Denouncing the United States, hundreds of former employees of Saddam Husseinâs Information Ministry protested yesterday against the loss of their jobs following a US decree dissolving the ministry. âAmerica is against human rights. American democracy in Iraq means poverty and unemployment,â they chanted outside Baghdadâs Palestine Hotel, where some foreign media are based. The US civil administrator for Iraq, Paul Bremer, sacked more than 5,000 staff who used to run Iraqi state television, radio, the Iraqi News Agency and several newspapers, when he abolished the ministry a week ago.
| I hope he's abolished the Information Ministry itself by now... |
In other moves to rid Iraq of links to Saddamâs era, Bremer also dissolved the armed forces, several security bodies and the Defense Ministry, firing more than 400,000 people.
| Most of the people who kept Sammy in power, in fact. Wonder why he did that? |
The demonstrators, some of whom had spent more than 30 years at the Information Ministry, urged Bremer to reconsider. âIt is an unjust decision,â Abdul Mutaleb Mahmoud, former journalist at Al-Qadissiya newspaper, told Reuters. Amad Al-Ataibi, a former editor at INA, said Bremer should negotiate with the sacked employees, saying they had suffered under Saddam when there was no freedom of expression. âBefore they invaded, the Americans said they would make Iraqis live better. Is firing 5,000 employees who feed around 25,000 people the way to make us live better?â INA engineer Samir Mehdi Al-Ubaidi asked. Some said they were not Baathists and demanded their pension rights. âI spent 25 years running Al-Hurriya printing house in Baghdad and had nothing to do with Saddamâs media, so why I am sacked?â asked Nuha Najeeb, a mother of five.
| Because there's no government press anymore? |
US officials say each ministry employee is eligible for a termination payment of $50, but Mahmoud said this was derisory. âIâm not going to take that money. It is humiliating,â he said. âIn Europe and America, they pay the unemployed at least $300 per week, why they are paying us only $50?â |