Curriculum vitae
Awni Alkalemji is due to address the Anti-imperialist Camp in Assisi, Italy:
I was born in 1941 in Baghdad, Iraq. There I finished school and high school to join the military academy and graduate after 3 years as an officer of the Iraqi army. During those years I was always politically active and participated in many demonstrations against the ruling power in Iraq before the period of Saddam Hussein. After that I took part in 3 coups, one of them was against the famous Iraqi leader Abdel Salam Aref. I served my country from the year 1961 to the year 1971 as an Iraqi officer and I was stationed in different cities inside and outside of Iraq. In the year 1971 I was pensioned. The order came from Saddam himself who was the vice-president at the time. The decision was not surprising due to my political history and the number of coups I participated in. By the end of 1971 I fled to Syria knowing that I will be killed if I stay longer. In Syria I joined the Iraqi opposition at and led a very political active life to be later one of well known leader of that opposition. In the year 1986 a big conflict started between my party and the Syrian government due to their role in the Iraq-Iran war. The Syrian government supported the Iranian aggression and we stood against it. In 1988 I fled to Denmark. After the gulf war I stood firm against United States and with some parties we formed what is called today the Patriotic Iraqi Coalition and I became the spokesman of that coalition.
The coalition stood firm against the USA and the embargo against Iraq knowing the objective of USA is to invade Iraq and take control of its oil and destroy the Iraqi mind. The coalition believed that the only way to stand strong against the upcoming war was to unite the Iraqi people under a democratic regime with a multi party system and a free press. Believing that we started a dialog with the Iraqi regime trying to convince him to make the changes needed before it would be too late. The Iraqi regime was in the end convinced but the time was running out and the war started. Today I find myself once more in the position where I can not stand still despite my age that is now well above 60 doing all what I can to fight the American invaders until I die or see them out of my country.
Awni Alkalemji
August 27, 2003
