Forum on 29th October 2002.