Iraq still suffering from the blockade

By Jennifer Thompson The 99.98% referendum vote in favour of another seven years' presidency for Saddam Hussein on October 15 served to show the world that the Hussein regime is still in control of Iraq despite US and British-led attempts to install a pro-Western replacement. Faris Mahmood, a central committee member of the Workers Communist Party of Iraq, told Green Left Weekly that his party had campaigned for a "no" vote in the referendum. He said that more people had died as a result of the sanctions imposed in 1990 — 500,000 since the end of the Gulf War — than the Iraqi regime in a quarter of a century. On November 8, the UN Security Council approved, for the 27th time, the renewal of the three-monthly sanctions that are depriving the population of food and medical supplies and devastating the war-torn economy. Seven activists who campaigned for a "no" vote in the city of Nasirya — Haider Abduljabar, Ahmad Salim, Falih Maktouf, Ahmad Abdulstar and three others — have been arrested and tortured, and Mahmood urged socialist and workers' organisations to pressure the Iraqi regime to release them. The WPCI has also come under attack, from an alliance of Kurdish nationalist parties together with Iranian-backed Islamist groups, in the US-supported Kurdish autonomous area in the north of Iraq. There, the party is campaigning for a referendum to determine whether the area should become independent or remain part of Iraq. The two Kurdish nationalist parties, the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), are being supported by the Turkish and Iranian regimes respectively. Both parties have lost popular support after their 18-month war with each other over control of the autonomous region. Neither Turkey nor Iran want an independent Kurdish state in the region because of the opportunity it would provide for a Kurdish secession campaign. The Iranian regime has backed the campaign against the WPCI, the General Council of Workers in Kurdistan, trade unions and women's organisations, all of which support the independence referendum. According to Mahmood, the 5000-strong Iranian-backed Iraqi Shia Badr Brigade has moved into the area. Islamist groups linked with Iran have begun issuing fatwas (religious orders) against WPCI members, including an order complete with bounty to assassinate WPCI leader Ribwar Ahmad. His "crime" was to criticise Islam for enforcing sexual apartheid on women. But, according to Mahmood this is a pretext as this has been criticised many times before. Other WPCI activists including Tahir Hassan and women's activist Nasik Ahmad have also had fatwas issued. Protest letters can be sent to the Iraqi embassy, 48 Clugoa Circuit, O'Malley 2606. Support messages can be sent to the WPCI in Iraqi Kurdistan, write to the WPCI (Abroad), PO Box 2480, North Parramatta NSW 2151.