An Iraqi Speaks about Iraq
Louis Yako, photo by Tim Chadwick
It’s all about freedom. Freedom to love, to hate, to worship, to practice, to be, to exist. Freedom of choice, opinion and mind. Freedom to practice one’s inalienable rights without being alienated. To want these entitlements is human nature.
Louis Yako wants these rights. He wants his sisters to be autonomous beings with the liberty to pursue their own lives. His family to be well-nourished, sheltered and secure. His country to be prosperous and peaceful. He wants the world to be a just and fair place. He sounds just like any other idealistic twenty-something college undergrad – with the minor exception that he’s not from a liberal coastal state school, but Iraq.
As the capstone event in a series of antiwar demonstrations, the newly established Lehigh Valley chapter of Americans Against Escalation in Iraq asked Yako to speak at a Take-A-Stand meeting held in the Steelworkers’ Union Hall Aug. 28. Born and raised in Iraq, with clear childhood memories of the first Gulf War, Yako was in his third year of college at Baghdad University when the US bombed the Iraqi capital in 2003. Fluent in seven languages, one of them being English, Yako used his skills to act as a translator between the US military and Iraqi forces.
Having worked with American troops for three years, Yako described how he had developed strong friendships with numerous members of the US military and visiting NGOs. He said many of them were respectful of the differences between the two cultures, and were also sincere in their wishes to see an equal and free society develop in Iraq. However, individual actions on the ground were often overwhelmed by the looming shadow of Bush and his administration.
“Iraq is full of people that are suffering,” Yako said. “They have no electricity, no water. . . Iraqi people don’t care about political reasons. What they want is water.”
Yako also said he didn’t blame America for the Iraqi insurgents’ increasingly violent behavior. “America didn’t make the war,” Yako said. “But [its] sanctions made [Iraq] worse.” He said the Iraqis have an expression for life with Saddam followed by life with the US: “It’s a black dog and a white dog – it’s still a dog. . . Not much has changed.”
Aaron Swisher, one of Escalation’s local founders, said the meeting was part of a national campaign designed to force local congressmen and women into taking a stand on the war. Charles Dent (R-PA), the Representative for the 15th District, was invited to the meeting, but failed to show. His absence was seen as proof of his collusion with Bush.
In referring to the administration, Professor Addison Bross, a teacher of English at Lehigh University, said, “One of the hardest pills to swallow has been the hypocrisy of the government.”
The hypocrisies of Bush and his cohorts are innumerable. On everything – from the reasons for going to war to the unrelenting justification of a conflict with continuously increasing odds – the administration has deceived the public. In the words of Dr. Steven Lammer, a professor of religion at Lafayette University and fellow speaker, “If the war was really about weapons of mass destruction, there are a lot of countries with weapons of mass destruction. If it was about democracy, there are lots of countries that need democracy.”
This war is about something else. Whether because of insatiable greed, the megalomaniacal tendencies of a misguided dictator or perverse interpretations of egalitarianism, the true reasoning behind this war has all but disappeared. The Bush administration claims to be waging a war on terror – waging a war against intolerance and in the name of democracy – but it’s done so by imposing restrictions on the rights to a fair and speedy trial, freedom of expression and the prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment – among others.
In the eternal words of Benjamin Franklin, “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” -Francesca Lo Basso |
