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The following interview was conducted in March 2007 by Joan Pedro and José Carlos García with Awni Al-Kalemji, speaker and member of the central forum for the Iraqi Patriotic Aliance.

Q: Mr. Kalemji, you are the speaker for the Iraqi Patriotic Alliance. What does it consist of? What are its activities?

A: We created this group in June 1992 as a response against sanctions and US policy. There are many Iraqi groups which collaborate with America against our own country so what appears in the media is that all groups opposed to Saddam Hussein are with America, but this is not right. The Iraqi Patriotic Alliance contains many parties and political views: Democratic wing, Nation wing, communist, Kurdish... there are about seven or eight groups. We were against the dictatorial regime, but we don't act against our country. We distinguish between the regime and our land and people. When we found out that the Americans had decided to occupy Iraq we decided that it was not enough to be in the middle between the occupiers and the regime so we achieved a compromise with the government in 1997. However, our prospects were not accomplished, the situation of the Iraqi people was problematic and we broke negotiations. In 2002, we negotiated face to face with the Iraqi regime and we achieved a good agreement, but war soon began so it did not work.

Q: You negotiated with the regime, but you also fought against it as you have explained. In fact, you participated in a coup d'etat against Saddam.

A: Yes, this is before. We created a front against Saddam Hussein in November 1980 composed by many forces and parties: Talabani's Kurdish Party, the Communist Party, The Arab Socialist Movement and many other parties. By that time there were no sanctions, no crisis and no problems with Kuwait. So this was just a struggle between the regime and the opposition - no American or Iranian influence. We opposed Saddam's regime but one can never collaborate with imperialism so now we fight against the occupation, we are the resistance.

Q: Corporate media portrays resistance in Iraq as terrorism. What do you answer to this accusation?

A: This is a big lie. If Spain or any other country were occupied, its people would defend their country just as the resistance is doing here in Iraq. We have been resisting against Americans since 1991. The sanctions were more harmful than the occupation and the bombing, we lost two million lives, and most of the Iraqi people fought, organised and stood up against the sanctions. This is resistance.

Q: Is US intelligence trying to control information in Iraq, and if so, how?

A: There are more than 150 newspapers controlled by the USA, but the Iraqi people know what is happening. We, the resistance, don't need to explain to the people anything about the false justification for the occupation, imperialism, US interests or anything else. They already know. We don't need anything of that for the people to resist. That is why the propaganda is not effective and the resistance is so strong. It's clear for all Iraqis that the American and the Zionist regime are destroying Iraq. The sanctions and the accusation that Iraq had nuclear weapons are proof of that.

Q: Is it true that Iran is providing support to the Iraqi insurgency?

A: (Laughs). This is an even bigger lie than the accusation of Saddam having nuclear weapons. Iran collaborates with America, they collaborate with the occupation. The President, the Vice Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister said openly in the media that the USA could not have occupied Kabul and Baghdad without Iranian support. All the forces in power now in Iraq like the Revolutionary Islamic Council and the Dawa Party are dominated by Iran. Iran has many interests in Iraq. It is not true that Iran is an Islamic revolutionary regime, behind this religious idea there is a project to control Iraq, and this is not new because Iran has had this target for hundreds of years.

Q: What are your prospects for Iraq in a short term?

A: No occupation can be successful in any country and history demonstrates it. Victory is always on the side of the people and nations which want to be independent. The American Administration has admitted that they are in a critical situation in Iraq, and this is something new. Before, Bush and many mainstream media outlets affirmed that the USA was progressing; that they were close to victory; that democracy had been installed and so on. Could the Administration continue with this lie? Two or three months ago, Bush said that Iraq could be compared to Vietnam and accepted that they were not achieving victory, but he also noted that they are not being defeated. However, in practice, what one sees in Iraq is the resistance gaining power and American troops loosing it. This is a fact and nobody can deny it.

Q: You are due to attend a conference. What are the main points that you are addressing?

A: Yes, there is something I always want to say in a conference or in the media. We believe that our struggle inside Iraq does not belong only to Iraq. Right now the battle between the resistance and America is the Third World War because if the occupiers defeated us, all the American projects to control resources over the world, to be the first power and to make the 21st century the American century will be a reality. No country will be able to confront America, doesn't matter if it is one State, two or more together. The American project can only be defeated by the popular movements and this begins inside Iraq, but involves people in all countries. Now, the Iraqi resistance leads this battle against US imperialism on behalf of all the peoples and nations all over the world. Therefore, all nations and people should support the Iraqi resistance in the way they can. We know that nations have limited possibilities to help, so we ask the Spanish, Italian and other European peoples to put pressure on their governments to withdraw their troops and if the governments cannot provide support to the resistance, at least they should acknowledge that the resistance is legitimate, that it is not terrorism and that we have the right to defend our country. That's all.