On the Left, Off the Wall

After the teach-in broke up, Kulchur approached Nasseer Idrisi, a post-doctoral marine science instructor at the University of Miami. As Idrisi had explained earlier, he'd left his native Iraq for the States in 1991, but members of his family still remained in the city of Basra. Neither a bloody war of liberation nor the brutality of Saddam's regime were abstract concepts to him.

"If you lift sanctions and let Iraqis get back to a normal life, dissent will develop," Idrisi told Kulchur. Then, he believed, Iraqis would deal with ousting Hussein themselves. But even if that cheery scenario were to begin unfolding, don't expect Idrisi to rush home.

AL CRESPO

Antiwar marchers in Washington, D.C.

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More About

• Mary Ann Schmidt
• Nasseer Idrisi
• Saddam Hussein
• University of Miami
• Socialist Workers Party

"Have I been back to Iraq since 1991?" he repeated with a surprised laugh, amazed at the stupidity of Kulchur's question. Idrisi exhaled and regained his composure, continuing matter-of-factly: "If I went back -- " He drew a finger slowly across his throat. It was the first dose of reality to be heard all night.