A Family in Baghdad

Thursday, September 16, 2004

Good evening….
The weather has improved a lot in Baghdad, and in the morning, some nice, cool breezes come through the windows overlooking the garden. I will go to buy some new rose saplings for the coming season, by the will of GOD.
We await winter impatiently…we shall wear heavy clothes, and watch rain pour upon us… How I love rain and miss it… I feel it washes the streets, the trees, and the buildings, and I wish it could wash darkness and hate from people's hearts…. So that peace would prevail on earth…Amen.
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I put the Article by Ghaith on the web site yesterday, it speaks about the events of last Sunday…
It was a day tarnished with blood…. The blood of the miserable Iraqis.
The events took place in Haifa street, which is a street lined by high-rise residential buildings, in modern designs. I have put photos of this street many times in our web site. Behind that street lies a poor, old district, the remains of the old Baghdad quarters.
Whenever I visited my brother, who lives in a high-rise building there, I always felt these buildings were like a strange body that entered the city… it had no connection whatsoever with the surrounding environment. And to make the view worst, are those old, decaying houses cast off behind the buildings… as if they were some two worlds not connected to each other, strangers…side by side…somehow. They remained estranged since the 1980s, till now…. Strangers by residential, social, and economic standards.
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On Sunday, the area was filled with fighting, violence, and blood…this was not the first time, but perhaps the most violent…
Blood…blood…blood… all over the curbstones, the street, the shops, the residential buildings, then the camera lenses of News Agencies.
Al-Arabiya Channel correspondent was killed, Ghaith and other photographers were wounded. Tens of Iraqi civilians were killed and wounded.
American Helicopter planes were hovering, and bombing…the bodies were piling, and nobody could advance to save the wounded…
And in a press conference attended by angry journalists in Baghdad, the American official apologized for the killing and wounding of reporters and civilians, saying that they ( the occupation forces) are making all efforts to reduce casualties and damages.
Oh, yes, we all believe that, noticing how serious he is….. Huh?
Isn't it the same play reoccurring in Fallujah, Sammarra, Najaf, Kufa, and Al-Sadder city??? War planes bomb, houses demolished, and dead civilians…
And the man apologizes…..
Oh, GOD…
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The driver told me yesterday that before he came to take me to work, he took his sister to Al-Nu'mman Hospital in Adamiyah because she was ill. The Emergency ward was filled by Iraqi Police corpses, dead and wounded… some criminals drove to Antar Square in Adamiyah in the early morning, got out of their cars, and shot the Iraqi Police Patrol with automatic weapons, filling the street with bloody bodies, then ran away….
One day before that, there were attacks on police patrols in Baghdad and other cities, there was a large number of victims… and today, while we were at the shop, we heard the blow of a nearby explosion, which turned out later to be an attack against a police patrol by the Rowad Restaurant in Mansour… a crowded shopping area.
And then I read in the newspaper today that Bush promises to make Iraq an example in fighting terrorism, not an example to adopt terrorism in the Middle East.
I smile as I look upon this beautiful example, and how it is being created and formed, with plenty of wisdom, and the least possible minimum of damage to lives and property… GOD only knows when this example will be accomplished, and how many casualties will be paid for that.
I do not know.
The equation still goes between fools and criminals, who are disfiguring the world… and each thinks himself right. Each speaks sometimes in the name of GOD, rightness, and justice.
And there is a foolish American woman who writes to me from time to time, asking me: What have you done to help Iraqis? Why do you speak about the bad things, and not mention the good ones??
She is a supporter of Bush, and the Fox Channel…
I answer her quietly, and in contempt: Read my articles again, and you shall see that I talk about how much effort we spend to rebuild Iraq, and help the Iraqis. But I forgot to tell her that, as usual, if I have seen some good things, I would have told you, because I am more eager than you are for them.
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I remembered Ghaith yesterday as I was reading his sad article…
Ghaith was a friend of Raid's; he graduated two years before him, from the collage of Architecture… Ghaith is a very polite young man, he is Christian.
He, Raid, and Salam formed a team like the Funny Trio who never separated from each other. They used to spend weekends at Salam's, watch the latest movies, have dinner and laugh. They had stories and secrets, like all young men.
Ghaith was frustrated, he couldn't continue his post-graduate studies at University, for his maternal grandmother was British. That was reason enough for the University to deny him his studies, in Saddam Hussein times.
He remained frustrated, tried the impossible to travel outside Iraq, but all efforts failed. He disappeared….
Raid graduated and went to Amman to continue his post-graduate studies, then came home weeks before the war, saying: I do not want to remain in Amman while you die. We die together, or live ….
And days after the fall of Baghdad, Ghaith reappeared…he came to visit us, we were so happy to see him…
He was so happy, he almost flew in joy… he said that he joined those at Al-Ferdouse Square to topple the statue of the tyrant, that he was so happy…as if he was born again…
I said to Raid as we were alone in the kitchen: Who would have thought the future shall smile to a young man like Ghaith??
All doors were locked. But the Mercy of GOD does not close doors.
We expected him to leave Iraq, for that was his dream…but he preferred to remain here, and work as a photographer for the British Guardian…
Him and the enthusiasm of youth, the passion to remain in one's country, while the field is hot with events…
Last evening I remembered all this as I read his article about the bloody events in Haifa Street… I wished to see him, and ask him: What do you see now??? Where is the dream we so much wanted to realize?
The tyrant fell, and violence, destruction, devastation, and blood came along…
I wished for our days to get back, so we could recapture those laughs and wishes, in a beautiful tomorrow, and a shiny future without Saddam… today, as we live in the heart of death and ordeal, and we still dream of tomorrow, and the future…
But I don't suppose it will be made by Bush, or an occupying force…
The future we want…can only be made by our hands, hearts, and minds….because these love Iraq and the Iraqis, because they feel sorry for the wounds and death of Iraqis, because they are hands, hearts, and minds bearing the scent of this country, and the love of this country…
And those who love, do not hurt their loved ones… they hesitate one thousand and one times before acting foolishly, or wasting innocent lives.
Or allowing criminal gangs to roam the country, and spread havoc. Or some organized bands from abroad, that kidnap, kill, and spread chaos in the country…
If I was partaking in ruling, along with Iraqi men and women, who love Iraq and its people, I would have made their security my first priority, I would have told the occupying forces: Get out of the field, for your presence is the source of enticement for violence and terrorism. You enjoy the battles, fighting from inside tanks and helicopters… killing all you see walking on the ground in battle time, innocent or foe… what sort of wisdom is it in handling matters??
Then you spread stories there, in your media, about a strong Iraqi interim government, an adequate Iraqi Police and Army force, and the beginning of a pull-out of the American army from Baghdad…
And we here are burned with the fire of chaos, violence, and the tremendous security failure…
Why do you lie???
Say : We have failed, we shall try again… be more credible, do not destroy us, and use us as an advertisement for false stories.
If you succeed here, the whole world shall learn your success stories… and if you fail, the whole world shall learn…
So, why do you lie???
Why do you lie???
For some posts, and a new ruling term??
If you were truthful here, we, the Iraqis, shall call, and all the world shall hear, that you were honest, you liberated Iraq, and helped its people to rebuild it again…. We shall ask all the world to clap for you…
But today, you are just a bunch of fools and liars…
You destroyed our country by a foolish adventure, and a visible misconduct that no two onlookers would disagree about ( I mean here, and not the misled there), so, what shall we expect from you???
Do you want more opportunities, to commit more follies??
Who would guarantee for us that you shall be wiser than what you did to us, during the last months???
No one can guarantee… the same faces, the same logic, and the same vision…
I wish the world would open its eyes, to see you truthfully, as we have….
I wish there are still some honest people left in this world, who would stop you at your limit…
And I wish to witness your trial, in front of GOD, on the Day of Judgment.
What shall you tell him….and your hands are tarnished by the blood of the innocent….
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If I was partaking in ruling Iraq… I would have made the security my first priority…then building the establishments of civilian society… organizations and societies, for they are better than parties… because they do not have a narrow horizon in life, and gather under its wings millions of people, combined by the willingness to contribute, and the national, social effort…
While parties enhance the desire of self interest, and the benefits go to one faction, excluding others…they dispel, and do not join.
Establishments of civilian society are capable of rebuilding the torn fabric of society after the war… neither the occupation forces, nor the interim government succeeded…
The people builds its own fabric, by him self, all over again…
And through these organizations, the people learn to love life, building, and contribution.
I would have asked all religious parties, Sunni and Shi'aa, to announce the innocence of Islam from all violence, terrorism, kidnappings and killings in the name of Islam, and in defense of the Muslims.
People are the ones who will pull the rug from under the feet of the liars and fakes… so they no longer have the ability to transmit their venom, and non-humanitarian deeds.
I would have pressured news agencies not to write about criminals or kidnappers, not announce their demands, nor give them any importance to roam the media while transmitting their poisons and committing their crimes, as if the media joins and encourages them, as the suspicious Al-Jazzera Channel is doing, promoting violence and terrorism, and picturing criminals from inside the operations locations like heros…
If I were in a position of authority and decision, I wouldn't have left any means of protecting people from harm and violence, untried… I would have encouraged them to form popular comities in each area, to provide security for each district by its own people, who wouldn't allow a kidnapper or a thieve to move about their area…
The activation of civil organizations is the activation of the collective work spirit… it is the renewing of self-confidence, and the ability to build a new homeland, and a beautiful future….
But the actual reality differs… an aimless occupying force, growing terrorism and crime… a confused, shaken interim government, and a multi-million people who are lost, frightened, and wouldn't know what to do, how to spend their day??? Nor how to make tomorrow? And how to make it better????
A country is made by its Men and Women…. Every time, every place…. And a super power would not come from abroad, nor a foolish force from inside, and interfere in making it… theses are illusions and superstitions…
A country is made only by its loyal Men and Women. When will Iraqis posses this chance????
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News of Simona Torreta and Simona Pari, and the Iraqis with them, are still remote and ambiguous… the criminal kidnappers are threatening to kill them, perhaps also in the name of Islam, and the Muslims…
So are the news of the kidnapped French Journalists, remote and ambiguous.
Our hearts are still sad for them… we pray night and day for them to get back home in peace and safety…
We trust in the mercy of GOD, we ask HIM to have them go free, and end their ordeal…Amen.
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Translated by May/ Baghdad.