Last week the Iraqi Prospect Organization launched its campaign “Save the People of Iraq” at a press conference in London, England.

According to a recent IPO press release, “The Iraqi Prospect Organization is an expanding network of several thousand professional and young Iraqis living in the West, working to help the people of Iraq in the current crisis.”

University of Wisconsin junior Jason Rasoul agrees with the IPO that Hussein is the main part of Iraq’s problem. Rasoul is an Iraqi student who still has many members of his family living in Iraq.

Rasoul said his father was the only other one in his family to come to the United States, which he did several years ago to earn his PhD.

“I loathe Saddam for what he’s done to his country,” Rasoul said. “He has essentially given the middle finger to the U.S. and ruined the lives of his people for no reason.”

Rasoul also supports the actions that IPO is taking by raising awareness of the issue at hand and focusing on the youth of the country.

Members of the IPO believe the young generation of people in Iraq is being held back by old political grudges and struggles that members of their families may have suffered through. They also believe many young Iraqis are lost when it comes to their own country, and that Iraqi youth don’t know whom to trust, whether it be their own government or the United States.

“I think it’s a tragedy that people our age anywhere could live in a situation where they live in fear of their own government,” UW freshman Zachary Stern said. “I would hope they’d trust America. We probably have their best interest in mind rather than Hussein.”

Members of the IPO suggest many young Iraqis have become pessimistic regarding their country due to older Iraqi opposition movements and general argument within the country.

However, the IPO’s website describes hardships Iraqi individuals suffer while living in the country. For example, according to the site, the streets of Iraq are flooded with statues, pictures and paintings of Saddam Hussein, and people are cautious of their eyes in case a certain way of looking at a picture of Saddam or a government building is deemed “disapproving.”

“Situations like those are enough to frighten anyone,” Stern said. “The very fact that there are organizations like the IPO is even more of an example of how bad things really are in Iraq.”