Nordkurier – Interview of January 11, 2007

“The wine is just as old as the tubes are.“ Berlin. André Brie, Left Party politician and European deputy, returned last night from a nine-day trip to Iraq. Immediately after his landing in Berlin, Hans-Joachim Guth talked to the born Schwerinian.

Together with your social-democratic colleagues, the Portuguese Paulo Casaca, you made a trip to the country on the Euphrates and Tigris. Where did you look around?

We were both in the Kurd North as well as in the province of Diyala. The tour became possible only, because we were supported by the ex-governor of Diyala, a man that survived 14 attacks. That was granted neither to his nephew nor to his brother. 16 bodyguards were placed on our sides, so as to allow us to inform ourselves as safely as possible. This personal contact was very helpful; after all, we were able to get together with over 4000 Iraqis that way. I have over 120 personal records in my luggage.

Could you tell us about some of the details from these records?

From my own experience and from the conversations, there remains only one conclusion: The situation in the country is extraordinarily dramatic. Of course, Kurdistan is safe to a large degree, here one also observes an economic recovery – however, if one looks at the whole country, there can definitely not be the question of security. On a daily basis, at least 150 people die by way of attempts, but also of murders. Politicians deserving to be taken seriously talk of 1.3 million dead since 2003. It should be certain that there were at least 600000 casualties anyway. Just as many as died in the Iran-Iraq war. However, the latter lasted eight years.

After your visit you raise the question yourself whether in the light of hundred thousands of dead, there could not be question of the fact of genocide. Do you have a personal answer?

The targeted terror, the targeted execution of 1000s and the indiscriminate bombing by the invaders does not make such a conclusion appear completely out of bounds. Discord was carried into this country that only has one goal, namely to divide Iraq in order to be able to produce an Iranian dominance this way. He, who says that on the Euphrates and Tigris it is a matter of a religious confrontation between Sunnites and Shiites, has not been in Iraq, or he wages exclusively on the propaganda of the USA. After all, they underestimated Iran’s striving for hegemony by admitting for instance the fundamentalist militias that cover the country with unlimited terror. No, this it is not a question of Sectarian violence, but rather of a violence driven by fundamentalist forces. And I repeat myself: of course, the situation in the Kurd territories is clearly better than that in the other parts of the country. However, also in Northern Iraq the indignation of the people about their own government and the US occupying forces is great.

The US have apparently revised their Iraq strategy. Does what has transpired up to now appear to you more than new wine in old tubes?

The wine is just as old as the tubes are. Not even the rhetoric is new. The continued occupation by the US military that are supposed to be reinforced now by an additional 20000 soldiers and the massive infiltration by Iran – this is confirmed to me by all my conversation partners – are the basic problems for security in Iraq. Added on that is the factual incapacity for action of the Iraqi government. The cabinet of Al-Maliki is completely discredited. Unbridled corruption is rampant all over the place, so I was told. Tribe elders raise allegations of torture and murder and say that a large part of the money and the oil has sunk into dubious destinations.

This was your eighth trip to Iraq. And not for the first time have you criticised in a sharp form that the EU is not capable of an active policy or of developing alternatives?

I am ashamed as a member of the European Parliament if an Iraqi mother can ask me how it is that the EU permits that her children have nothing to eat, that she – even though living in an oil country has no heating material. Schools and universities are closed to a large extent; medical supply is flat on the ground.

When you will again report next week in Strasbourg, will you finally be more than a crier in the desert?

You may be assured that my colleague Casaca and I will take to the barricades. Europe has lost four years. Maybe also, because quite a few critics of the invasion believe that the Americans are supposed to take the consequences themselves for what they have done. That this does not work I had to suffer myself skin-deep one more time. We have concrete proposals in our luggage concerning support for regional planning or the allocation of stipends to Iraqi students.

Translated by Carla Krüger, January 24, 2007