Hassan Juma’a Awad and Faleh Abbood Umara took a quiet boat tour Friday through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, thousands of miles from the port city where they live and work in Basra, Iraq.

Less than two weeks after allied forces entered the southern port city of Basra in 2003, Awad, Umara and other labor activists started the General Union of Oil Workers.

Such unions were outlawed under Saddam Hussein’s rule. And the union still may be illegal, the pair explained after the boat ride.

The two Iraqi men spoke through translators about the challenges today in their native land to about 60 labor leaders and activists opposed to the war at the Harry Bridges Institute & Community Labor Center in San Pedro.

A group called U.S. Labor Against the War is sponsoring the Iraqis’ nationwide speaking tour to talk about conditions in the Middle Eastern nation.

While happy that Hussein is out of power, the Iraqis said that their country’s people and labor rights still suffer.

"I ask you to help us pressure your administration to remove its forces in Iraq so we can rebuild our country," said Umara, 48, general secretary of the oil union. "If they mention the security situation, I say that we are brothers in Iraq. And brothers can fight, but brothers can reconcile."

About 35,000 Iraqis work in Basra’s oil industry, with about 23,000 part of the new union, said Awad, who serves as president.

From a labor perspective, Awad and Umara said they’re especially concerned that the laws forbidding unions in public sector industries haven’t been reversed.

They’re also worried that the Iraqi government and previous U.S. civil administration have pushed the country toward privatizing state-owned industries.

"My understanding is that unions don’t get their legitimacy from the government. Unions rely only on the workers," Awad, 53, said with a defiant tone. "We decided to organize ourselves without relying on the laws."

Awad added that newspapers financed by the Iraqi government regularly praise privatization as a positive step for the people, a notion Awad rejects.

A press officer at the U.S. State Department directed questions about labor laws to the Iraqi government and queries on privatization to the U.S. Agency for International Development.

An official at USAID couldn’t be reached Friday afternoon.

Awad and Umara both are members of the Shiite branch of Islam, which make up a majority of the population in Iraq and Basra.

Umara said people face extreme dangers while traveling to work. He said it’s common for American troops to shoot at Iraqi cars for driving too close.

"It’s like the occupation forces are the people of the land and we’re the foreigners," Umara said.

"If you complain, you may end up in Abu Ghraib (prison), and you don’t know what will happen to you there."

Awad dismissed the idea of an impending civil war between Shittes and minority Sunnis.

"Who is talking about war?" Awad said. "I am 53 years old, and I didn’t hear about Sunni and Shiite (divisions) before the occupation forces entered. I am Shiite, but I’m married to a Sunni woman."

Asked if things are better now than when Hussein was in power, Umara said, "Under any occupation, don’t expect things to get better."

Umara said he would have preferred the Iraqi people removed Hussein, adding that "America could have removed Saddam without this destruction. This is all about the oil."

Shannon Donato, president of the Harry Bridges Institute, said she was grateful to hear the "truth" about Iraq.

"For them to come to this country and take the time and energy to deliver the truth to the workers of this country — I hope the truth gets out," Donato said.

The attendees placed donations in a plastic bowl that was passed around during the presentation. Donato said $545 was collected to help finance the Iraqis’ tour and labor efforts in their homeland.

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