Iraqi Americans Express Fears About U.S. Action

While supporting President Bush’s call to remove Saddam Hussein from power, several local Iraqi Americans said Friday they fear U.S. military action might lead to Iraq’s destruction.

“We’re not willing to sacrifice a whole country for one man,” said engineer Salam Jawad, one of three people who held a news conference in Pomona to ask for U.S. military restraint in Iraq.

An invasion by U.S. ground forces, coupled with the probable destruction of the country’s infrastructure through air strikes, would turn Hussein opponents in Iraq against the U.S., they said. “The people in Iraq are not our enemy,” said Talib Alhamdani, a political science researcher and teacher. “It will harm America in the future to inflict more pain on Iraq.”