March 18, 2006
We the undersigned expatriate Iraqi workers, students, scientists, academics, writers, artists, professionals and business people, witnessing with horror the destruction of our people under an illegal foreign occupation, stand together with the peace movement throughout the world in commemorating three years of a brutal military occupation that has killed and maimed hundreds of thousands, displaced millions, blighted the lives of an entire population and spoiled their environment, shattered our country's physical infrastructure, its civic institutions and its life-support systems, assaulted our culture and desecrated sacred sanctuaries, violated people with deviant cruelty and racist intent, implanted mercenaries and death squads, and encouraged corruption and sedition that threaten us as a people.
We support the call for world-wide demonstrations on 18 March and the demand for the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Iraq, the dismantling of US bases, and an end to US domination of economic and social policies and its interference in domestic Iraqi affairs.
We believe that the occupation is the main cause of insecurity in Iraq, encouraging mistrust among Iraqis, and fomenting sectarian strife and ethnic conflict. The occupation has nurtured corruption and fostered gang crime, and it bears primary responsibility for the activities of murderous sectarian terrorists and criminals. The US occupation prevents Iraqis from overcoming the legacy of 35 years of corrupt and vicious dictatorship and of decades of sanctions and war. It promises nothing except more war of one kind or another for a generation to come. We do not believe that the occupation acts as an insurance against civil war, but that sectarian attacks and the threat of civil war are being used to prolong the occupation.
The Iraqi people have a legitimate
inalienable right, under International Law, to resist the occupation. We call
upon all Iraqi civil society and political activists, community and religious
leaders to cease forthwith all meetings and communications with US, British and
other occupation officials and military commanders in Iraq, and to pursue
instead a national Iraqi
dialogue that is inclusive of the genuine patriotic resistance. The United States
must not be allowed to wage its war by proxy, and Iraqi security forces will
only gain legitimacy if they break links with the US occupation and dedicate
themselves to the service of the Iraqi people. We call upon officials in the
new Iraqi military and police, together with civilian officials in government,
local authorities, public institutions and state enterprises to end
co-operation with US and British occupation forces and to boycott all US and
British official personnel, except for withdrawal negotiations.
The objective must be to terminate the abnormal relationship between Iraq and the United States and to establish a healthy state-to-state relationship that is based on Iraqi sovereignty, independence, mutual respect and the principles of international legality.
Peaceful resistance, resistance by other means, and non-cooperation with occupation forces and officials must be a prelude for the new Iraqi Parliament to remove the fig leaf of legitimacy from the forces of occupation. Only then would the new state institutions and political process gain respect and acceptance. Iraqis want unity, peace and stability in order to rebuild their shattered lives and to pursue a national programme of reconstruction and development.
The American and British peoples and the whole world can help Iraq by exerting maximum pressure upon the US and British administrations to remove all their troops and bases, along with the forces of the so-called "Coalition of the Willing" from Iraq; to acknowledge the injustice committed against the people of Iraq; and to help a unified democratic fully independent Iraq in a reconstruction effort.
Professor Abbas
Alnasrawi Vermont, USA
Professor Tareq Ismael
Alberta, Canada
Dr Scheherazade
Hassan Paris,
France
Dr Sami
Albanna
Bethesda, MD, USA
Dr Kamil
Mahdi
Exeter, UK
Dr Mohammed
Alwan
Boston, USA
Sami
Ramadani
London, UK
Professor Kamal
Majid
London, UK
Ghazi
Sabir-Ali
Bath, UK
Dr Ahmed Al-Kawaz
Dr Haifa
Jawad
Birmingham, UK
Ja'far
al-Samarrai
Toronto, Canada
Sabah
Jawad
London, UK
Hani
Lazim
London, UK
Fenik
Adham
London, UK
Mayada
Akrawi
Geneva, Switzerland
Dr Ali
Al-Assam
London, UK
Dr Nada
Shabout
Texas, USA
Valerie
Sabir-Ali
Bath, UK
Dr Nadje
Al-Ali
Exeter, UK
Rashad Salim
London, UK
Zaid
Albanna
San Francisco, CA, USA
Ali
AlShahwani
New Zealand
Badia
Albanna
Takoma Park, MD, USA
Nesreen
Melek
Toronto, Canada
Mumtaz
Kamala
UK
Nadhim
Al-Qazzaz
UK
Dr Jenan
Ismael
Texas, USA