Jesse Jackson: This Is Not About Saddam

"Could I have the microphone for one minute to tell the people about my life?" asked the Iraqi grandmother.

I spent part of last Saturday with the so-called "anti-war" marchers in London in the company of some Iraqi friends. Our aim had been to persuade the organisers to let at least one Iraqi voice be heard. Soon, however, it became clear that the organisers were as anxious to stifle the voice of the Iraqis in exile as was Saddam Hussain in Iraq.

The Iraqis had come with placards reading "Freedom for Iraq" and "American rule, a hundred thousand times better than Takriti tyranny!"

But the tough guys who supervised the march would have none of that. Only official placards, manufactured in thousands and distributed among the "spontaneous" marchers, were allowed. These read "Bush and Blair, baby-killers," " Not in my name," "Freedom for Palestine" and "Indict Bush and Sharon."

Not one placard demanded that Saddam should disarm to avoid war. The goons also confiscated photographs showing the tragedy of Halabja, the Kurdish town where Saddam's forces gassed 5,000 people to death in 1988.

The reverend was not pleased.

"Today is not about Saddam Hussain," he snapped. "Today is about Bush and Blair and the massacre they plan in Iraq." Salima had to beat a retreat, with all of us following, as the reverend's gorillas closed in to protect his holiness.

Thanks to His Holiness and His non-biased point of view.

More : Link

there are many ways for this supposed "iraqi grandmother" to get her story out. if they had a set panel then maybe she should have called ahead and cleared it with the organizers. or maybe supporters of the war should organize their own march. at any rate i object to the comments made by the writer about Jesse's sercurity and Jesse himself. those comments were tasteless and uncalled for and it taints his opinion of the events. childish name calling. very disappointing.

as for Jesse's comments...well, it's his march if he says it's not about Saddam; it's about bush and blair then that's what it's about. again if folk wanna march/speak out against saddam and for war in iraq i don't think an anti-war protest is the best place to get their message out. they should organize no one is stopping them.