In this interview, granted exclusively to the daily newspaper il Quotidiano di Caserta, speaks Sammi Alaà, an exponent and spokesman for the Iraqi Patriotic Alliance, a movement of opposition and of Resistance to the present Iraqi regime and to the Anglo-American occupation. Sammi Alaà’s group is lay, patriotic and socialist, and was founded in 1992 by several Iraqi exiles in Sweden: to reunite political exiles from the Iraqi Communist Party ( which has been evaluated as being too available with the Americans by many of its own members), socialists, and above all exponents of the Ba’ ath party, in disagreement however, for many years with Saddam Hussein, who was in charge of the party in Iraq. The leaders of the Iraqi Alliance Party are Awnj Al-Kalemji and Jabbar Al Kubaysi: this latter is illegally detained by the US government. Throughout this interview, carried out in the English language during a phone call to Apulia, where Sammi Alaà was presenting the programme of his move, the serious problem of the manipulation of information regarding what is happening in Iraq, especially concerning the ambiguous relationship between the Ex- U.S. ambassador in Baghdad Negroponte and the warrior Al Zarqawi, in other words extremely wanted by the same Americans. All this, for Sammi Alaà, cannot but have unjustly damaged the Iraqi opposition movement. It is furthermore highlighted how much the propaganda which presents the Iraqis as being happy at the American presence lies, when the truth is exactly the opposite, other than using as an excuse the presence of Al Zarqawi in Iraq and of Bin Laden in Afghanistan, still on behalf of the Americans, in order to motivate their own occupation in those lands. All this when strange and assiduous relationships have elapsed and are continuing just between the U.S.A. on one hand and Al Zarqawi and Bin Laden on the other…. The next appointment of Sammi Alaà’s tour in Italy is to take place in Naples on Friday 24th June, in the house of the people in Ponticelli, in way Prota Giurleo 199 [the meeting was then moved to via Franciosa, at the last minute]. The meeting is promoted by the Italians of the Anti-Imperialist Camp, an organisation of the alternative left-wing, which deals with the website www.iraqlibero.it , on which you can find further information, also regarding the meeting. For those who wish to know more about the Anti-Imperialist Camp (an international organisation divided into national sections, amongst which obviously you will find the Italian one), you can consult the website www.antiimperialista.org , with texts in Italian and in many other languages.

Q.) Do you think there were attacks attributed to Iraqi combattents that were probably made by John Negroponte's men, considering his assured role in Latin America, and precisely in Honduras and Nicaragua?

A.)Yes, you see, the former american ambassador John Negroponte is the main figure in bloody history of espionage in Latin America. In the same way he kills Iraqi civilians. It's part of a strategy to demonise and discredit the Iraqi Resistance. Through attacks which target only civilians. This strategy is well-organized and is very systematic, because, you see, one day they attack Shiite mosques and another they attack the Sunni mosques. The aim of this strategy is to prevent and to stop the international support to the Iraqi Resistance.

Q.) Is this strategy also for attacks in churches?

A.) Yes, yes, also for attacks on churches. Iraqi Resistance has no interest in attacking Iraqi civilians, whether they be Christians or Sunnites or Shiites. We have lived together for many years now. There is not an ethnic nor a religious conflict in Iraqi history anymore.

Q.) What are the most important aims reached so far by the Iraqi Resistance and what are the most important ones still to be reached?

A.) Yes, the most important aim for the Iraqi Resistance is that they manage to stop the strategies of the American occupation. For example they have succeeded in stopping the establishment of Iraqi instruments. By Iraqi instruments I mean the police and the so-called new Iraqi army. The Iraqi soldiers counter them to prevent the occupation. This army (of the new Iraqi government dominated by Washington) is not important and the police has no function and has no values, they aren't valids to prevent and to protect occupation troops. The next aims are the military bases. The Iraqi Resistance has succeeded in attacking these military bases every day, and the military bases have become insecure for the American occupation. The desert is very important for Iraqi oil and the Iraqi Resistance has succeeded in attacking exporting of oil. This is so that Iraqi oil will not become a financial instrument to finance the occupation. Up until now the occupation has cost about three billion dollars only from the American government.

Q.) Can you tell what percentage of the Iraqi population supports the Resistance?

A.) Yes, you see, I will give you an example, because I don't have any control on the Iraqi population in Iraq to make this estimation. The example concerns the people and the elections that were on 30th January this year. The participation in these elections, in spite of the manipulations, was only about 35% of Iraqi people. When we talk about the Iraqi Resistance, the support is very big, and it is very social and political support from all groups in Iraq.

Q.) In your opinion, why hasn’t the proclaimed passage of power in Iraq been valid, and therefore the Resistance must go on?

A.) You see, there is no real change of powers in Iraq. The Iraqi government is still controlled by the occupational power and the American occupation controls the political and economic procedures of the country. For example, no Iraqi has power over the exportation of oil, only the Americans have this control. Even the military operations in Iraq are under the control of the American troups. The Iraqi government cannot decide if it wants a military operation or not. For example, there is now a big military operation in Baghdad. This operation has only been decided by the American occupation. That means that the military decisions in Iraq are not in the hands of the Iraqi government.

Q.) What do you think about the very important matter regarding the link between Al Zarqawi and Negroponte?

A.) Yes, this is a very important question. About Negroponte, we are not amazed. The former American ambassador John Negroponte has a bloody history in Latin America, in Nicaragua, in Honduras, in Bolivia and in Salvador. And we are not surprised that he wants to repeat the history in Iraq. There are many mercenary groups in Iraq: there are about fifty eight thousand mercenaries in Iraq. They don't build schools or hospitals for Iraqi people but these people have another specific mission in Iraq. And we think, for example about the history of Al Zarqawi. Al Zarqawi's history is part of this discrediting and the demonisation of the Iraqi Resistance, in two ways. In one way, they attack the Iraqi civilians by means of explosions and they blame the Iraqi Resistance, then they try to de-legitimise the Iraqi Resistance, for example, Al Zarqawi's group, that is responsable for these actions, which are not carried out by Al Zarqawi but by the Iraqi Resistance, who takes action against troops, against American bases in Iraq. According to the American public opinion, they want to make a link between Al Zarqawi and the occupation of Iraq. The same link between the occupation of Afghanistan and Bin Laden. They say: <<We are in Afghanistan to kill or capture Bin Laden>>, and in the same way, we are in Iraq to capture or to kill Al Zarqawi>>: this is for the American public opinion. As for the Iraqi opinion, they want to say that the Iraqi population is happy and welcomes the American occupation, and who makes Resistance in Iraq is Al Zarqawi, and Al Zarqawi's group comes from outside Iraq.

Q.) Yes, in fact, Al Zarqawi isn't Iraqi, he comes from Jordan...

A.) Precisely....

[This article was published on these Italian journals: il Quotidiano di Caserta, Avanguardia, Rinascita, Orion, L'Altra Voce, Caserta24ore, Deasport, Ciaoeuropa] Interview and translation from English into Italian by