by Margarita Ortega y Gomez
Daily Lobo
During the 1991 Iraqi uprising, when Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard was brutally suppressing civilians, Surood Ahmed Falih fled Kirkurk after being injured and losing her sister, aunt and stepmother.
"There were bodies covered in blood (in the street), each one shot three times," she said.
Wednesday night at the SUB, Falih and Taghreed Al-Qaraghuli spoke about their experiences under Hussein's regime.
They are on a national tour supported by the Iraq-America Freedom Alliance to spread understanding about the war in Iraq.
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Falih, a graduate of the University of Mosul, spoke about the violence her people suffered at the hands of the Republican Guard for being Kurdish.
She said she was able to return to her homeland and reunite with her family only after the U.S. overthrew the regime.
Falih said she views the American occupation as extremely positive and said her people have brighter days, are able to wear Kurdish clothing in public, and "worship, think and dream freely."
Al-Qaraghuli is a member of the Iraqi Independent Democrats. She also typed the Iraqi Constitution. She said she worked so hard and so long, her body hurt at the slightest touch.
"When I was typing, I cried a lot," she said. "But the head of my political party told me, 'Don't cry now because later you will cry again, and you will say 'I typed that Constitution.''"
Al-Qaraghuli's efforts are to uplift the women of Iraq and get them involved politically, she said.
"Women everywhere have the ability to create peaceful societies (more) than men do because everything before (the occupation) was in men's hands," she said.
Under the Hussein regime, Al-Qaraghuli's father refused to join the army and was forced to use bribery to avoid having to kill his own people.
Al-Qaraghuli said she wanted to leave Iraq because she feared for her life and the lives of her family, but could not leave because she was not a member of the Baathist party.
"I asked about my passport and they said, 'Why do you need your passport? You are not a member of (our) party, and your father is not in the army,'" she said.
Al-Qaraghuli said America's presence in Iraq is very positive, if not the best thing for the Iraqi people. It has brought many new opportunities for people not to live in fear of a dictator, she said.
Many disagreed with Al-Qaraghuli's reasons why America occupies Iraq, and said it was not for liberation, but to search for weapons of mass destruction.
The women said the war could have happened years ago.
"We spoke to Mr. Rumsfeld, and I asked him why this didn't happen in 1991," she said. "He didn't know because he wasn't in office at that time."
She recalled telling Rumsfeld, "This is up to you to ask this question to your government."
Despite everything, Falih and Al-Qaraghuli said they are joyful for the liberation of their country and will continue to work to promote equal rights for all Iraqis.
