O.C. Rally Spotlights Misery of Iraqi People Under Hussein

Wearing “Free Iraq” T-shirts and waving signs, one reading “Indict Saddam,” more than 60 members of Orange County’s Iraqi American community held a rally on Sunday in support of those in their homeland.

The rally was at Bristol Street and Sunflower Avenue, next to the South Coast Plaza mall in Costa Mesa, a spot organizers picked because of the heavy people traffic.

Mazin Yousif, 36, organizer of the “Free Iraq” campaign, said the event was held to draw attention to what he called Saddam Hussein’s crimes against Iraqi citizens.

Yousif said the group’s ultimate goal is to see Hussein indicted as a war criminal for genocide.

“What has developed lately in Iraq is that Saddam has been pushing for the removal of sanctions,” Yousif said. “We’re saying sanctions should remain [for] the government, but be removed from people. We want Iraqi people to [be able to] eat, and to have their needs met.”

Yousif chanted, “President Clinton, why, why, do Iraqi children have to die?” as many drivers honked and waved, with some giving the thumbs-up sign.

Two teenage boys strolling through the mall parking lot stopped at the 10:30 a.m. rally and stared at the signs. One boy said: “Saddam? Kill the [expletive].” Another passerby asked, “Saddam is still around? I thought he was dead.”

Some members of the group compared Hussein to Hitler, saying that approximately 100,000 children a month are dying in Iraq because of malnutrition and lack of medical care.

Rally organizers said the fact that small children played at their parents’ feet at the event as others slept in their strollers nearby was deliberate.

“We had our children here on purpose to reflect the suffering of children in Iraq,” said Sayed Moustafa Al-Qazwini, a member of the Islamic Educational Center of Orange County. “Because of Saddam, children in Iraq don’t even have a chance to grow up.”

Sahar Ali, 29, kept a close eye on her son, Amir, 4, who played nearby. “I’m here to support the Iraqis because they are leading miserable lives,” she said. “We have family over there and children are dying every day. We must do something. Saddam has to go.”

When the rally ended, some members headed to their vehicles to head to their second rally of the day, at Balboa Park in San Diego.

Upcoming rallies will be held in cities including Phoenix, Houston and Detroit, with the last rally scheduled in June at the White House.

“We expect more than 1,000 people to attend the last rally,” Yousif said. “People will fly in from all over the country with just one thought in mind: Free Iraq; indict Saddam.”