An Iraqi writer and former political prisoner has appealed to the Government to lobby for a staged withdrawal of troops from Iraq.
Haifa Zangana, who addresses a public meeting in Galway tonight, has said that the UN must not legitimise the occupation and Arab neighbours must be allowed to play a greater role in bringing peace and stability to Iraq.
She has been invited to the west of Ireland by the Galway Alliance Against War, which is staging one of a series of protests across the State this week in opposition to this weekend's visit by President Bush. The novelist, who was born in Baghdad, was an opponent of the Ba'athist regime in Iraq under Saddam Hussein, and was imprisoned in the infamous Abu Ghraib jail after she was interrogated and tortured at Qasr al-Nihaya prison.
Since the invasion and occupation of Iraq, she has written extensively for the Guardian in Britain, where she has lived in exile for many years.
She is also one of the co-founders of Act Together: women against sanctions and war on Iraq.
She visited Iraq in January after a 28-year exile, and found the situation to be one of complete instability and chaos.
"Tags and labels may have changed from coalition forces to multinational forces, but the Iraqi governing council is full of US supporters, and defence, security and oil resources are totally under US control," she said.
"Iraqi people are not being consulted, and so the idea of occupation will never be accepted.
"I see the only solution as being a genuine withdrawal of all foreign troops under a staged timetable."
A protest march is also being organised in Galway city on Friday by the Galway Alliance Against War, with the support of SIPTU, the Galway Trades Council, the Labour Party, the Green Party, Sinn Féin and the Socialist Workers' Party. The march, will assemble at Galway City Hall at 7 p.m.
