Iraq, 2003

Today I

stand before the Assembly representing the voice of the

Iraqi citizen who long suffered from cruelty within and

outside his homeland. Those within his country

inflicted on him the worst kinds of torture: they

attacked his honour, assaulted his family, humiliated

him, shackled him, oppressed him and forced him into

miserable wars. His brothers and his friends in the

region not only remained silent, ignored him and

turned a blind eye to his catastrophe, they also

criticized and faulted him the moment he dared to

speak up. And throughout the world, those who stood

to benefit scrambled to do business and cooperate with

his torturer.

Very few accepted and spoke the truth; very few

considered the catastrophe of their fellow human being

and declared that he was a victim. He heard no

response to his appeals. So the Iraqi citizen remained

lost and doubly persecuted — first, with the injustice

of the sword with which the dictatorial regime attacked

him at home, and then with the injustice of criticism —

a more painful affliction — from many abroad. But the

Iraqi citizen did not give up. Rather, he was persistent

and patient, and he continued his struggle through his

thoughts, words and actions to achieve liberation, the

ideal for which he had always yearned most.

I stand today before the Assembly expressing to

Members to the best of my ability the voice of this

Iraqi individual, declaring with him and on his behalf

the end of silence. I ask each Member present here to

listen to him.

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I come today to present the Assembly with four

essential truths and to demonstrate, through those

truths, two fundamental rights.

The first truth is that Iraq’s long, dark night has

ended. The bitter experience of humiliation,

oppression, suppression, and dictatorship that the Iraqis

endured for more than three decades has ended. It

ended with the fleeing of the head of the regime, along

with his cronies, and with the collapse of the symbols

that he had erected in Baghdad and throughout Iraq.

The second truth is that the liberation of Iraq —

and what took place was indeed liberation — could not

have been achieved had it not been for the resolve of

President George W. Bush and the commitment of the

coalition, headed by the United States of America and

the United Kingdom. The Iraqis will never forget their

sacrifices and the courage they displayed in Iraq’s

liberation. If today we hear the voices of those who

question the intentions of the Governments of the

United States and the United Kingdom in undertaking

the liberation, we invite them to come to visit the mass

graves, the drained marshes and the gassed city of

Halabja, and to examine the list of the missing whose

right to life was taken from them by the regime.

The third truth is that the liberation embodied a

universal Iraqi national resolve. The liberation came as

a result of vigorous Iraqi efforts to oppose the deposed

regime during many long years when hundreds of

thousands of martyrs were sacrificed. The martyr

Ayatollah Muhammad Bakr al-Hakim and his

companions — may God rest their souls — were not

the last victims; they added another page to the annals

of Iraqi bravery on 29 August, the day of the Iraqi

martyr. Nor was death by treachery spared the martyr

Akila al-Hashemi.

The fourth truth is that the removal of the regime

was only the prelude to the birth of a new Iraq. The

birth that has been prepared for by so many faithful

Iraqis, both at home and abroad, is at hand.

A unique experience awaits us in Iraq today. We

will succeed through our desire to do good, to achieve

development and to let freedom spread and flourish. I

stand here today to confirm that, with God’s help, we

in Iraq will accept nothing short of success. Iraqis are

capable of succeeding, and they want to succeed. We

will not allow a gang of mercenaries and terrorists to

deprive the Iraqi citizen, the Iraqi society and the Iraqi

nation of a bright tomorrow.

The land of the two rivers, the cradle of

civilization, the land of Sumer, Akkad, Babylon and

Assyria, the land of peace, the land of the caliphate and

the house of wisdom, the home of the Code of

Hammurabi and the storehouse of accumulated

knowledge, literature, poetry and intellectual

achievement is dependent, first and foremost, on its

human resources more than on its natural and oil

resources.

On the basis of its human resources, Iraq can

undergo a qualitative sea change, moving it from the

grip of totalitarianism and fear to stability, prosperity

and tolerance. What the international community puts

into Iraq will be returned many times over. Put your

confidence in Iraq and receive from it stability and

prosperity. Not only would stability and prosperity be

Iraq’s but they would spread to the rest of the region

and the entire world.

The Iraq that we want to see is the Iraq of the

innovative individual. More than 60 per cent of Iraq’s

population is below the age of 20. Our first priority in

preparing those young people for the twenty-first

century is to give them cultural and educational values

that will enable each of them to prove themselves and

their particularities in a new Iraq.

In the past in Iraq, as in other nations that

suffered under the ideologies of the twentieth century,

the individual was suppressed by the masses, the

masses by the revolution, the revolution by the party,

and the party by the leader. The result was that the

human being was lost under continuous layers of

negation that obliterated his individuality, making him

an object for consumption in an ostensible defence of

the nation and in the name of the revolution, or to be

sacrificed, body and soul, for the leader. The concerns

of Iraqis are no different from those of all other peoples

of the world. Iraqis are eager to define themselves and

to project their singularity. The Iraq of tomorrow must

recognize the individual citizen as the basis of

sovereignty and the starting point for legislation.

The rights of the individual are fundamental; the

rights of the group derive from them. Iraqis, like other

peoples, insist on their right to dignity, freedom, justice

and peace. The assertion of such rights will build the

foundations of tomorrow’s Iraq. The dignity of every

Iraqi, without exception, must be guaranteed, without

consideration for social status, political position or

economic situation. An accused person will not lose his

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dignity, even if found guilty. We will begin with

dignity because the previous regime worked futilely to

convince Iraqis that their dignity was an endowment

from the ruler. Today, we stress that the dignity of the

entire nation stems from the dignity of each citizen.

As with dignity, so with freedom. Freedom is not

a gift from the ruler or the State. Rather, it is a basic

principle, the essence of a human being. Responsible

freedom that does not impinge upon the liberties of

others is the core of the social contract. Despite the

excesses of outsiders and infiltrators since the fall of

the repressive regime, Iraqis have proved to themselves

that freedom means neither chaos nor the law of the

jungle.

The individual has an instinct for freedom, and

thus he demands justice. The previous regime

undermined justice and transformed it into a tool of the

State to oppress and suppress the people. The new Iraq

will be based on a firm justice system that ensures the

independence and integrity of the judiciary. After the

senseless wars that destroyed innumerable lives,

leaving disaster in their wake, the new Iraq will adopt a

new defensive policy based on peace. Iraq will be an

activist for peace for the region and the world. The

aforementioned four truths will form the foundation of

Iraq’s political future.

Iraq will abide strictly and explicitly by all

human rights instruments, beginning with the

Declaration of Human Rights, guaranteeing the right of

man to life, property and the pursuit of happiness.

We pledge that Iraqi laws and legislation apply

equally to all the people. No person will be above the

law for any reason, regardless of merit or individual

responsibility. Indeed, there will be no distinction on

the basis of religion, sect, race, language, ethnicity,

gender, class or tribe. The defunct regime exploited

those divisions for its own ends. The new Iraq will rely

on justice and fairness.

Iraqi women are capable of innovative excellence

and productivity and can take on all the responsibilities

of the nation. It is the duty of society and the State to

remove any obstacles in their way.

The constant dialogue that is required between

Iraqi citizens and the State that represents and serves

them will take place on the basis of an honest,

democratic and representational system. This system is

based on the principle of the separation of powers, and

firmly upholds elections as the ultimate arbiter. We are

not concerned with the dressings of democracy, but

with the safety of the political system as the

incarnation of the democratic spirit.

The pillars of this system are, first and foremost,

the separation of powers in the framework of a written

constitution that avoids duplication in the judicial,

legislative and executive powers. That will provide a

sound basis for each to oversee the other. Secondly,

accountability will be ensured as a result of such

supervision and by means of elections that will provide

for the participation of individuals in politics. Finally,

civil society will be empowered by means of a free

press, unions and independent institutions, which will

act as monitors and critics and represent the plurality of

political forces in the country.

The third pillar is the upholding of transparency

as a fundamental principle, based on the sovereignty of

the individual citizen. The State exists to serve, and is

answerable to the citizen, who is entitled to inquire into

its affairs. The State does not have the right to withhold

information on its affairs. The fourth pillar is

recognition by the minority of the right of the majority

to assume power, and the respect by the majority of the

rights of the minority. Here, it is important to

distinguish between a political majority and minority

and a factional majority and minority. Political

majorities and minorities are determined by the ballot

box, not by a population census or random correlations.

No one has the authority to arrogate to himself a

political right on the basis of a presumed factional

majority. We do not want a political, sectarian or

national allocation in Iraq. A sound representative,

federal political system can best express the interests of

all Iraqi citizens in a manner that reflects their religion,

creed, ethnicity or language.

The previous period was characterized by

restricting all power to an abusive few in Baghdad, but

tomorrow’s Iraq will be based on the principle of local

authority in the context of a federal union. Federalism

as construed by Iraqis is not based on the division of

the homeland; rather, it is a way of empowering and

rehabilitating those living in different regions to take

direct responsibility for their affairs in their own

regions, without constant interference from the central

Government.

Our constitution charts the relationship between

integrated and continuous local and national

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authorities. We rely on the federal system, as we do on

the democratic system, because we have a clear

understanding of the relationship between the State and

its citizens. This relationship is not one of

guardianship, because the Iraqi citizen is not a minor

and is therefore not in need of the State’s interference

in all his affairs. Our concern is to ensure that this

relationship is based on care, with the State being the

vigilant servant of the citizen, and on nurturing in some

areas, especially with regard to the provision of

education and social and health services for young

people.

Complementing our belief in federalism, and in

contrast with the vain and false nationalist excesses of

the previous regime, we declare that Iraq is one nation,

permanent and whole.

Nothing in this declaration belittles the continuity

of our Arab and Muslim heritage, or contradicts the

sentiments of many Iraqis about their own culture and

national identity. Rather, it confirms that all the

territory of Iraq — from its mountains in the far north

to its marshes and the Gulf in the extreme south,

including its rivers, plains and deserts — is a lasting,

indivisible unit. This is an expression not only of the

true beliefs of most Iraqis, but also of a key political

principle and point of reference that will help the

country recognize realities on the ground and avoid

further upheaval.

While we seek to strengthen the rule of law and

institutions of governance, we wish to make clear that

authority emanates from the citizen who occupies the

political position not from the political post itself.

There must be a legal foundation in this respect, and

decisions must not be taken because of the whims or

opinions of a person in authority. The previous regime

issued many arbitrary rules, regulations and decisions

based on one man’s views. The alternative in

tomorrow’s Iraq will be the application of the rule of

law through sanctioned legislative authority that

reflects the will of the Iraqi people, through an

independent judiciary and under the supervision of an

elected legal body.

Last but not least, let me touch on the relationship

between religion and State in the new Iraq. Islam is the

religion of the overwhelming majority of Iraqis. It is

vital to the Iraqi identity as well as to the State and the

nature of governance. In any case, the great

civilizational heritage and rich cultural repository of

Islamic jurisprudence is, no doubt, one of Iraq’s assets,

and we will benefit from it through a judiciary that is

based on equality and pluralism.

Let me point out a truth that is often overlooked:

that the State, during the previous century, used

religion for its own ends and took from it what suited

those who had usurped power. They rejected the

independence of institutions and of religious centres,

taking over the Awqaf and imposing a religious

terminology that suited their own interests, at the

expense of those of others. In Iraq, religion is one of

the most important assets of the individual and of

society. We will not abandon it in any area, or reject its

judicial, intellectual, behavioural or daily implications.

We call for the rehabilitation of all religious

institutions by enabling them to reassume their

responsibilities in protecting Iraqi citizens who seek

their moral and spiritual guidance without hypocritical

political involvement.

These are the main guidelines for what we want

for our country.

Our right today is to demand help and assistance

from the world, thanking all those who stood by the

Iraqis in their darkest hour and forgiving those who

inadvertently did not stand with us. It is important for

all nations of the world to acknowledge that what

happened in Iraq — past atrocities and today’s

reconstruction — reflects an ongoing and dramatic

historical event. The international community must

stand shoulder to shoulder with us. That is what we

ourselves want and what we want from others on the

road to a free, just and peaceful Iraq.

We want an Iraq in which unity and plurality are

two sides of the same coin. We want an Iraq that

returns sovereignty to the individual citizen, not to the

leader. We want an Iraq that is secure in its cultural and

religious identity and engaged in open dialogue with

the world. We want an Iraq that embraces its past while

looking to the future — an Iraq that is at peace with

itself, its neighbours and with the world. We want an

Iraq that will eradicate all Ba’athists once and for all,

bring all their officials to justice and prevent them from

assuming power again.

(spoke in English)

I stand before the Assembly as the representative

of a free Iraq. To all those here who helped us in our

struggle for liberation, we extend our gratitude. Our

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liberation would not have been achieved without the

determination of President George W. Bush and the

commitment of the coalition, at the forefront of which

stand the people of the United States of American and

Great Britain. The Iraqis will never forget their courage

and sacrifice on our behalf.

To those who stood with the dictator and who

continued to question to intentions of the American and

British Governments in undertaking this liberation —

we invite you to come and visit the mass graves where

half a million of our citizens lie. Come and visit the

dried-up marshes, come and visit Halabja, where

chemicals were dropped on civilians. Come and

examine the lists of the disappeared, whose right to life

was taken from them by Saddam Hussain, and we, the

Iraqi people, will ask you why you chose to remain

silent. We are here today to declare that a new Iraq has

been born — an Iraq in which dignity, justice and

human rights are assured for all citizens, an Iraq at

peace with its people, its neighbours and the world, an

Iraq that stands ready to regain its rightful place in the

international community of free and proud nations.