Nyier Abdou talks to Iraq Institute for Democracy head Hussain Sinjari about change from within, the message of the anti-war movement and life after Saddam Hussain Sinjari, the driving force and jovial face of the Erbil-based Iraq Institute for Democracy, is not one for equivocation. Within minutes of launching into a spirited telling of the founding of his organisation, he has used the words "After Saddam" and "When we move to Baghdad" with unfettered frequency. Asked if he is sure that Saddam's removal is imminent, Sinjari doesn't hesitate: "I'm very sure of it -- 100 per cent sure of it." Established in 1999 -- "the last day, of the last month, of the last year, of the last century" -- the Iraq Institute for Democracy (IID) is the only organisation of its kind based inside Iraq. Taking as its mission statement the "dissemination of political democratic culture" in Iraq, the IID was developed to lay the political and ideological groundwork for a future democracy in Iraq and prides itself on using grassroots activities, like the recent "democracy festival" in Erbil, to further this aim. "This is the first Iraqi think tank," says Sinjari, stressing that while there are other Iraqi organisations working towards this goal, they are operating outside of the country. Born in northern Iraq, Sinjari was deported with his family in 1974, when his ancestral home was razed and the property confiscated after the family refused to register themselves as "Arabs" or "Ba'athist". Fluent in Arabic, English and Kurdish, Sinjari describes himself as "independent" and "liberal" -- designations he also applies to the bi- weekly newspaper published by the IID, Al-Ahali (The People). Currently available in northern Iraq and online, the recently established Al-Ahali is the pride of Sinjari's IID, and he is confident that it couldn't have come at a more fitting moment. Secure in the knowledge that Saddam Hussein will be removed from power, Sinjari notes that when that day comes, "We will immediately move to Baghdad, and we will immediately move Al- Ahali also, from the north of the country to the centre, to Baghdad." "There will be no newspapers in Baghdad, because all the newspapers are Ba'athist -- are state-controlled, are published by Saddam." On "the day after", he notes, with a hint of satisfaction, "we will be the only Iraqi newspaper in Baghdad." He adds, "But we will encourage more newspapers to be published." For now, the IID is obliged to depend on funding, mostly from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), in Washington, and the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, in London, but also from the Kurdish parliament. But Sinjari stresses that the institute steers clear of any political affiliations: "We are liberal people. We believe in Iraq after Saddam there will be political parties, there will be political organisations. We are looking forward to those days to help out young people to organise themselves." Analysts and journalists the world over are still positing the scenarios that might unfold in Iraq over the next few months, but Sinjari is resigned to a military intervention led by the United States -- one might say he is even looking forward to it. "I can't think that the Iraqi people themselves are capable enough -- strong enough -- to bring about change," he says, pointing to decades of brutal dictatorship that "doesn't give any opportunity to Iraqis to stand up and resist and bring about a movement for democratic change". It is this movement that Sinjari set up the IID to foster and it is his belief that for all the darkness and pain associated with war, a US military action in Iraq will facilitate the creation of such a movement. Dismissive of the machinations of the Iraqi opposition in the countdown to war, Sinjari insists that the people of Iraq need to be actively involved in the birth of a new political order in Iraq. "The Iraqi opposition didn't involve itself in such a movement because such a movement needs activities -- grassroots activities," maintains Sinjari. "The Iraqi opposition is too arrogant to work on the level of grassroots." A survey taken in northern Iraq and released last month by the IID's polling department found that out of 600 participants, 47.2 per cent said they would prefer a United Nations international mandate in Iraq should the Iraqi leadership be dismantled. A staggering 32.8 per cent said they would prefer a US military general. The Iraq opposition came in last at 20 per cent. Asked why he thought Iraqis in the north were so suspicious of the opposition, Sinjari replied, "Well, they don't know the Iraqi opposition. The Iraqi opposition has always been outside of the country. All they are interested in is their share of the cake. They're interested in themselves and in their own entitlements and powers; rather than to empower the people. Scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. They never scratch the back of the Iraqi people." A UN mandate, or even a US general, says Sinjari, will ensure a relative level of "honesty, transparency and justice", and some assurance that there will be international support for rebuilding the country. "They know that if it is a UN mandate or a US general, they will not be there forever," he says. In the north, he adds, people saw US and coalition soldiers help people return to their homes "with dignity". "That was the first time ever the Iraqi people were treated kindly by military," he says. "Because by their own military, they are treated savagely and brutally. They were surprised, they were shocked, and they remember that. And I think this will be repeated; when the US soldiers go to Baghdad, they will see the Baghdadis and the Iraqi people throwing flowers and welcoming them with big smiles and gratitude." Asked if he thinks people throughout Iraq support a US-led war, Sinjari is surprisingly certain. "They are very much looking for an intervention," he says. "They are very much looking forward to it and hoping that America will come and strike earlier, not a minute later -- because of three decades of dictatorship, and the negation of their rights, and the oppression, and the brutal repression from the side of Saddam and his Ba'ath Party and his mukhabarat, and his government. Indeed, it's enough, and people have had enough and they are praying for Allah to help America to come and liberate them." Sinjari, amiable and optimistic when speaking about the future of democracy in Iraq, becomes frustrated as the discussion shifts towards the growing international anti-war movement, which he feels has missed the point. "They are expressing their feelings against war and for peace. But at the same time they are not talking against dictatorship in Iraq. This is missing from their message." "You talk about peace?" Sinjari asks. "Yes. Of course. Yes to peace. But what about dictatorship? What about Saddam and making him open up? Making the government reform?" Sinjari quickly rattles off more outrages. "What about the liberties of the people? What about democracy? What about the freedom of the press? The political freedoms -- but also the individual freedoms in Iraq? This is missing from these peace movements." "With all of my respect and appreciation -- but their message is wrong," he says. "Stop war? Okay. Make peace? Okay. But then, that shouldn't be a full stop; that should be a comma. Then also demand freedom for the Iraqi people. Because without that, indeed, the message is wrong." On the charge that the US does not care about democracy in Iraq, but only about oil, Sinjari files this argument under the Middle Eastern penchant for conspiracy theory: "Whatever anyone does is a conspiracy, and there is something behind it, and something under it, and something in front of it. Everything is because of Zionism and imperialism," he says. "I know no country, unless it is a stupid government like Saddam Hussein's, which does [anything] opposite to its own interests," Sinjari says. "Well of course the US will act according to their interests and according to the interests of the American people. Of course. And if they don't do that they are stupid. Nobody is stupid like Saddam, or like the 'dear leader' Kim Jong-Il, in North Korea, or in all of those dictatorships, dictatorial regimes." He adds sardonically: "So if America is after oil -- well, of course. What do you want America to be after? After dust? After what?" For Sinjari, there is no time to waste quibbling over imperialism and capitalist wealth. For him the equation is simple. America thinks it can further its interests by toppling Saddam, so Iraqis can further their own interests by supporting the US agenda. He has no time for comparisons to Afghanistan -- "this is a different story than Afghanistan" -- and he has no time for prominent turncoats like Denis Halliday, Hans von Sponeck and Ramsey Clark, who he says come under ridicule by the Iraqi people themselves. And when it comes to the money it will take to rebuild, Sinjari seems almost offended: "Money? Money?" he asks, astounded. "So what is oil? Oil is called 'black gold'. We have black gold and we will sell our black gold, and we [will] have money." This, along with Iraq's fertile agricultural land and well-educated diaspora, are enough to set Iraq back on its feet fairly quickly. "All of this, we will do it ourselves," he says. "I'm sure we'll do it ourselves -- with the help of our friends, but that help will be limited, and it will be very short."
