A Family in Baghdad

Monday, November 6th , 2005
Good morning…
The feast came, and went, and we are far away from our home, folks, and friends in Baghdad…
This is the first feast we spend outside of Iraq, since 15 years…
On the night of the feast I remembered our house, again I imagined it; dark, sad, and desolate, covered in dust… my tears fell, and I asked GOD to hasten our return home, all of us, that is; if it was for the good of us that we should return… and if it wasn't, may GOD give us the patience to part from everything that we love there, until we would be destined to return… I mean, the return of all the Iraqis from different exiles…from the Arabic countries around Iraq, or the furthest, or from Europe, America, and Australia, and wherever they are scattered, in the corners of earth…
And we always say: May GOD never give the good health or success to whoever joined in the destruction of Iraq, scattering its people around the corners of earth, or tore the unity of those who still live there, in spite of all calamities, paying the price daily, from their blood, comfort, and health… those who lost the simplest rights of a human to live peacefully…..for this became the No. 1 demand for Iraqis, in these difficult times… the times of globalization, freedom, and the democracy that Bush and his administration wanted to apply in Iraq, making Iraq a model for the region's countries….
And what a model!
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The world around us is confused by the news of violence, disasters, and the threats of an unknown future…
In Syria, there is fear, and worries as to what awaits the country, what stories the American administration is plotting to besiege Syria, because it is the last fort against the American policy in the Middle East after Iraq fell, and is an obstacle in the way to the dream of peace with Israel.
Under the pretext of Al-Hareeri's assassination event, America interferes to put her conditions; like evacuating the Palestinian organizations from Syria, considering them to be terrorist organizations…
Palestine and its people suffer daily the mass killings campaigns and the terrorism of Israel, many martyrs fall, young men, and children…as if their story has become the forgotten-always-present story…
With the news of the daily violence, killings, and destruction, led by the American administration against Iraqis, America is also responsible about what happens in the Palestinian land.
America supports Israel, and works to carry out her agenda, meaning, as they usually say: Israel isn't the one who does what America wants, but America does what Israel wants of her…
And the question is: why is a big, strong country like America steered by the interests of a small country that doesn't posses the elements of survival, except for the weapons and the army, which came to live in an environment that rejects her, like an alien being in a body… of course, that body will reject the alien being which doesn't belong, in every possible way…
And America supports Israel, and so does the western governments, to impose a reality on the people of the region; meaning- you will acknowledge that illegitimate state in spite of your noses…
What is it that joins the big and the small in collaboration, if there weren't some mutual goals and interests?
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As we always look at our history for nearly 50 years, we see that all the calamities happened to destroy the countries of the Arabic region and its people, and at the same time to supply the life and justifications of Israel's existence, among neighbors who do not love her… not because they are racists or any other crap like that… but because they are convinced that its existence is illegitimate in the first place… and if every means of killing and destruction was used against the people of Palestine and their neighbors, this wouldn't give Israel the legitimacy to exist, nor would it give her neighbors the conviction that a normal peace or life could take place between Israel and her neighbors…..
In the 1948 war, who made Israel prevail over the Arabs?
And in the 1967 war, who supported Israel to prevail over the Arabs?
The Lebanese war in 1973, and its continuance for 15 years, was to destroy Lebanon and push the Palestinian resistance out of it…
Then, the Iraqi war with Iran in 1980, by an American incitement and financing to Iraq, to weaken both countries and lesson their threat against Israel. Then, the mistake of Saddam Hussein in entering Kuwait in 1990, so America came on with her fleets under the pretext of defending Kuwait, while the truth is to occupy the oil sources in the first place, then threaten the Arabic countries and pressure them to make peace with Israel. Then came the latest war on Iraq, in 2003, which was the last chapter, when all the masks were removed. And even though this war started under the pretext of the Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, but now it moves by another reality….
The story of Israel's existence among us can be similar to a story that goes like this: "We used to live in an apartment building, each apartment had its residents, then, a gang came along and attacked the residents of one apartment; killing some of them, while some ran away… and this gang occupied the apartment of those poor, evicted people… the gang besieged the apartment building day and night, by tanks, machine guns, and helicopters to protect the new occupants, and scare their neighbors…".
Well then, years shall pass, and the estrangement will still be on between the original residents and those new occupants, because they know that those are illegitimate occupants, who owned the place by terror, violence, and killing, and they shall tell their children, one generation after another, the story of those occupying usurpers… that means the situation shall keep on being complicated indefinitely….There will always be a gap between the two sides that nothing can fill, not even time, because the situation is deformed; there isn't any acceptable justice or logic, and any human with a living mind and conscience wouldn't accept something like that…
The "right" is something….. and the "force" is something else…
This is the position of Israel among her Arab Muslim neighbors, since it was formed; till now… its existence since the beginning was unjust, terrorizing, and unlawful….how could it dream to reap peace one day? Or live a normal relation with the neighbors?
Could people's memories be erased?
Can people be convinced that they are wrong, in the standards of right and wrong, or justice and injustice?
Perhaps the governments would yield to the political pressures and feel scared, and so move on to participate in peace conferences, peace treaties, and the likes of the empty words that aren't relevant in the world of reality…
But nothing can force the ordinary people to yield, or change their convictions….
And so, the speech about peace in the Middle East becomes only illusions, which have no roots whatsoever in the ground of reality…..
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I borrowed books from the library, about Sallah Al-Deen Al-Ayoobi, and the Crusades… I always Wished I had the time to read about this subject…
I do not know exactly the real, decisive reasons why the west waged these campaigns towards the east…some say they were religious, and some say they were economic, perhaps for both reasons at the same time… but it definitely caused a great rift in the relation between east and west….
The crusaders remained here some 200 years, and the Muslims never stopped butting and fighting them from time to time. There were some treaties and truce pacts every now and then, but there was an insistence from the Muslims to dislodge them from the Muslim body…
And that dream came true, after 200 years….
The crusaders went out, compelled, broken, but as if there is a hatred and a resentment that didn't die yet, and as if there is still a dream that keeps on tempting some westerners to get their revenge from that defeat…
I do not know why the Christian church, the feudal lords, and the European merchants at that time, why did they "export" their problems to the east?
Were they going through rough conditions, like the Bush administration did when he "exported" the war to Iraq, to get away from present or coming economical crises, trying to find new markets to sell the products, to control the oil sources, and any other reasons worthy of the American nation's sacrifices?
And sometimes Bush tries to mould the story in a religious form, inserting words like: GOD and Christ, as reasons for war on Iraq… but generally, America's war against us seems like an imperialistic war in the first degree, its reasons and aims economical in the second degree…
And all the rest is empty talk for consumption, and fool people's sentiments…
The crusade wars were also based upon fooling people's sentiments in Europe, with big words concerning The Prophet Jesus Christ and protecting the Christian religion from the infidel Muslims, and there were a lot who believed this and joined the armies. But from reading history I see it as a war to seek interests and privileges, much more than protecting The Prophet Jesus Christ, his religion, and his grave……
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And I read about Sallah Al-Deen…
Of course, he wasn't the first Muslim leader who fought the Crusaders to get them out of the Muslim land. Before him, there was Imad Al-Deen Zinkee in Syria, then his son, Noor Al-Deen Zinkee. Then, Sallah Al-Deen rose up in Egypt, then moved on to Al-Sham Land (present day Syria), sent his men to Yemen, Morocco, and parts of Iraq, uniting them all under the banner of the one Islam, without sectarianism, meaning; without stories of –these are Sunnies, those are Shia'ats, the stories that make the enemies of Islam happy, like what is happening now in Iraq. Then, he declared Al-Jihad, after he was sure the Muslims were a true force that can face their enemies, and get them…
He used to choose the appropriate timing for battles, when the force balances were evident, so the result wouldn't be dumb, foolish and frustrating, and wouldn't lead to the Muslim's bloodshed against a much stronger foe, and the battle's outcome like a mass suicide…..
He was just and honest with all people, Christians, Muslims, and Jews. The western leaders respected him, seeing him as an honest, righteous, brave opponent, who should be taken into account considerably…
The crusaders campaigns started in the year 1095 A.D., from Europe on to the Al-Sham Land, and the regions around it… they took over Al-Qudis (Jerusalem) in the year 1099 A.D. …
The wars of Imad Al-Deen Zinkee and his son, Noor Al-Deen against the crusaders were in the period from around 1140-1170 A.D….
And in the reign of Sallah Al-Deen, the decisive battle of Hitee'en took place, when the crusader's Jerusalem kingdom fell, and went back to the Muslims in 1187 A.D.
Then battles resumed, to besiege the castle of Akk'a and get the crusaders out of it…
But Sallah Al-Deen died, and didn't regain back Akk'a. He died around 1193 A.D.
But some other Muslim leaders continued finalizing the wars after him, getting the crusaders completely out of the Arabic region in 1291 A.D….
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Some questions are in my mind: During 200 years of foreign occupation, how many generations went, while still dreaming of getting rid of the occupiers?
How many generations kept their hope and faith, and how many lost them?
How many leaders betrayed, acting meanly, selfishly, driven by their self-greed, and how many more acted wisely, responsibly?
History says that all kinds were there….
And everything went on as it should….
And now, as I look at the condition of the nation; how many people are there who lost the hope of returning Palestine and Iraq to their legitimate owners, and of getting the occupiers out?
How many an Arabic leader stood an honest stance, and struggled against the occupations?
And how many an opportunist, or double-dealing, or traitorous leader relinquished and gave up the rights of people and land, in the face of occupiers?
How many men and women believe in resisting the occupation, as a duty and a responsibility towards the nation?
How many monkeys there are, who applaud the occupation, collaborating with it for the sake of a position, or a personal interest?
And how many a sectarian leader there is in Iraq now, who scattered the Muslims, making them weak in confronting their enemy?
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This paragraph caught my attention in the book: (…A messenger of one of the princes came to the tent of Sallah Al-Deen. He said he found him in a small tent, sitting on a rug with a prayer carpet, holding the Holy Quran, reading while facing Al-Qibla'a (the direction of Mecca), his shield, bow, and sword by his side, and his quiver hanging from the tent pole… " And when I saw him thus, the notion came onto my mind that he is the Victorious, for I have left the other princes seated upon silk beds, wine spilled all around them, drums beating…and there isn't a tent among there's that didn't house kinds of sins….".)
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I read in a newspaper yesterday that Henry Kissinger says, (in meaning):(No opportunity must be given for Iraq to be ruled by a man who calls for Jihad…..)
I smiled…
Who brought Sallah Al-Deen and the likes of him to liberate the nation, and bring her back her dignity and glory?
It is all in GOD's hands…
When HE wishes, HE will deliver the power into the hands of men like Sallah Al-Deen….
I do not know if they are among us now, or will come with the next generations…..
But one day, they will come…
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Translated by May/Baghdad.