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Sioux Falls man helps organize new Iraqi government
by Cara Hetland, Minnesota Public Radio
October 20, 2003

Ali Sahli lives in Sioux Falls, and has worked for 20 years to topple Saddam Hussein. Sahli recently returned to Iraq, his native country, to help with the rebuilding effort. (MPR Photo/Cara Hetland)

A Sioux Falls man says U.S. troops in Iraq should prepare to leave. Ali Sahli was born and raised in the Iraqi oil city of Kirkuk. He was mayor of that city 30 years ago, and now, he's returning to help set up a new government. He says it's time for Iraqis to take control of their own country.

Sioux Falls, S.D. — Ali Sahli wears a suit to work, like most Sioux Falls real estate brokers. But Sahli, 58, is just as comfortable in his home country of Iraq, wearing fatigues and carrying a gun. Sahli was once targeted by Saddam Hussein, when he was young and mayor of Kirkuk. He still thinks of himself as a Kurdish Freedom Fighter. But 30 years ago, he knew the only way to survive was to leave.

"And the only logical option we had, was to put the arms down for now and take refuge somewhere, until we could regroup and see if we could start fighting back in, let's say, a different environment," says Sahli.

Sahli came to the United States and founded a political group to create an independent Iraqi government. For the past 20 years, Sahli fought underground to weaken Saddam's power.

"To talk to his loyalists, to (encourage them to) change sides," Sahli says. "Don't fight for a loser. That was our work, and we worked for many years on it, and I think the fact proved itself we were very effective."

This change is very big. It's not a small, easy change. It is a change of a ruthless (dictator) ruling a country and abusing the whole nation for 30 years. - Ali Sahli, Sioux Falls resident

In March, Ali Sahli went back to Iraq and organized a Kurdish army to fight with U.S. troops. After the fighting stopped, he was elected governor of Kirkuk with 87 percent of the vote.

But by then he'd been in Iraq for months, and decided he had to turn down the job for his family's sake. Sahli's wife and children live in Sioux Falls. He has four adult children from another marriage, and they're all in the United States, too. After six months in Iraq, Sahli returned to Sioux Falls. Sahli became an American citizen in the early 1980s. But he says he's compelled to help create an Iraq his children would want to visit, so he's going back to Iraq. For how long he doesn't know. He says, "For as long as it takes."

Sahli serves on an appointed council in Kirkuk. He's thoughtful and compassionate when talking about his birth country's future.

"This change is very big. It's not a small, easy change. It is a change of a ruthless (dictator) ruling a country and abusing the whole nation ... for 30 years," says Sahli. "Mentality is destroyed, morals is almost none. People's courage is not there. It's going to take some serious work. Some serious cost. Serious rebuilding and time. We are on it."

Sahli says the U.S. involvement in Iraq was necessary, but it's almost time for U.S. forces to leave. He says civilians should run Iraq now, and he says it's time to focus on all that's changed.

"We freed up a miserable people. We are rebuilding a country. There's two million people back to school," says Sahli. "I'm talking about a new government setting up. From the beginning of the war to today, it has not been more than six months. By God, what people should expect from this big change -- they should be a little bit realistic."

Sahli says there will be more lives lost and it will take time and it will cost money. But he says the U.S. must finish the job. And the job is more than toppling a tyrant.

Sahli says Saddam Hussein has no power now. But he predicts Saddam's followers will continue to destroy because they have the most to lose.

Sahli will stay in Iraq as long as he needs to be there. He wants to help people who were suppressed for 30 years rise up and take back their country.

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