March 12, 2003
This week's Bulletin was written by Tom Sayer
this week’s meeting
In a new twist, Gary gave us a 5-minute warning bell before officially opening the meeting. He then gave a run-down of the next few weeks’ speakers:
Ø March 19th (Gary’s 55th b-day whoopee!!) John Boe on body language
Ø March 26th – Kit Lavell, author
Ø April
2nd – Dave Mason and Bill Werndyl from the new Mighty 1090 Sports
Show Four Way Speech Contest
Ø April 9 – Mr. San Diego Jim Mulvaney, Sr.
A few announcements followed before the pledge:
Ø Tonight (March 12th) at 5:30 will be a Fundraiser meeting at Linda Fox’s office located at 501 West Broadway, 19th Floor.
Ø A get-well card was circulated for Joe Ciokon who is driving his wife crazy recovering from knee surgery.
Shawn Moore then led the pledge, followed by Joe Marshall with an eloquent invocation (2 kinds of people, those who do and those who take credit – be the former for there will be less competition!). Linda, Jim and Jim’s choir buddy led us in, “The Star Spangled Banner.” Pete McGuire introduced the many guests and visiting Rotarians.
announcements
|
Gary, Mary Engles and Mike Sisson |
Ø On the sad news front, Past-President Colette Murray has tendered her resignation due to the press of travel and her recent purchase of a home in La Quinta. We’ll miss seeing you, Colette!
Ø On the good news front, we inducted Mary Engles this morning as our newest member (pictured here). Mary is an orthopedic physical therapist.
student of the
month
|
Carol, Gary, Susana, Keith & Luisa |
Carol Jensen and Keith French introduced Susana Medina as our Student of the Month from San Diego High School. She was joined by her mother, Luisa, and her teacher, Rick Beckhart. She is part of the Academy of Business & Finance and works part-time in the accounting department of a manufacturing company. She is very involved in her church, plays the mandolin, and sings in her choir. She helps her brothers with their homework, reading and chores around the house and volunteers in the youth reading role model project. After SDHS, she wants to attend SDSU.
FINES! FINES? FINES!
A new policy was instituted starting next week requiring a $50 donation to our Club before pitching our members for money or an event for any other charity. Tongue in cheek, Gary noted that Club 33 requires $250!
Ø T.J. Barnes is looking for members to join her on April 5th for a Senior Community Center breakfast. If you can’t make the breakfast, consider donating any of a number of items such as sundries, costume jewelry, clothing, blankets, snacks, etc.
Ø Leah paid a few bucks to tell us all about her new puppy.
Ø Dave Ferguson bragged about his son, the new coach of the #1 men’s NCAA lacrosse team.
|
Gary and General and Mrs. Naama and Esra Naama |
THE TRAGEDY OF BEING A CHILD IN IRAQ
Martin Blair introduced Esra Naama, an Iraqi-American living in San Diego. Her father, General Naama, was one of the instigators of the 1991 uprising against Saddam Hussein in Southern Iraq. Esra and her family were able to escape to Saudi Arabia when the uprising failed, and were granted asylum in the United States in 1992. Esra is a member of the “Women for a Free Iraq” campaign, an effort by Iraqi women to generate awareness among Americans about how Iraqis are currently living in a state of undeclared war under Saddam Hussein’s brutal regime, and why Americans should support a U.S.-led campaign of liberation that will end Saddam’s tyranny and establish a free Iraq. Here is her compelling story, recently published by the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies:
I fled Iraq with my mother and my four siblings in 1991,
when I was 10 years old. We ran away from Saddam’s brutal crackdown after the
failed uprising against him following the Gulf War. For a few days, all across
the country, Iraqis had dared to confront their jailers. We were emboldened by
the presence of American-led forces at our borders. We believed our nightmare
would finally end, and that the coalition forces would come to our assistance.
Little did we imagine that within a few days Saddam would brutally crush us,
and that we would be engulfed in an even worse nightmare. In the months that
followed, tens of thousands of Shi’as in the South were executed. Entire
families were killed. Bodies were left to hang on trees and men were tortured
in public. My nightmares are filled with these scenes even today.
My father was one of the leaders of the uprising. He
went into hiding to escape execution. My mother had no idea of his whereabouts,
and did not know if he was dead or alive. She also knew that if Saddam’s
security forces could not find him, they would come after her children instead;
we would be thrown into his dungeons and tortured to lure my father out of
hiding. When they took away my eighteen-year old cousin, my mother decided we
had to leave. We set off on a long, difficult journey, moving to new safe
houses every night, until we finally reached the Rahafa refugee camp in Saudi
Arabia.
At the camp, we were safe, but the conditions were
inhumane. The camp embodied all the indifference and cruelty with which Arab
dictatorships treat their people. We stayed there for nearly two years. We were
very lucky: My father found his way to the same camp, and God granted us the
blessing of obtaining refugee status in the United States. On September 17,
1992, we landed at New York's Kennedy Airport. This day is remembered in our
family as our new birthday; the day that we were able to begin our lives as
full human beings, with dignity and hope.
Although my family was always active in the resistance
against Saddam, as children we were shielded from much of Saddam’s brutality.
The less we knew, the better. My parents were afraid of what we might say at
school that could further endanger the family. When we would notice that a
cousin or an uncle was missing, our parents would tell us that they were
studying abroad or on vacation. Occasionally we would be suddenly carted off to
our grandparents or our aunt’s house. We did not know that is was to keep us
safe from visits by Saddam’s agents. We lost three relatives. The toll on other
families was much greater: I have friends who have lost fifty or sixty
relatives.
No one in Iraq is safe from Saddam’s arbitrary killings.
When I was nine, my best friend’s father, an army general, was executed for
unknown reason. I suspect it was because he was an honorable officer, a man who
had too much integrity to be involved in the crimes of the Iraqi regime.
The families of those missing, jailed or executed cannot
make enquiries. They are not allowed to demonstrate their grief in public. It
is even illegal to visit the grave of a loved one assassinated by the regime.
Thousands of Iraqi children are born orphans, having
lost their fathers to Saddam’s wars and arbitrary executions. Thousands of
Iraqi children have been sold by their families into slavery in order to pay
for food or medicine. And thousands of Iraqi children are born in the darkness
of the jails, and have never seen the light of day. They know nothing of this
world but the walls of their prison, and the savage torture and rape of the
innocent women who are their mothers.
Growing up in the United States, I often thought about
the people we left behind. And I vowed to do every thing I could to bring to
Iraq the opportunities and freedom I enjoy here. I am not alone. Over four
million Iraqis live in exile. We yearn to bring to democracy to Iraq. We want
to shape a post-Saddam Iraq that will be based on a constitution and the rule
of law, with equal rights for all of its citizens, so that Iraq’s people can
all live together in peace.
I don’t know if many Americans truly appreciate the
difference between democracy and totalitarianism - the worlds that separate a
person who is subjugated by a tyrant and a person who can walk and talk freely.
I wonder because so many well-meaning people seem to believe that Iraqis would
fight for Saddam against the United States. Why would anyone fight to protect
his tormenter?
I plead to the people of the world, in the Name of God,
please open your eyes to the sickness of Saddam’s rule. Do not turn your backs
on us anymore. How much more suffering must my people endure?
During Q&A, we learned some interesting facts:
Ø The regular army of Iraq has no loyalty to Saddam and will probably cheer the Americans to victory. The Republican Guard is Saddam’s security force.
Ø Iraqi Olympic athletes are tortured when they don’t win their event.
Ø The children born from women raped in jail are all told their father is Hussein and they are taken to camps where they are raised to be his guards.
Ø 4-million Iraqi’s live in exile around the world and are organizing to go back to re-build Iraq once Hussein is deposed.
Ø The people of Iraq can’t get food unless they vote for Hussein and attend rallies staged to create propaganda illusion of support for Hussein.
Ø Click here to check out the website of Foundation For the Defense of Democracies.
ProPOSED New Member
The following individual has been proposed as a new member and will be inducted under the classification listed below unless written objection is received by our Club Secretary within ten days of the date of this Bulletin:
Ø Proposed
Member: Susan Bleicher
Proposed Classification: Employment Staffing Services
Proposer: Peter Doody, Mike Jones
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