US Labor Against the War Condemns the Murders of Abu Fahad and Ahmed Adris Abbas
US Labor Against the War (USLAW) strongly condemns the continued assassinations of Iraqi union leaders. On February 18, Ali Hassan Abd (Abu Fahad), was murdered. He was a leader of the Oil and Gas Workers Union at Baghdad's Al Doura refinery, an affiliate of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions. His assassination was especially brutal, as he was walking home with his young children when gunmen ran up and shot him.
Less than a week later, on February 24, armed men gunned down Ahmed Adris Abbas in Baghdad's Martyr's Square. Adris Abbas was an activist in the Transport and Communications Union, another IFTU affiliate. The murder of the two followed the torture and assassination of Hadi Saleh, the IFTU's interational secretary, in Baghdad on January 4.
Abu Fahad, Ahmed Adris Abbas and Hadi Saleh were all courageous activists, who sought to organize their fellow workers to win the elements of a better life, the same basic things sought by workers in the US and around the world. Iraqi workers need a living wage that can support their families, not the oppressive $35/month imposed by the occupation. They need secure and safe jobs and lives, and an end to violence and terrorism. Their unions need an end to the 1987 law banning bargaining in the public sector, where most Iraqis work. Iraqi unions seek to stop the US-initiated privatization of their workplaces that would put control of the Iraqi economy in the hands of powerful multinational corporations, not Iraqi workers or Iraqi society. They want the occupation to end. They want to determine for themselves, free of outside interference, the future of Iraq.
These are the ideals that Abu Fahad and Ahmed Adris Abbas lived for. They are the demands they died for. As trade unionists committed to solidarity, we in USLAW offer our sincere condolences to their families and coworkers. We share their desire for a democratic and peaceful Iraq free of occupation and terrorism. USLAW recommits itself to ending the occupation -- which is the principal cause of destabilization in Iraq -- and the immediate return of all US troops to their homes and families.
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