What has the US governments reaction been to union organizing in Iraq?
AA: The American government did not want to intervene directly into the union’s business. However, after two months of the occupation, they raided our office in Baghdad and arrested some of our leaders for some days; they were released later on. That was part of the intimidation process. The government that was installed by the US troops has issued a decree called Decree 16 which recognizes one union only, stating that the other unions are illegal. This decree still exists and has never been abolished. Our understanding is that the US government wants to include in the upcoming constitution a labor law that is similar to the one in United States, which is unaccepted by the Iraqi labor movement. We in our federation struggle to include a labor law that we drafted in any constitution. Today the major barrier for the labor movement in Iraq is the occupation because it has driven the society into a chaos and corruption, and without driving the occupation out, the situation is going to beco
