Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=3/6/03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=IRAQI / WOMEN (L-O)

NUMBER=2-300418

BYLINE=DAN ROBINSON

DATELINE=CAPITOL HILL

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Iraqi exiles in the United States met Thursday with Bush administration officials and members of Congress to urge Americans to support military action against Saddam Hussein and bring democracy to Iraq. V-O-A's Dan Robinson reports.

TEXT: The members of a group called Women for a Free Iraq were among about 20 Iraqi expatriates who went first to the White House, and then to Capitol Hill.

Some are from the Kurdish area of northern Iraq. Others are Shiites who faced a crackdown by government troops in southern Iraq after the 1991 Operation Desert Storm evicted Iraq's forces from Kuwait.

Esra Naama fled southern Iraq with her mother and other family members:

/// NAAMA ACT ///

As children we were shaded (shielded) from much of Saddam's brutality. The less we knew, the better. My parents were afraid of what we might say at school that could further endanger the family.

/// END ACT ///

Another member of the group was Raz Rasool. In 1996, while eight months pregnant, she and her husband fled the Kurdish area of Iraq after government troops invaded:

/// RASOOL ACT ///

I had to run from house to house, for three weeks, to hide. Many of my friends were killed. I see ourselves, this group, as survivors. There are many, many more and many, many more stories, that are still there, waiting for us to rescue them. Help us to rescue our people.

/// END ACT ///

Asked their reaction to protests in the United States and elsewhere against a U-S led military strike, the women say they believe anti-war demonstrators are mis-informed. Tanya Gilly is a Kurdish activist:

/// GILLY ACT ///

The people who are actually rallying, who are in the streets, and they are saying we don't (want) war on Iraq, Iraqis actually want Saddam in power, they are being misled. They are not informed enough, that's why we are here talking to you, that's why we want to share our story.

/// END ACT ///

Hosting the Iraqi women on Capitol Hill was (Republican) Ohio Congresswoman Deborah Pryce:

/// PRYCE ACT ///

These women are living proof that Saddam's regime remains in force. Their stories will convince anyone who cares to listen that the violence will not stop, and the cause of freedom for the Iraqi people will not be promoted, until Saddam is removed.

/// END ACT ///

Earlier, the women and other Iraqi expatriates met at the White House with Vice-President Dick Cheney and National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice.

White House officials made clear the contacts were not part of U-S efforts to plan for a post-Saddam government in Iraq, but simply to hear personal stories of life under the Iraqi leader. (signed)

NEB/DAR/RH