Friday, October 7

The Stance of the GUOE in the Southern Region Towards the Occupation

Greetings to you my dear friends,

I would like to convey the greetings of all the union executive committee members’ greetings and to clarify the union’s opinion. I hope that you do not listen to the third party who wants to undermine your trust in the union, for we have set a path for ourselves that all of us in the union shall not deviate from.

Our stand is frank and clear towards the occupation, and we constantly demand “the immediate departure of the occupation forces from the country,” because we are capable of administering the state as Iraqis, whatever the consequences, and because such ability exists amongst the Iraqis. The current divisions are caused by the occupation.

I personally talked in the United States with the president of the AFL-CIO about the occupation and its consequences for the Iraqis and the calamities and afflictions that the occupation bequeathed the Iraqi people. We have also demanded that the union should have a steadfast stand towards the occupation. Our friends at the union’s [AFL-CIO] conference on 20th July 2005 passed a resolution condemning the occupation, following our political and union meetings during our visit to the US starting 10th June 2005. We made clear to all the American people our stand towards the occupation and its disadvantages. Our union also issued several statements condemning the occupation during the attacks [aggression] on the innocents in Hilla, Baghdad and [the whole of] Iraq.

The union’s stand is frank and clear, and it is an inner [deeply felt] and patriotic feeling of all the union’s members that the occupation forces must leave the country immediately, whatever the consequences. The statements that we issue demanding [our] rights are addressed to the Iraqi state, which is why we do not mention the occupation in them and why we issue the occasional specific statements on the occupation and its drawbacks.

Greetings to all of you,
Hassan Juma’a Awwad Al-Assadi
President of the union

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