0:00
let me see if I get this right we we need to borrow $10 billion dollars from
0:04
China
0:04
and then we give it to my shara was a military dictator
0:08
who overthrew the elected government here we go to war
0:11
we lose all these lives promoting democracy
0:22
mind take a message from today is that my family
0:26
and others who have lived their entire lives in Iraq
0:29
don't know what's going on chaos there's no law
0:33
no order it anarchy so for anyone to be sitting here
0:37
7,000 miles away we can't know what's going on there
0:41
I cannot I don't have time to address all of doctor pillars points but I do
0:45
want to comment on his comment that
0:47
she are the US's thanks for the overthrow saddam
0:50
at let's keep in mind that in 1991
0:53
the american administration who encourage the Shiite to rise up against
0:56
saddam hussein
0:57
we said we will back you up and then they were nowhere to be found
1:01
and 10,000 see our sacred but keep in mind that saddam was put in power
1:06
he was a CIA agent and his killing spree started
1:09
when the CIA with feeding him names have left as intellectuals and Communist
1:14
to eliminate much keep in mind back
1:17
sanctions imposed primarily by the United States and Great Britain
1:20
strengthened his role so the point there is Iraqis have taken
1:24
they've had just about all the help they can take from america I speak to you
1:29
today on behalf of relatives on my mother's side
1:31
Ashkenazi Jews who fled their homeland Austria during hitler's onslaught it is
1:35
for them that we think
1:36
never again I speak to you today on behalf relatives on my father's side
1:41
who are not living a dying under the occupation
1:44
this administration's deadly 48 in Iraq from the lack of security to the lack of
1:49
basic supplies to the lack of electricity to the lack of potable water
1:53
to the lack of jobs to the lack of reconstruction to the lack
1:56
life liberty and the pursuit of happiness they are much worse off now
2:00
than before we invaded
2:02
never again should apply to them to you on my first day in Basra December 25th
2:07
2005
2:08
my family's house lost electricity on the second day we lost water
2:12
on the third day we lost telephone service one cousin said I think tomorrow
2:16
we won't have air
2:17
he was joking but with the hundreds to thousands of tons of depleted uranium
2:22
that continued to fall on iraq as I speak
2:25
every breath is tainted depleted uranium is the most likely etiology for the six
2:30
hundred percent increase in Iraq
2:32
infant mortality rate and 300 percent increase in pediatric leukemias and
2:36
lymphomas after 1991
2:38
is also the most likely cause I'll for syndrome
2:41
during the forty two days in the 1991 Gulf War
2:44
electricity power stations telecommunication centers and sewage
2:48
treatment plants were destroyed their repair or replacement was impeded by
2:52
economic sanctions
2:53
to this day fifteen years later water from the tap is contaminated as I
2:58
accidentally proved during my
3:00
then families have to buy their water from special stations
3:04
for families who can afford it bottled water is better for drinking
3:07
which provides economic gain to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia between my visit in
3:12
2004 and 2006 there has been no
3:15
reconstruction in Basra bombed buildings remain a constant reminder of our
3:19
aerial campaigns one cousin Todd at a primary school that was bombed during
3:23
shock and awe
3:24
to this day the structure is damaged and unusable streets are filled with garbage
3:29
and sewage
3:30
I'm drivable because the bombing damage and general disrepair
3:33
we traffic lights were installed while I was there did limited electricity they
3:37
are non-functional hospital throughout Iraq were crippled by sanctions as well
3:42
have been unable to recover
3:44
epidural anesthesia for child labor or disc disease is simply not available
3:48
my the main hospitals in Basra could not do operations for me
3:52
because there was no gone that hospital was still standing however unlike in for
3:57
lou to
3:57
and the segments of the population will suffer the most whenever there's no law
4:02
and order are women and children
4:03
they are the most susceptible to promise violence and kidnapping
4:07
before the invasion my cousin aid 18 traveled around basra independently
4:12
today it is unsafe for her to go out without being accompanied by a man
4:16
at ordinary iraqis guy every day
4:20
it does not matter if you call it civil war sectarian strife
4:23
or democracy it is by design an American killing field
4:28
a smokescreen for stealing oil its family
4:31
Iraqi and American who are paying the highest price for the disaster
4:35
US foreign policy this Congress has appropriated hundreds of billions of
4:39
dollars for illegal occupation
4:41
but the money is being spent on our marine military vehicles
4:44
and it's not going towards helping returning veterans with health care
4:47
budget came up one billion dollar short in 2005
4:51
under Paul grammer's regime in Iraq nine billion dollars went missing
4:55
nine billion could we have used the money here at home
4:59
we should ask the people of New Orleans a city that with seventy percent black
5:02
now scattered across the country and why Louisiana and Mississippi were gasping
5:07
for air
5:07
6800 members have their national guard for any rock
5:11
as part of a military force inflicting the same death and destruction at
5:15
between on the civilian population there
5:18
in September 2001 with the exception of barbara Lee
5:21
Congress gave a blank check for war to the designer
5:25
who have access to chemical biological and nuclear weapons
5:28
we are the ones using white phosphorus we are the ones using napalm and its
5:32
derivatives
5:33
we are the ones using depleted uranium this is not a war on terror this is a
5:38
war on terror
5:40
your obligation to the people of iraq to the people of America and to the rest of
5:44
the world
5:45
is the immediate unconditional withdrawal of American troops and
5:48
mercenaries from
5:49
iraq in the word the path and dry alive
5:52
president of the butter or oil workers union we as a union call from
5:56
for the withdrawal of foreign occupation forces and the military bases
6:00
we don't want a timetable this is a stalling tactic
6:04
we will solve our own problems we are iraqis we know our country and we can
6:08
take care of ourselves
6:09
we have the means the skills and resources to rebuild and create our own
6:13
democratic society
6:15
bring the troops home make it your number one priority and if lives
6:19
depended on it because it does
6:21
bring them home now thank you
