Sarah AK Ahmed, an Iraqi, grew up through Two Decades of War

On April 19^th, 2013, I interviewed Sarah A.K. Ahmed who grew up in Iraq and lived through the Gulf War in the early 1990's as well as the invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003. While in Iraq, she worked on a number of small projects as well as with a volunteer group, Youth and Educational Development Council. She got a full scholarship to study at the University of Rochester but had to return to Iraq because of family issues. She returned recently to the United States to speak at the United Nation's Commission on the Status of Women and to participate in the upcoming convergence “Resisting Drones, Global War and Empire” happening in Syracuse, NY from April 26^th to 28^th. Currently, when she is in the US, she calls New York her home. (See the FaceBook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/540569232649914/?ref=22.)

In this interview, Sarah and I spoke about her role in the upcoming Syracuse convergence where she will be speaking on a panel called “The Human Face of War,” her perspective on jobs and the economy in Iraq, the lack of civic awareness about what the US military is doing abroad, and paper air planes, among other topics.

People from China are coming to work in factories and for oil companies and this is sad because Iraqi people cannot work. Why are the companies bringing these people to work from outside the country? It is because they will work for lower wages than Iraqi people would accept. The percent of unemployment is sky high.

Listen here: http://www.radio4all.net/files/anonymous@radio4all.net/16-1-Sarah_Ahned_4_19_13_final.mp3 (It may take a few minutes to load, please be patient--also, editor foul, Sarah calls NY her home, not Chicago.)

For more about the upcoming, anti-drone "Resisting Drones, Global War and Empire" convergence in Syracuse, NY, please go to Upstate Drone Action dot org.

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