Special Interview 1 "Conversing on Iraq"
An Iraqi Remembers
The Perth Express conducted a number of interviews with members of Perth's Iraqi community. One of those was with Abdul Mosawy, a Shia Muslim. He graduated from university in 1981 and then served in the Iraqi army from 1982 to 1989 as a radar expert. Today, Abdul works as a watchmaker in Fremantle.

>Why did you choose to live outside Iraq?
I left Iraq because I was involved in a revolution in 1991 against the regime. I lived in Basra, down South for twenty eight years of my life and I had convinced myself that I couldn't belong to this regime and I wouldn't be part of it.

>What year did you come here?
I left Iraq in 1991. But I came here in 1994. I left Iraq and crossed the border into Saudi Arabia and we lived in a refugee camp called Rafhaa. I had my five brothers, my mother, my wife and my son, who was two when we arrived and almost four when we left.

>What is your opinion of the war on Iraq?
I support the removing of Saddam 100%. Everybody is now convinced that Saddam was bad, even his loyalists. Because the people who have been living in Iraq are free to tell the stories of the horror they underwent. And this is only the early stages in developing the full picture of this powerful monster.

>Do you think that Iraq could have / would have eventually removed Hussein's regime without external help?
We tried to get rid of Hussein ourselves. Iraqis have the duty to their country to remove this dictator and rebuild society. But we couldn't because Saddam had the support of the Arab neighborhoods and he even had the support of the super powers. If America had let us just do the job, we would have finished it in 1991. It's twelve years ago. But America didn't want Hussein to be removed.
The Middle East is now the worst place in the whole entire world. 1991 was not the time for Iraq to start a new beginning. Now after the War, we support the coalition to remove Saddam but we still have bitterness in our hearts from 1991. Thousands of thousands of people were killed in the street, executed, hanged, put in jails. People just vanished without a trace because they had rebelled. I'm not talking about the army that got killed for liberating Kuwait, I'm talking about people who got killed because they rebelled against Saddam, simply went out onto the street and said "no" to Mr. Saddam. I still remember everything. I was one of them, of course. I lost friends. I lost my best mate.

>Do you think that Iraq should feel grateful to the coalition forces?
No I don't feel grateful to the Coalition. I feel happy that Saddam is gone. We still feel we have been stabbed in the back by the Americans in 1991. We will not forget that Bush Snr advised the Iraqi nation to remove Saddam and to raise up against him and then gave the green light to Saddam to use his helicopters and his army to crush us and that is exactly what he did. He crushed us. Hundreds of thousands of young people got killed. I can still remember the smell of dead bodies and feel the smoke in my nose.

>Do you think that Iraq will accept a government selected by a foreign occupation?
Iraq hasn't had anything like democracy since 1917. You can't apply a Western experiment or a Western style to Iraq. But if we can start democracy in Iraq, have poles so the people can vote for people they know. It takes time for any system to catch on, not just a year. But Iraq will have the freedom. We will have the most beautiful democratic system in the whole region because we have the mentality. We are well educated, with a good mentality, we're a rich country with rich soil. We can do a lot but I'm not sure how much influence we will have on our government.
We have six countries surrounding Iraq. Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Jordan and the Gulf States. Every single country neighboring Iraq will have influence on how Iraq should be governed. Iraqis want to govern their own land but there is three hundred thousand troops outside their cities. So it's difficult even to start. I hope the Americans and the British help us form a government that the Iraqi people will like and will give us some form of freedom, such as freedom of speech and freedom of Media. Freedom to contact the outside world so that Iraqi leaders can learn and deliver their message to the Iraqi people.
Most people of Iraq are educated but they have lived in misery and poverty for the past thirty five years. People struggle to eat. You can't expect democracy and freedom from people who are starving. Feed them first. Give them water and electricity Then they will look to the government.

>Do you think most Iraq refugees will now want to return to Iraq?
Iraqis are the first civilization on earth and for the last six thousand years, they've never been outside Iraq. Only in Saddam's time have Iraqi people needed to get out of Iraq. Most Iraqis are now thinking seriously about going home. My family is there but we are waiting for communication to be reestablished in Iraq.

>Do you think that the Australian media have properly presented the situation in Iraq?
I think that Australia has done an excellent job, presenting an objective view. But what is missing is the perspective of the normal person, the one fishing in the river or farming his own garden, we should talk to that person. He is the normal Iraqi.

-24 Apr 03 Interviewer: Tim Holland