From the Iraq Freedom Congress, Dec. 8:

Under the slogan of "No to occupation ... No to sectarianism and subservience... No to the Oil & Gas Law," the clans of southern Iraq held a large conference in the province of Basra on December 8, 2007. These clans have a strong opposition to the Iranian interference in Iraqi affairs, especially in the city of Basra.

Because of their practices in the last four years, the religious parties and organizations were not invited to the event; however Iraq Freedom Congress was called to participate in the event because of its strong opposition to terrorism, occupation and sectarianism.

Iraq Freedom Congress was represented by Abu Watan who had an influential role in the formulation of some of the resolutions of the Conference that was also quoted by Aljazeera TV:

1. To support the Anti-Oil Law Front struggle.
2. To reject the proposed Oil Law and call on the political parties to block the draft.
3. To uphold the humane identity of the city of Kirkuk and grant it a special treatment to allow peaceful coexistence.
4. To release all prisoners and detainees who have not involved in killing of Iraqis or corruption of all sorts.
5. To stop sectarian killings and ethnic cleansing.
6. To reject the Federalism that divides Iraqi society on the basis of ethnic and sectarian identity

It is worth mentioning that a number of speakers strongly condemned the occupation, terrorism, sectarianism and Iranian interventions.

Delegations from Nasiriyah, and a number of police chiefs participated in this conference. The delegation of Iraq Freedom Congress was formed of Abu Watan, IFC Central Council member; and Abdel-Karim Kassem, Aid member of IFC Central Council.
This conference has been quoted by many satellite channels, including Alsharqia, Babilya and Aljazeera who focused on Abu Watan's speech. [T]he speech drew the attention of the journalists, who notied a strong condemnation of US threats to wage war on Iran

Iraq Freedom Congress

Media Center in Basra

See our last posts on Iraq, the struggle for Basra, and the civil resistance.