Iraq's Voices of Freedom

10:30 am (EST)

MR. DENIG: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Foreign Press Center. As you have probably noticed this week, a great deal of attention is being given to American assistance for humanitarian and human rights needs in Iraq -- a great deal of preparations, a great deal of money is being prepared, and supplies, and so forth. And so today, we have a very appropriate and very important briefing here at the Foreign Press Center dealing with the human rights situation in Iraq, and what it has been like under the dictator, Saddam Hussein.

With me here today, we have two special guests. We have Mr. Stuart Holliday, who is the Coordinator of the Office for International Programs at the Department of State, and we have Ambassador James Larocco, the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs. And we also have here with us in the Washington Foreign Press Center, three guests who are Iraqi professionals, Mr. Hussain Sinjari, Mr. Steve Sharrif, and Dr. Muhammed Ihssan. And we hope that technology and the weather will permit us to hook up via DVC with London as well, where additional Iraqi professionals are waiting to speak with us.

What we'd like to do today is to introduce to you a new publication that Mr. Holliday's office has come up with. It's Iraq's Voices of Freedom, which is a compilation of statements by Iraqi professional on the situation in Iraq, and we will start with Mr. Holliday who will make some remarks, and then follow through on the program. So, Stu?

MR. HOLLIDAY: Thank you, Paul. I appreciate you all being here in the inclement weather for this very important subject. Over the last many months, we have had people who care about human rights and the dignity of man, particularly Iraqis, come forward and tell the story of their experiences in Iraq and with the brutal regime of Saddam Hussein.

We are privileged to have some of them here today and hopefully, we'll be joined by additional people from the UK. This publication, Voices for Freedom, is really representative of what are the silent voices of millions of Iraqis. This is illustrative -- these are personal accounts -- they're illustrative of the type of oppression and harassment and torture, rape, et cetera, that are the hallmarks of this regime. And we appreciate very much the outpouring of interest we've had from the Iraqi community.

This publication will be available electronically throughout the world in a number of different languages, six to be precise; and is going to be -- going to complement what we expect will be an effort to have the Iraqi individuals who have these stories to share them personally around the world with people who are interested in this subject.

I'd like to show a very short video clip. Because we have so many people and so many individuals that really want to tell their story. We can't do them all, but we've selected a few to show you that will illustrate some of the tragic circumstances that they've been living under.

(A video with accompanying translation was played.)

The Secret Police came to my grandfather's house after midnight. They knocked at the door. He knew that this is the secret police there. He refused to open the door for them, but they entered the house by force. They arrested him at the age of 80 and in that process they were beating him and he was bleeding, according to the neighbors who saw that. And they took him to the headquarter of the intelligence service in Baghdad, and then to Abu-Garib prison.

About 14 members of my family, some of them are first cousins, uncles, they were also arrested for political reasons from the period from 1980 until 1991. And they were put in jail. Two of them, their death was confirmed because they were executed inside the prison and the authorities, they handed their bodies to our relatives in Baghdad, and they were buried. But the rest of them we have no news about their fate.

The youngest one was 14 years old. So in Saddam's prison we have the youngest one who was 14 years old and the oldest one, who, at the time of his arrest was 80 years old.

(A video with accompanying translation was played.)

We were living in exile in Beirut and my father's assassination took place on the night of April 12, 1994, after the assassination team received a secret cable from the Iraqi Government. The cable identified a man who worked for my father. And my father had ordered some shirts, and this man brought them to our house.

When he knocked on the door, my father opened it because he believed that since 1993 when he was voting democracy in Iraq that he was being followed, even when we moved to Beirut. He felt, my father, he was a target and didn't want to hurt my mother and seven sisters. My father believed that when fate knocks on your door, it is time to go.

(A video with accompanying translation was played.)

This regime's hatred and resentment do not stop. It's a regime that commits crimes, executes people, and shuts down schools, mosques, and charities. It uses explosives to tear down public libraries and burns all the books.

If this regime falls, I hope it falls at the hands of the Iraqi people. I would like to see an Iraq that has its dignity and pride to see its human and natural resources to enable Iraq to become what it can be, because Iraq, with its wealth and abilities, can become the Japan of the Middle East.

MR. HOLLIDAY: Thank you. As you can see, the stories are quite gripping and there are many, many more of these individual accounts of the brutality that they have experienced. And I would encourage you to both look at the publication and also visit the website that we have at usinfo.gov for more information.

It is my pleasure to introduce Ambassador Jim Larocco, the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs at the State Department to share a little bit of his perspective on this important issue.

MR. LAROCCO: Thank you very much, Paul and Stu. And I'm particularly delighted to have Hussain and Dr. Muhammed and Steve with us today. What I would like to do is to talk with you a bit about the basic theme of voices and listening to voices.

Over the past few weeks, I think all of us would acknowledge that there have been many voices out there: voices in New York; voices in the councils of Europe; voices in Kuala Lumpur at the NAM Summit; and voices in the streets of major cities throughout the world.

In the midst of all this, we often lose sight of what are the real voices that we need to hear. Many of these voices have been silenced for a generation, now. And now we have an opportunity to present to you volunteers, Iraqi voices that are stating their stories, their personal stories, of the tragedies, the abuse, the tyranny, the impression -- tales of abuses of human rights that in many cases are just much too stark for many of us to be able to even endure.

As Stu said, we have many that we have on tape already from volunteers. And we know that there are many more. One which Stu did not show today was particularly gripping for myself. It was a young Iraqi woman who was reading from a letter from her sister, her younger sister who was taken away, taken to jail. She was hung by her feet. In addition to that, she was subjected to electric prods. She was raped systematically. Tapes were made of that in a room. Those tapes were shown to the family. She endured this for 11 months.

To me, as a father of two daughters and a husband, I can tell you how much this affected me. And there are many more stories like this and these are told by Iraqis, whether it's told in Kurdish, or in Arabic, or in English. And we are hoping to present as many of these as we can in the period ahead.

These are the voices that need to be listened to. Because so often, what I hear coming out is discussion about various things that will be done or that can be, or various anxieties, but not enough about what has happened over more than a generation in Iraq -- the oppression of these people, the denial of their basic rights. And these are documented clearly. Iraqis seeking these rights. And you heard even one speaker now talk about what Iraq could be.

But for many of us, it's Iraq, what it might have been. I first toured Iraq back in 1977. I was studying Arabic at the time and I decided to just hitchhike around the country. And I got to see it from the far north, the hills, down, and I actually lived in the marshes for a few weeks down in the south. I got to know the Iraqi people well on an individual basis, and I got to see how they are. And I can tell you my admiration for the human resources of Iraq is extraordinary. There's a lot of attention to the natural resources and the oil. But the human resources of Iraq, the people themselves, what they have had to endure, and still the strength that they have despite that, is something that I think is an untold story that the world needs to know. But they have been denied those rights for a long time.

Listen to these voices. They are very profound and they tell a story of people who want to be free, but are denied that every day. But I also ask that at the same time you listen to, carefully to, our own voices, the voices of our leadership, as we look not only at the situation now, but what we foresee for the future.

I know in listening to the voices of people on the streets, not only in this country, but overseas, that there is great anxiety. And even from the Iraqi voices themselves, there is great anxiety about a war and what that might bring to the Iraqi people and what will happen afterwards in Iraq and throughout the region and for the entire world.

Listen to our own voices. Just earlier this week, there was a presentation related to all of the plans that have been developed, our own United States' organizations, including our Agency for International Development, but also nongovernmental organizations, American and international, as well as the UN organizations like the World Food Program on what we are doing to prepare if, God forbid, there is a war.

But if we face a situation where people are displaced, people are denied the ability to have the food that they need, the shelter that they need, the clothing; we are committed to a program that has already been developed to aid in this effort. In addition, we have described what we plan to do, initially in terms of economic reconstruction, but that would be very preliminary. It will be up to the Iraqi people themselves to manage their resources and to develop their economy. They can do it. We know they can. They have the human resources, they have the natural resources to do it. We will help stabilize the situation, but they will reconstruct their country.

Let me make it clear, also, that as we look at the future, if we do need to go to war, this will truly be an act of liberation and not an act of occupation. All you have to do is look at American history and what we have done every time we had to face war, which was always grudgingly, but when we did so, we brought our principles with us, we left those behind, and we helped the people to help themselves to get those rights that they had been denied.

And there are many examples that I will not go through today. But the fact is, this will be a war of liberation, if necessary. And what we will do is try to restore for the Iraqi people those rights that they, themselves, have said they want. And these are what we in our own country consider inalienable rights. There are no aliens for these rights. Everyone has them.

Americans cherish them from our founding fathers, and these are rights that we want for the Iraqi people as well. There will not be another dictator in Iraq if we are forced to go to war now. I can assure you of that. We will not replace another dictator with the dictator that is there right now. There is a conference going on right now as we speak in Irbil, near Irbil, and Salahuddin, where this is being very much discussed.

We want to work with Iraqis inside Iraq and outside Iraq. But it will be their future and we will see, ensure to do everything we can in our power that they are able to come together with full territorial integrity for a strong and prosperous Iraq to give hope to their people as well as those rights that they have been denied in forming a representative and democratic government.

But we also know that Iraq does not stand alone and cannot stand alone. It is in a very dangerous region that has many, many difficulties and many, many conflicts. And our vision goes beyond Iraq. It goes to peace throughout the Middle East. We know we must resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the wider Arab-Israeli conflict. The President of the United States last June made that very clear -- his personal commitment to this: a two-state solution, with Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace.

No American president had ever said that before. And we know that this president is a man of his word and is one who follows through. This will be done. In addition to that, Secretary of State Powell earlier, a few months ago, announced a Middle East partnership initiative. The purpose of this is, as we look towards a shared future with a free Iraqi people and with young people throughout the region, to work with them for a long-term program to help them help themselves so that we can eliminate the despair that is characteristic of so many young people, and provide hope.

This is a wide vision for the region, which is our vision. And we want to work with the Iraqi people as part of that vision, as well as all the peoples in the region. This, these are the voices that I ask you to listen to: the Iraqi voices as they talk about what they have endured and what they are hoping for, and our own voices as we talk about what our real vision is for the future. This is a vision to eliminate fear, not lead to it, to eliminate anxiety, and to create hope for everyone. Thank you very much.

MR. DENIG: Thank you very much, Ambassador Larocco. We'd like to give opportunity now to the journalists to ask any questions you would like to, either of Mr. Holliday or Ambassador Larocco before we move on to the interchange with our Iraqi guests.

Yes, the lady in the back there, please.

QUESTION: My name is (inaudible) and I'm with Turkish Public Television TRT. My question goes to Mr. Holliday. Concerning the humanitarian aid in, especially in northern Iraq, what do you foresee, because there will be also a Turkish military presence there to avoid any influx of refugees and to safeguard, and what kind of cooperation will the military, American and Turkish military, do?

MR. HOLLIDAY: I'm going to defer to Ambassador LaRocco on this, but I can tell you that we are working very, very hard on the humanitarian side of the equation. As Jim mentioned, there was a discussion that some of you may have attended at the White House on this issue. There's also very, very close consultations with our friends in Turkey about the range of issues. And Jim, I don't know if you have anything more to add on that, but you might be more briefed.

MR. LAROCCO: Yeah, our consultations have, in fact, been very extensive on focusing particularly on the north, which is an area that we know best. We are there, and we have been working with the Kurds as particularly has the United Nations program been doing.

This is something that, again, initially if there is a military conflict, there's no question that in the initial period, in order to preserve and maintain and establish peace and stability within the country, it will be necessary for us to have a military, a strong military presence and a strong military leadership. That almost goes without saying.

Now, we're not going to get into exactly how long that will last. It will depend on the situation. But the coordination will take place among the civilian agencies throughout the world in terms of helping the people in the north, helping those who are displaced, helping those who are moving around Iraq in all areas, and those who do go outside to ensure that they have adequate supplies of food, have shelter and clothing.

So this has all been provided for. I can tell you there were 130 slides in a presentation on this. This has been worked on for quite a long time, and the preparations are there. I can't tell you specific locations or anything like that.

QUESTION: But mostly in the northern Iraq, there is a great opposition to the Turkish presence there. Can you elaborate on that?

MR. LAROCCO: Again, we have made it very, very clear -- two sides to this issue. Namely, on the one hand that the territorial integrity of Iraq will be preserved. It will be one country with a number of peoples. That's hardly a unique situation in the world. We have that in our own country, here.

At the same time, we have made it very clear that, as one country that has two aspects to it, on the one hand, that means that there will not be any long-term outside presence. How long an outside presence will be necessary, I can't speculate on that. But on the other hand, that also means that there will not -- Iraq will not split up into a country in the north or a country in the south, or any of that. So this is a reassurance to both peoples, to the Turkish peoples as well as to the Kurdish peoples, that the situation will be maintained in the country as one country.

MR. DENIG: Any further questions for either of these gentlemen?

Okay, Dmitry up front. Get a microphone. Right here. Right up front here.

QUESTION: Thank you. Dmitry Kirsanov, Russian News Agency TASS. My question goes to the Ambassador. Sir, you just said that the vision of this U.S. administration is not limited by the resolution of Iraqi crisis. Frankly speaking, I don't see any huge movement going on with the respect to the peace process between Palestinians and Arabs. What, specifically, are you going to do in the coming days to this respect? For example, when the roadmap will be ready?

MR. LAROCCO: Let me address that very frankly. We're not in a position at this time to move forward because we do not have an Israeli Government. The government is still under formation, and you'll have to ask the new elected prime minister, prime minister Sharon, when he intends to finish with his coalition negotiations and announce a new government.

That is, obviously, a first step before we launch anything. But again, I want to underline what the President's commitment is to this two state solution, and that commitment will be kept. I'm not going to give you a specific timetable, but obviously, we have to have a government to deal with.

At the same time, our commitment to Palestinian reform so that they, themselves, have a more democratic government, a constitution, elections, a prime minister, is also there, as well. This will be a step-by-step process. The President had said three years to complete this. And again, we will take it one step at a time.

But undoing so much, so many years of anger, of hatred, of emotional problems between these two peoples is not going to be done overnight. We all know that. But the President is committed to a roadmap that we will move forward with in the period ahead.

MR. DENIG: Okay, the gentleman in the second row.

QUESTION: Samir (Nadir) (ph), Radio SAWA, Middle East Radio Network. What's your expectations, what's the U.S. expectations from the conference today in Salahuddin near Irbil? What do you expect, what do you want this conference to come out with?

MR. LAROCCO: Again, let me make it very clear that this, when it comes to this conference, these are, again, free Iraqi voices speaking. We expect that there will be differences. If you just drive a short distance from here to our Capitol, you will see differences every day. This is democracy.

So they will not necessarily speak with one voice on all issues. That's what Iraq government does right now, and that will not be the Iraq that you will see, the Iraqi voices that you will see in Salahuddin, nor the Iraqi voices in the future, after they are free of Saddam's regime.

What we do expect is, again, a commitment to a, to basic democratic principles; a commitment to the territorial integrity of Iraq in the future; a commitment to a representative government; a commitment to a government that is free of weapons of mass destruction; and a commitment to a leadership that, in the future, will not threaten its neighbors. This is what I expect to see from that. And that is an important message of Iraqi voices speaking out, just as what we are hearing here today.

MR. DENIG: Is there any final question for these gentlemen? Okay, the gentleman in the middle.

QUESTION: People who fear that�

MR. DENIG: Excuse me, could you introduce yourself?

QUESTION: Yes, my name is Sawaki, I'm with Tokyo Shimbun, a Japanese newspaper. Some people fear that this coming war might raise the voice of anti-American sentiment. During your future occupation period, I'm not sure if occupation would be a right word because you said this was going to be an act of liberation. But still, there will be a some sort of transitional period before Iraq will recover -- regain full independence -- after the new constitution is drawn and a new government is established. Now, this transitional period, how much freedom of speech are you going to give? For instance, are you going to exercise any censorship on media reports?

MR. LAROCCO: You want to take that?

MR. HOLLIDAY: Sure. The few voices that represent the many that we have here today will be magnified manyfold by all those people who have not been able to share their personal stories. And the importance of allowing a free and independent and open information process is absolutely critical and very much of -- a part of any successful transition. And I think, Jim, if you have anything to add to that.

MR. LAROCCO: We have looked at this issue very carefully, and I think you may already be aware that we intend to take quite a few in with us, if, in fact, we need to go in, because we think there are going to be so many Iraqis who will want to speak, who will want to tell stories of what Iraq has been and what they hope Iraq will be. And we want to give those people a voice.

These three gentlemen, here, are fortunate to be here in the United States, here in Washington, and to be able to speak freely and tell their stories. But think of all the captive Iraqi people who cannot. Even just to say one word may be enough for them to be taken off and tortured. And there are many stories of this. And so with this in mind, we particularly want to make sure that journalists are there, on the spot, to be able to interview Iraqi and to get -- let them have that freedom of expression that they have been denied for over a generation.

MR. DENIG: Thank you very much, Mr. Holliday. Thank you very much, Ambassador Larocco. And they will now have to leave, but I will invite up our three Iraqi guests to join us and we will also be connected, at least by audio, with other Iraqi professionals in London. So thank you very much, gentlemen. We appreciate it.

I just want to say good morning to London, both to our colleagues and friends out there and make sure that we have good voice communication.

LONDON: Washington, you're coming through loud and clear. Do you hear us in London?

MR. DENIG: Yes, we do. Thank you. Very good.

I would like now to introduce our three Iraqi guests here in Washington, Mr. Hussain Sinjari, Mr. Steve Sharrif and Dr. Muhammad Ihssan. And I would like to ask one of my colleagues in London to please introduce the Iraqi professionals who are there in London.

LONDON: Yeah, this is London. We have here three guests, also. We have Mr. Sayed Abdulmajic Al-Khoei, who is the head of Al-Khoei Foundation in the UK. We have also with us Dr. Tarik Salih, who is the had of the Iraqi Jurist Association in the UK. Also with us Mr. Fawsi Karim, a poet and a writer. And we would like to just find out if you have Arab interpreting capability in Washington? Our guests here are able to speak English and understand well, but they prefer to express their views and answers in Arabic for accuracy. Can you advise us, please?

MR. DENIG: Okay, we will -- we had an interpreter here a minute ago. Jennifer, would you go see if you can find David Ballard? Thank you.

In the meantime, what we would like to do is to start with a statement by Hussain Sinjari and then we'll move on to the question and answer period.

MR. SINJARI: Hello. Good morning. This morning through my hotel window I saw it was snowing from (inaudible) and I was horrified. I was horrified because I have bad memories with snow. In the 80s, I was in the mountains -- fighting in the mountains, fighting the regime of Saddam and I lost some of my very good friends in snow avalanches.

I also have more bad stories with snow. When, in '91, during the Kurdish exodus we left our towns and villages and to the borders, and once again, I saw people dying in the snow while it was in late March. And many people died in front of my eyes. I remember, also, in the aftermath of the second gulf war when snow was black. This was the first ever experience in my life seeing black snow because of Saddam's burning the oil wells many thousand miles south in Kuwait.

And I have seen so many, so many bad stories, sad stories. When I was in the mountains for 19 years and the winter comes and snow falls and we had little to eat and a few cold and wet caves to hide because of the airplanes bombing us all the time.

I'm here in Washington coming from Irbil in north Iraq. I have participated in a workshop for civil society building in Iraq. We are already talking about the future of Iraq, the democratic future in Iraq. I thank very much the State Department which has organized this workshop for us and I thank also the organizers of Iraq's Voices of Freedom.

And I started with snow stories. But I had hoped, had great expectations, actually, that is, if our voices are maybe very few or weak, but still they will become strong through the international support and especially the American support. And I say it with all of appreciation and admiration to the American people who are not hesitating to lead for liberation of a people and a country who have suffered a lot.

It is, indeed, someone can be proud of participating in risking, in liberating a people who have suffered long. I started with snow. I think I will also say something about trains. Jalal al Din Rumi, the famous Persian poet, he wrote that a drop of rain is only a drop of rain until it goes into the sea and then it becomes the sea. Our voices of freedom, if they are only few voices, but then we will be united with the voice of the Iraqi people and then it will become the sea of freedom. And this is why we thank you very much for organizing this. And the media which is showing this and making it, making our voices to be heard in the world, but mainly also by our Iraqi people whom we will be very soon united with. Thank you very much.

MR. DENIG: Thank you very much, Mr. Sinjari. We appreciate that and your voice and other voices of Iraqis. We're still waiting for our interpreter, David Ballard, to come in. So in the meantime, I would like to make available to journalists who want ask any questions in English of any of the Iraqis to please do so.

And again, if you would use the microphone and identify yourself.

QUESTION: Samir Nadir (ph), Radio SAWA, Middle East. Can you give us an idea what did you achieve in your working group yesterday?

DR. IHSSAN: So yes, we were here since, for two days attending -- a working group has been organized by State Department just to -- just organizing, putting a group of Iraqis together who are very active in civil societies in Iraq or who had experience before.

We were working together preparing some policies or how we can deal in Iraq from the first day of liberation. How, what's going to be the role of NGOs, NGOs inside Iraq and international NGOs outside -- how we can cooperate together; how we can strengthen the idea of NGO or the methodology of NGO is such Iraqi future.

That was the main target and how we can work together to build a civil society in future Iraq. That was the main talk at the four working groups.

MR. DENIG: Okay. Any other questions in English?

All right. Yes. Just a minute. Use the microphone, please.

QUESTION: Can you please tell us where did you come from and --

DR. IHSSAN: My name is Dr. Muhammad Ihssan. I'm a Minister of Human Rights in Kurdistan Regional Government. I educated from United Kingdom. I've been back -- I left Iraq in 1990 after being, unfortunately, Arab-born. The Ba'ath party cames to power. I have no memory except of violation, humiliation of human rights in my memory from my country.

I've been back to Kurdistan again in 2001 and has been appointed as a Minister of Human Rights. That was possible in Iraqi Kurdistan for promoting the culture of human right, military and human rights issue there is how we can be a model for a future Iraq. That is my main job now in Iraqi Kurdistan.

MR. SHARRIF: My name is Steve Sharrif. I came to the United States about 12 years ago as a political -- seeking political asylum and I've been living here since then. I just want to take a minute if you don't mind and I want to, like my friend Mr. Hussain, thank the State Department for giving us the opportunity, and for me, personally, I feel it is a golden opportunity for us as an Iraqi to organize ourselves and try to work for the future of Iraq like Dr. Muhammad said.

Ambassador Larocco will encourage me to say something. I've been just largely sitting on it, hiding it for years. And when he start talking about the situation in Iraq and especially the torture and the rape issue, I don't think it's my -- I don't think it's up to me to hide it anymore. And the reason why I didn't reveal it all years because Saddam was there, Saddam was still torturing people, Saddam was still devastating the country every single day.

And what I want to say is, I have a brother here in the State with me. He came about three years ago as a refugee. He was four years old when the Iraqi Government took my father and they torture him to death. And the only reason was my father didn't want to be any part of Saddam's party or Saddam's government.

Americans, they should thank God million times a day because in Iraq we lived, Iraqi people lived in a severe, brutal dictatorship. There's no way you can be free. Either you are with him or against him in their opinion. So I really -- this is the first time I'm talking about it. The 24th of February, which was the first day of the working shop, working group session of the State Department was the 32nd anniversary of my dad's arrest.

I hope through the media people will hear our voices. I hope no one in Iraq will go through what we went through anymore. And we need the support of everyone who cares about human rights and human dignity whether he's a media expert, whether he is a soldier in army. Iraqi people are in desperate need for any help they can get to guarantee a future, a safe future, and a better future for Iraqis.

MR. DENIG: Okay, thank you very much. Is there any final question for the gentlemen here in Washington?

Yes, the lady from Turkish Television. Just a minute, you'll get a microphone.

QUESTION: I just wonder if there's any work or preparations for a unified Iraqi opposition because we know that within Iraq or outside Iraq there are so many factions?

DR. MUHAMMAD: It's healthy environment to have too many factions. That's democracy, really. And Iraq said this. We have issue of democracy before Ba'ath party cames to power. Too many faction it doesn't seem -- Iraq is multicultural, multinational, multiethnic, multireligious country.

Like everywhere else, we have the marathon of opposition. To be opposition for long, long time, that environment created too many groups. And having many groups is a healthy environment for democracy. That's the only way it's going to make check and balance in the future of Iraq. That means we will not have any one-party system, no dictatorship anymore.

There will be competition, who is going to serve Iraq more and who is going to serve the community more, and who is going to work Iraq to be more secure and more fair?

QUESTION: Just a follow-up?

MR. DENIG: Just a minute, I think that gentleman would like to answer that, too.

MR. SHARRIF: I really agree with Dr. Muhammad, but I just want to say something. The media can be either a negative or a positive in our struggle for freedom. Iraqi people, like any other nation in the world, any other people in the world, they have the right to have what? 20, 30, 40, 50 parties? And this is the principle of democracy. I mean the media always trying to show Iraqi position are divided amongst themselves.

Yes, there are differences, and like any other nation through the history, they struggling in order to agree to disagree. But in general, the main goal for the Iraqi opposition is to get rid of Saddam. Saddam been like a heavy cloud sitting on the chest of Iraqi people and there is no life in Iraq while Saddam is in power.

QUESTION: -- for a unified position?

MR. SHARRIF: Now, already there is a coalition. The meeting of today of the Iraqi opposition -- today's meeting in Salahuddin is the voice of united Iraq sitting down together, discussing the future of Iraq, having better understanding of other future, walking collectively with other coalitions or whether American partners, that's the healthy environment and that's the basic way of building a coalition.

MR. DENIG: Okay. Thank you very much. I would like, now, to give an opportunity for the Iraqi professionals who are gathered in London to make some brief statements if they would like to, as well.

David Ballard, our translator, was here a minute ago and I think he is now coming back so if the professionals in London would like to make a brief statement in Arabic, then we're in a position, I think, maybe, no. Okay, then, no, I guess we can't translate it into English.

All right. Well, I guess in that case, I don't know that we have very many Arabic journalists left here anyway except for one. Did you want to ask a question in Arabic? Do you want to do that? Okay. We will do that. And so Radio SAWA will ask a question in Arabic and the gentlemen can respond in Arabic.

RADIO SAWA: (Question in Arabic.)

MR. DENIG: Well, I should, let me give London a chance first, if I may. Thank you. Anyone in London?

LONDON: Yes, we are here. Shall we go ahead and answer that?

MR. DENIG: Yes, please.

LONDON: Okay, we have Mr. Sayed Abdulmajic Al-Khoei, head of the Al-Khoei Foundation. He's going to respond to that question in Arabic.

MR. AL-KHOEI: (Answer in Arabic.)

MR. DENIG: Great, thank you. Did you want to make a comment, too? Okay. Hussain Sinjari would also like to make a comment back in Arabic.

MR. SINJARI: (Comment in Arabic.)

MR. DENIG: Okay. You would like to as well, Dr. --

DR. IHSSAN: Yes. Do you want my response in Arabic or in English, SAWA?

LONDON: In Arabic.

DR. IHSSAN: In Arabic. (Answer in Arabic.)

MR. DENIG: Thank you, Dr. Ihssan. Any more questions in Arabic?

LONDON: This is London here.

MR. DENIG: Yes?

LONDON: We can take questions in English if somebody who can speak Arabic would like to put a question in English, we are willing to take it.

MR. DENIG: Okay. Let's see if we have time. Anybody has a quick question in English?

Okay, I guess not.

What I would like to do now is to end the videotaped session and I want to thank our Iraqi guests both here in Washington as well as in London and open up the opportunity if there are any additional questions either in English or Arabic.

Yes. We have one here, one question here, if you'd introduce yourself.

QUESTION: Yes. I'm Alicia Laney (ph) from The Washington File. My question is for Hussain. I see that you are publishing an independent, liberal newspaper in Iraq. How is that received in Iraq?

MR. SINJARI: It is a --

MR. DENIG: Or if can even add to that, is it received in Iraq?

MR. SINJARI: Yes, it is. We are publish the newspaper al Ahali in Iraq. Actually, this is the only liberal newspaper published in Arabic inside Iraq. Al Ahali is a very successful story. I'm pleased to say this and now we publish it on bi-weekly. We want to develop it to a weekly paper so that when we are in Baghdad, and the day after to publish it on daily basis. And actually, it is successful because it is liberal, it is critical, it's -- and it is not focusing on one group of the society.

Communities from also Iraqi communities abroad are writing, contributing in al Ahali because it is on the website, as well. And it is, it's a very good paper, actually. We will -- al Ahali will be the only paper published in Baghdad in the day after because everything in Baghdad is Ba'athist and owned by the state.

The al Ahali, the importance of it is that it is encouraging the young men and women to -- it is more for the youth. It is more -- because, you know, 75 percent of the Iraqi population is under 25. It is reflecting a new Iraq. It is a new voice for a new country.

MR. DENIG: Thank you very much, Mr. Sinjari. At this point we would like to end the videotaped portion of our session. Again, I would like to thank our guests, Iraqi guests her in Washington very much for your participation, for lending your voices so that people can understand both the past situation, the present situation in Iraq, and to get some glimpse of the future of Iraq once it is liberated, and also to thank our guests in London.

Thank you very much.

We're still on audio, so I want to give the opportunity if anyone in London would like to make a final statement, you may do so.

LONDON: Yeah, this is London here. We have Dr. Tarik Salih, head of the Iraqi Jurist Association. He would like to make a statement here.

DR. SALIH: (Statement in Arabic.)

MR. DENIG: Thank you very much, sir. I appreciate it. I think, then, at this point we'll conclude our session, again, with warm thanks to participants from both London and Washington and to wish all of you and your country all of the best in the future.

Thank you.