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An Iraqi native who now lives in Minneapolis, Minn., spoke Tuesday at Nicolet College’s Rhinelander-area campus promoting peace while saying his piece about the situation in his home country.

Sami Rasouli, who in 2005 started what is known as “Muslin Peacemaker Teams,” said his objective appearing at Nicolet College was to share what is going on in Iraq.

“The news of Iraq is put on the backburner (with more focus now placed on U.S. involvement in Afghanistan),” he said.

Rasouli was born in Iraq in 1952 and spent the first half his life there before moving to the United States. He said he returned to Iraq in 2004 to work for peace in the region and help rebuild the country.

The audience attending his first presentation of the morning at Nicolet College included several students and others, including college president, Elizabeth Burmaster.

“No, the war is not over in Iraq,” Rasouli said. “I show and talk about the amount of the suffering of Iraqi people in Iraq.”

He said the efforts of the Muslim Peacemakers Teams are focused on bringing peace between the U.S. and Iraq.

When asked for his assessment of how the U.S. involvement has affected Iraq since 2003, Rasouli described the situation in two words, “complete destruction.”

“Iraqis — probably in the beginning — they were happy that Saddam Hussein has gone and they will be democratized and free,” he said. “But it turned to be now people they feel now they miss Saddam’s days because they had better health care service, better education service, security, electricity, better water and so forth.”

Rasouli said he doesn’t believe there was a problem in Iraq that warranted U.S. forces to invade the country in 2003.

“Dictators are everywhere,” he said.

Rasouli said he favored the call a few years ago for U.S. forces to immediately withdraw from Iraq, such as the effort in several Wisconsin communities in early 2006 when advisory referendums to that effect were on the ballot.

“They should have left a long time ago,” he said. “They shouldn’t have been there in the first place.”

When asked for his assessment about how the U.S. involvement in Iraq has been handled during the presidency of Barack Obama, who had been an outspoken critic of the war prior to being elected president, Rasouli said Obama hasn’t yet lived up to his image.

“(Former President) George (W.) Bush delivered his iron fist, but Obama hasn’t delivered his smile yet,” he said.

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Katherine M wrote on Dec 8, 2009 10:20 AM:

" Did any of you actually go and see him? He was actually very interesting. The thing I thought that was most interesting was when he talked about how we as U.S. citizens are paying for the war and trying to rebuild Sami's Country, but yet there are several million people dying here in the U.S. it talked about that and he was more in support of helping our country than his. Another point that was brought up was the fact in which when someone asked him, "if we were to pull out of Iraq right now, what would Iraq look like?" Sami replied, "I think it would look like Vietnam.
Why argue over the few statements above if you didn't actually go and see him. He was just interesting to hear his point of view. "

Jim B wrote on Dec 4, 2009 12:39 PM:

" Physical disabilities aside, (I treat all people the same), this is an idealogical disagreement. When U.S. soldiers go to war they fight for each other, they fight for their families, they fight for their constitution and freedoms. Many feel that is not the case in Iraq or Afganistan(which attacked us by proxy(. The soldiers that are willing to give up the comfortable life that you are living currently, do believe this.
I am a veteran and will always side with the brave men and women that handed us and protected our freedoms. Sami should learn from our bravery and go back home and attempt to summon his. "

Jim B wrote on Dec 4, 2009 12:38 PM:

" Sorry to hear of your disability and hardships. My heart goes out to anyone with disabilities or hardships. I believe that most people have one or another in some form at some point in their life and commend them for working through them.
Thank God that you are not an Iraqi, you probably would have been dealt with much differentlly there. Essentailly left for dead as a child would be my guess. Sami should be trying to address those issues in his homeland instead of crying about the U.S.like most Muslims do in their backward countries. "

kurt wrote on Dec 4, 2009 8:04 AM:

" Jim B. - Thank you for comenting on me "nearly illiterate rant". Having CP and being deaf in one ear made the special schooling I attended as a child kept me from being "completely illiterate" People like you you remind of that. Like the Iraqis, I too get judged w/out the facts.

Oh ya my parents never took any gov money for my disability besides the schooling...that appears to have failed in your eyes. "

nate wrote on Dec 3, 2009 2:44 PM:

" Jim J, Bob, and Jim B make excellent points. Kurt you sound ridiculous. Please keep your rants to yourself and let the educated adults speak about the real issues. "

jim javenkoski wrote on Dec 2, 2009 8:36 PM:

" This speaker obviously has an agenda. Maybe some people that have spent some time there should have been there to ask him some tough questions. There are more towns and villages now that have power and water, than there were when Saddam was in power. That is a fact. If Sami had an interest in his country, he would be there now and not milking the U.S. for a living . How about all those immigrants from Iraq stop bad mouthing the U.S. and go do something for your own country long term. It's time to put up or shut up.
War is an ugly business, and those that have been there know that. Stop distorting the facts and get some backbone and help your country out in person.

A proud U.S. Marine vet
Dept. of Defense civilian
Camp Warhorse, Baqouba
OIF 3-4, 2005-2006. "

Bob wrote on Dec 2, 2009 7:54 PM:

" Maybe Mr. Rasouli should look inwards at the failures of Iraq. The Iraqi people seem to be unable to take care of themselves. We have ridden them of a true tyrrant, have attempted to assist them transition into a government that allows more rights based on being Iraqi as opposed to their tribe or clan, yet they fail. Better yet, they fail and blame us, they blamed Saddam, they blamed their leaders before him, they just seem to be a people that cannot do anything right.
Mr. Rasouli and the Muslim countries seem to point the finger of blame anywhere but back at themselves, face it, you like living in a fuedal system, because you will always have someone to blame. They never got out of medieval times, just like their religion which shackles them. "

Jim B wrote on Dec 2, 2009 7:39 PM:

" To Sami:
Iraqis and other middle eastern countries live in the dark ages yet, because they saddle themselves to religion. Religion that controls people and there it happens like nowhere else. Why do Iraqis not fight against the terrorists that bring the problems? Fear. Why do they not like America there? They fear that some will wander from a backwards religion.
Why is Sami here and not there? Fear, but here in a democracy, with unimaginable freedoms to many Iraqis, he espouses his anti-US issues. Sami didn't go out in the Iraqi public saying anti-Saddam stuff prior to 2003, again Fear, which is what religion is all about. Talk is cheap Sami, many Americans have walked the walk for you and many other people around the world, we don't need your type of Thank You. "

Jim B wrote on Dec 2, 2009 7:23 PM:

" Kurt, what is "sole" money, did you mean soul? You don't even know the proper spelling of a four letter word, or which of the two is the correct application of the word, yet people should agree with nearly illiterate rant. People stop reading it because it takes too much effort to decipher it.
Iraq may have been a mistake, but at the time we needed to be more wary of terrorist attacks. The previous administration wasn't and allowed Bin Laden to prosper and move on to bigger things. Saddam Hussein was told that he had weapons of mass destruction from his scientists (turns out they exagerrated things for fear of their lives from Saddam), Russia told us of threats from Iraq also.
The mistakes in recent wars were that we do not just wipe out everything that has enemy in or around it. "

Kurt wrote on Dec 2, 2009 2:16 PM:

" Sami - The term "war" is something I feel shouldn't be used in this mistake...sorry conflict. No one thinks of all the Americans killed before the "war"....NONE!!! Not one. So why did we do what we did? Money, embarrassment/revenge from the Bush clan. I made "sole" money on the conflict, not war, by betting on the Iraq people and the shorters hope bet the US would win. We didn't and we won't. Keep speeching Sami. You are correct, smart and a person who is thinking ahead. "

The comments above are from readers. In no way do they represent the views of the Rhinelander Daily News.