04 April 2003
Bush Meets with Iraqis Who Have Fled Saddam Hussein
(Tells them he is committed to freeing the people of Iraq) (1760) By Wendy S. Ross Washington File White House Correspondent Washington -- President Bush met for 55 minutes April 4 at the White House with a group of Iraqis and Iraqi-Americans who had fled Iraq because of the suffering they or their families experienced under the Saddam Hussein regime. Following the meeting, one of the participants, Nadia Mirza, told reporters that the group stands behind President Bush's decision to liberate the Iraqi people. "The kind of government we want in Iraq is a government where the people have the free choice to voice their opinion, that has complete religious freedom," she said. President Bush told the group that he is committed to freeing the people of Iraq and to seeing that a democratic government is created, Mirza said. Another participant in the meeting, Maha Hussain, said "We are very grateful for the generosity and the courage of the American people and especially the families of the troops. "We all look forward to a free democratic Iraq. ... Iraq is the cradle of civilization and we are looking forward to it to be the cradle of democracy, freedom and prosperity for the Middle East." A reporter who witnessed the president's meeting with the group said the members told him their stories of torture and mistreatment in Iraq, and all welcomed the coalition campaign to liberate their country. They also, the reporter said, expressed eagerness to return to help rebuild Iraq. In his own comments, according to the reporter, President Bush said people ask how long the military campaign will take, and his answer is, "The only timetable is one that yields victory." White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer told reporters prior to the meeting that President Bush "hopes that people everywhere in the world will listen to the message of these Arab-Americans and these Iraqis who saw firsthand what a brutal dictatorship Saddam Hussein has led, the torture that he has used to stay in power," Fleischer said. "These people, in some instances, are Americans, but they want to return to where they were from, because they taste for the first time that Iraq may be free. And we anticipate that many people who fled tyranny and torture will want to return to Iraq from around the world, not just in the United States, as freedom grows on the ground in Iraq." On April 3, the White House released a list of Iraqi-Americans and Iraqi exiles with whom Bush was scheduled to meet April 4. The text of the White House announcement follows: Mr. Rahman Al-Jebouri Rahman was a prolific writer while attending Baghdad University in the 1980s. During his sophomore year, he was apprehended and jailed after writing a fictional story that was interpreted by Hussein's regime as criticism of the war with Iran. Rahman spent four years in jail and was released only after signing a pledge of allegiance to the regime and a promise not to write again. In 1991, he joined the uprising in Southern Iraq but fled to Saudi Arabia as the revolt failed. After living in a refugee camp for four years, he was transferred to the United States by the UN in 1995. Rahman now lives in Washington, D.C. Ms. Zainab Al-Suwaij Born in Southern Iraq, Zainab was 20 years old when she joined the 1991 uprising against Hussein in Karbala. During the revolt, Zainab explored the city jail and saw firsthand the instruments of torture used by the Iraqi regime. As the uprising began to fail, she fled Iraq by car and drove to Jordan. Zainab now lives in Boston, where she heads the American Islamic Congress, an organization dedicated to building interfaith understanding. Dr. Adil Awadh Adil was an intern in a military hospital in Southern Iraq in 1994. While there he witnessed numerous disfiguring medical atrocities performed by physicians under orders from the Iraqi regime. As a result of these experiences, he joined an opposition group in Northern Iraq in 1996. His unit was pushed back to the Turkish border by the Iraqi Army and was eventually evacuated to the U.S. Adil is now a practicing physician in the Washington, D.C. area. Mr. Jacob Bacall Jacob fled Iraq when he was 18, studied in the United Kingdom, and settled in Michigan. In the early 1980s, he and his brother-in-law Napoleon Bashi, who lived in Detroit as well, published a weekly newspaper critical of the Hussein regime. In 1983, Bashi was warned to stop his criticism by men claiming to be acting on orders from Saddam Hussein. Soon after, Bashi was shot and killed in a Detroit convenience store by men suspected of working on behalf of the Iraqi regime. Bacall's brother, now living near him in Detroit, was a general in the Iraqi army and took part in the invasion of Kuwait. Shortly after the end of the Gulf War, his brother sought a discharge from the army and fled to join his family in the United States. Mr. Emad Dhia In 1970, Emad's aunt was accused of being a member of a group plotting to topple the Ba'ath government. Though she was the first woman to graduate from the University of Baghdad School of Medicine and a prominent doctor in Iraq, she was apprehended and put in jail. The next day Emad's father was arrested, but was released after three weeks. After spending two years in prison, his aunt was finally released. Less than a year later, she was assassinated while working in her clinic in Iraq. Emad lives in Plymouth, Michigan. Dr. Ramsey Jiddou Ramsey was a government official in Iraq but not a Ba'ath party member. He was interrogated by the Iraqi secret police about his lack of affiliation with the party. Anticipating arrest, he escaped from Iraq with his wife in 1978, using a variety of ruses. After spending two weeks in Cairo, he was brought to the U.S. to join family members. After his departure from Iraq, his family continued to endure interrogation by the secret police about Ramsey's defection. Ramsey now lives in Plymouth, Michigan. Mr. Sam Kareem Sam tried to escape Iraq several times, and eventually succeeded in February 1982. In 1989, his father was abducted from a bus station by the Iraqi intelligence service. In prison, his father was tortured and abused to the point that, when he returned home years later, his family did not recognize him. His father eventually lost the use of his legs and died from wounds received in prison. Sam now lives in the Detroit, Michigan area. Mrs. Ibtisam Latif Though born in Baghdad, Ibtisam moved to Kuwait in 1971 when she got married. In 1983, Ibtisam's brother was expelled to Iran with his family as part of the campaign against Shi'as of Persian ancestry. With his wife and two daughters, he was forced to cross the mine-filled border with Iran in the middle of the winter. His 20-year-old son was held in Iraq and imprisoned. Ibtisam and her family do not know his fate to this day. Fearing they would face the same fate, Ibtisam's five other brothers fled, leaving everything behind. In 1991, Ibtisam was still living in Kuwait when Iraq invaded. The Iraqi army told her husband and 16-year-old son to fight for the Iraqi regime or be killed. Ibtisam and her family decided to flee, leaving everything except the clothes they were wearing. As they fled to Iran, they witnessed people being shot by the regime for disobeying orders. Many friends and distant relatives were imprisoned throughout the 1980s in Iraq and have since disappeared. Ibtisam now lives in Nashville, Tennessee. Mrs. Nadia Mirza Nadia's grandfather was arrested by the Ba'ath party in the mid-1960s for his family's opposition to the party. He was kept in solitary confinement for six months, where he was tortured. After his release, he continued to be harassed and threatened. Under the Hussein regime, Nadia's parents were pressured to join the Ba'ath party. Realizing that they were in danger of being arrested, her parents fled Iraq. Her family that remained in Iraq continues to be interrogated regarding the activities of Nadia, who now lives in Chicago, and her family in the United States. One of Nadia's cousins disappeared when she was 17 years old after voicing anti-government opinions at her Iraqi school. She did not come home from school one day, and to this day they do not know her whereabouts. Mrs. Esra Naama Esra's father was a colonel in the Iraqi army and one of the instigators of the 1991 uprising against Saddam Hussein in Southern Iraq. After the uprising failed, Esra fled Iraq with her mother and four siblings, not knowing the fate of her father. Her escape from Iraq led her through numerous safe houses as she crossed the desert by foot, finally reaching the Rahafa refugee camp in Saudi Arabia where she was relieved to be reunited with her father. The family was eventually granted asylum in the United States in 1992. Esra now lives in San Diego, California. Mrs. Raz Rasool Born and raised in Baghdad, Raz is the daughter of an Iraqi dissident who was imprisoned for his opposition activities. The family escaped to the Kurdish safe haven, where her father is now a member of the Kurdish parliament and head of the Kurdish Writers Union. She worked with Kurdish victims of the Hussein regime in the early 1990s. In 1996, she fled to the U.S. with her husband when Saddam entered the Kurdish safe haven to attack opposition members. Raz now lives in Fairfax, Virginia. Dr. Maha Hussain While attending the Baghdad University School of Medicine in the late 1970s, Maha witnessed the disappearance of many fellow medical students. After graduating in 1980, she and her husband left Iraq as fears of border closures mounted in advance of a possible war with Iran. Shortly after leaving Iraq, many of her family's neighbors in Baghdad were expelled from their homes and forced to flee to Iran. Two of her cousins that stayed behind were executed in the late 1980s for arranging to hide a Kurdish friend that was evading the regime's security forces. The male cousin who arranged for the hiding was shot and killed. The sister whose house he was hiding in was beaten to death, mutilated, and then paraded naked through a public area. Maha now lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan. (The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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