Time to take a stand

While Democrats and Republicans fight over Iraq policy – withdrawal is only a matter of time and the sooner the better – and America increasingly looks to Israel for inspiration in “fighting terror”, support for the Iraqi resistance is growing. Haifa Zangana is an Iraqi-born novelist and former prisoner of Saddam’s regime. She writes that torture, collective punishment, kidnappings, random killings and US-led abuses mean that Iraqis “have been engaged in a different struggle: to survive the increasingly harsh occupation, and to define democracy and human rights accordingly.”

Zangana continues:

“As large-scale US-led military operations continue, the health situation on the ground is at breaking point. The Iraqi health infrastructure, doctors and hospital staff are unable to cope with the deepening humanitarian crisis. No wonder more Iraqis are supporting the resistance.

“Armed resistance is in accordance with the 1978 UN general assembly resolution that reaffirmed “the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples for independence…from…foreign occupation by all available means, particularly armed struggle”. The Iraqi National Foundation Congress (INFC), an umbrella group of parties and civil society organisations, is leading political resistance. There is also civil and community resistance, involving mosques, women’s organisations, human-rights groups and unions, which are linking up with international anti-war groups and anti-globalisation movements.

“Most Iraqis believe that they have a right to more than a semblance of independence. The lesson history taught us in Vietnam, that stubborn national resistance can wear down the most powerful armies, is now being learned in Iraq.”

It is our duty to support the Iraqi resistance and demand an end to the US-led occupation.