Posted on 03/22/2003 11:24:22 AM PST by anncoulteriscool
Anti-war protesters have no idea: refugee
By Eamonn Duff
March 23 2003
A Sydney Iraqi family has slammed ongoing Australian anti-war protests, saying demonstrators have no idea who or what they are campaigning for.
Dhafir Al-Shammery escaped certain death under Saddam Hussein's regime in 1996. Today he is one of several hundred Iraqis living in Sydney who now know what the term freedom truly means.
In an exclusive interview with The Sun-Herald, he said: "When I see thousands of Australians marching the streets on behalf of the Iraqi people, my heart sinks, because their view is not that of the Iraqi people.
"They [the protesters] say they are making a stand against the war because of human rights issues. They say it is the Iraqi people who will suffer most through this conflict.
"I speak out because they need to be told they are wrong. They need to support their country. They need to be told the truth - and that is that the Iraqi people have been suffering human rights crimes for decades.
"I am sorry, but these protesters cannot even imagine what has gone on there. Nobody would know unless they had lived and suffered it."
Mr Al-Shammery, 38, was one of the Shi'ite Muslim majority crushed by Saddam after the 1991 Gulf War.
When he saw his cousin executed, he fled with six other Iraqis on an open skiff, eight metres long and one metre wide, which for seven days battled two- to three-metre waves. He neither slept nor ate in that time. He simply sat with his knees pressed against his chest and prayed for a day when he would be free.
"I knew I had a 100 per cent chance of death if I stayed [in Iraq] but only a 90 per cent chance of death if I fled in a little boat," he said.
"So I chose the 10 per cent chance of life. Wouldn't you?"
Today he has found that freedom in Fairfield Heights, where he lives with his wife Natalia and his two sons, Mustafa, 6, and Noor, 12. Not only does he run successful security and export businesses, he lives in a street where families from numerous ethnic backgrounds all live in peace and harmony.
"The protesters need to understand that in Iraq, there is no freedom of expression ... not through speech or thought, nothing," he said.
"If you are not with him [Saddam], that means you are against him. A murmur of discontent to your neighbour across the fence can lead to your wife being executed. And then, the Government visits your home and makes you pay money for the bullet that killed her.
"They bring your dead wife, they show you how she was tortured before the bullet put her out of her misery. And if you refuse to pay for the bullet that killed her, they simply take more of your family."
Mr Al-Shammery added: "Cousins of mine disappeared many years ago without trace. We knew what happened to them but we didn't say we knew because you don't say anything to anyone. So we just carried on, suffering, keeping all thoughts to ourselves."
When Mr Al-Shammery arrived in Australia, he was sent to Villawood Detention Centre where he had to remain as an illegal for many months.
When he attempted, through the media, to inform the Australian public of the monstrosities he had fled from, his words somehow filtered back to Iraq.
"I am not sure how they received this information, but they headed straight for my family who were scattered between Najaf and Al Qadisiyah in southern Iraq," he said.
"They took my father but it was my brother who really suffered. They threw him in jail. They tortured him."
Mr Al-Shammery said he felt comfortable telling his story now because he believes America and its allies will finish the job they have started.
"I honestly believe that we will see the Coalition take over very quickly, because the people want this," he said.
"Everywhere in Iraq, they have prayed for this. There will not be any resistance. The army will not fight like [Saddam] thinks it will. I just hope that it can all be done with minimum civilian casualties."
Mr Al-Shammery said his only fear was that when Saddam Hussein realises his people have helped topple him, he may use the weapons of mass destruction the coalition is convinced he possesses.
"That is the concern and that is why they need to find him quickly," he said.
This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/03/22/1047749993344.html
Bump for the TRUTH!
Drudge has two articles on his site that I've sent to liberal appeasers. These articles are likely written by embedded journalists and are first-hand accounts of the Iraqi's tears of joy at being "saved".
Send them on to anyone you can think of to get the word out, because the mainstream press surely won't.
Wow, powerful stuff.
What is sovereign about the above description of life in Iraq? The only one with a choice is the butcher of Baghdad.
Doesn't matter one way or the other. After all, we see what we look for. How many escapees from the USSR and Red China, telling their stories of horror, were breezily dismissed by "progressives" here in American, and the West.
Who possesses the sovereign right, the people of Iraq or Saddam and his cohort of thugs?
Welcome!
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