Students say Saddam must go

His home city was the site of a massacre of Shia Muslims who rose up, with Western encouragement, after the last Gulf War only to be abandoned to Saddam's helicopter gunships when America thought better of advancing to Baghdad.

Painful though it may be, he sees a US-led strike on Iraq as the only way of freeing his country from a brutal dictator.

"We support any military action that leads to a change in regime in Iraq, otherwise not. Saddam Hussein is waging a silent war against Iraqis," he says.

Sharif, 42, of Burnt Oak, is a community officer for the Dar Al-Islam Foundation in Anson Road, Cricklewood.

This mainly Iraqi mosque was set up in 1993. It is an important centre for London's Iraqis, most of whom live in Kingsbury, Wembley and Westminster. There are about 200,000 Iraqis in the UK, most of whom are Shia Muslims the majority Muslim sect within Iraq. Saddam Hussein is a Sunni Muslim and has massacred Shias, many of whom he suspects of being a fifth column for neighbouring Iran.

Sharif does not doubt the integrity of Church of England figures such as Reverend Adrian Benjamin or Labour MPs such as Finchley and Golders Green MP Rudi Vis, who have spoken out in this newspaper against an attack on Iraq.

But he says that in the debate so far the Iraqis themselves have rarely been asked for their views. And he claims they see Western intervention as the only way of ridding Iraq of its dictator.

"We know those who oppose war are sincere. Everyone has an experience of war. But very, very few Iraqis are against war and those who are, are not for Saddam. They believe that America and Britain may betray the Iraqis by striking Iraq and leaving Saddam Hussein in power as they did in 1991," he says.

Eighteen-year-old student Sarah Bayaty is one such Iraqi. Sarah is one of many young Iraqis who attend the Dar Al-Islam Foundation for religious lessons and ceremonies.

"I don't support the war. America could easily fix Saddam if they wanted without killing innocent Iraqis.

"The whole world was so shocked after September 11 but in Iraq there will be thousands of innocents killed. Iraqis are digging wells in their homes now to prepare for war. The Americans will not get Saddam Hussein this way which Saddam will they get? He has so many doubles.

"The Americans want to see Muslims completely disappear from the world. They are scared that Muslims are going to take over. It's the fastest growing religion in the world," she says.

As Sarah speaks, three of her classmates nod their heads in agreement. All of them are young and deeply suspicious of the West and its intentions towards Muslims.

They say the Western media routinely diverts attention away from events in Israel and Iraq, going as far as to speculate that England footballer David Beckham's broken toe prior to the World Cup in June was a media fabrication to cover up events in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Like Sharif, the four students believe America and Britain's primary motivation to intervene in Iraq is a desire for oil. But unlike Sharif, who says Iraqis would benefit from the trade-off (In order to get the oil they will have to help Iraqis'), the students are uneasy about what will happen to Iraq afterwards.

"It will be another star in their flag," says 18-year-old Hassan Al-Mashagekhi. "They want the oil. I am in favour of America removing Saddam Hussein but it should not be a war against the Iraqi people as it was in 1991. Our families are there," he says.

Hasanin Baraka, also 18, suspects the West wants to break Iraq up into smaller countries. "Why do they want to divide the country into parts? So they can control it better," he says.

"How do the Americans know Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction unless they gave them to him? Why is it fair for America to have weapons and no-one else?"

Sharif says division would be a small price to pay for freedom. He said: "Saddam has unified the whole country. He has put the population in one jail." He claims the dictator is indeed hiding his weapons from the team of UN inspectors.

"He has chemical and biological weapons. I have heard from Iraqis who were soldiers and who have come here.

"They say he has hidden them in farms in the south," he says.

And he revealed why he and many Iraqis support a war to remove Saddam even if that war is for oil first and the Iraqi people second.

"The food for oil agreement has given Saddam Hussein control of the distribution of food to Iraqis. He is using it as a tool to pressurize Iraqis, especially in the south. It's a sort of revenge since the 1991 uprising against him. They have one hour's electricity a day. In October every family received a threat that they would not get food if they did not vote for Saddam," he says.

"We want to see a free Iraq. A federal Iraq with equal rights for minorities and a government which recognises human rights and respects its people."

Sharif says the Dar Al-Islam Foundation is preparing social organisations for a post-Saddam Iraq. And if the dictator falls, Sharif hopes to join the rebuilding of his country.

"I have roots," he says.

"I am British now but I want to go back."

January 29, 2003 17:30