A Family in Baghdad

Sunday, December 4, 2005


Good Morning…
I always wonder about the rationality and irrationality of the stories we hear
I mean how logically and intellectually acceptable
Or the fact that there are many questions and doubts surrounding such story…

For example: This new story, the story of Belgian woman who was married to a Muslim man then she took part in suicide bombing in Iraq against the occupation force. Then they found her passport by near her body….
This story raises some questions:
How rational and reasonable this story is?
This means that the woman committed a suicide in an explosion, how come her passport is around sitting near the body?
Also, couldn’t they test the dead woman’s DNA to make sure that it is her to confirm her identity?
And where is her husband?
And what is her and her husband’s ideological message?
And why the western media made a long story based on interviews with her Mom and Dad revealing that she did not eat with her dad so that she doesn’t watch TV, TV is prohibited (Haram!) and so that she doesn’t see him drinking Bear with lunch and that she wears Niqab that covers her body from head to toe and she became a monster….
And she didn’t visit her Mom when she was in the hospital….
How silly and discriminatory to Islam this story is. It sabotages Islam and dwells on its negativity. It portraits Westerners Muslims, as frivolous people who waste their lives and join Islam to become extremists to explode themselves and go to heaven!
Is this a warning to western women not to marry Muslims?
As Muslims will take them to their Islamic country and turn them to crazy terrorists enjoy killing themselves without any reason?
Who is going to believe these stories?
Aren’t there going to be any questions regarding the reliability of such narration?
And what is the purpose from such stories?
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We in Iraq think that in many times, there is a number of cars used for suicide bombing that explodes in a crowded market or a public street were explosions without the drivers’ knowledge then were remotely set off.
I personally know an Iraqi woman who came to Amman for treatment from and explosion debris that was placed in small cart in front of a bank in Iraq. A person gave an old man who happened to be walking in the street frivolous amount of money and said: Please take this cart to the front and place it near the bank and the owner will come shortly. The Cart seemed to be filled with banana as if it belonged to a street merchant…
The poor old man took it and when he got closer to the bank it was set off remotely. The old man was killed and a number of bank female employees were killed. Some were also injured one of whom I met..
The debris hit her spine and currently she sits on a wheelchair asking for donors at human organizations to pay for her treatment. She is in her thirties, married and her income combined to her husband’s income does not cover their daily needs much less treatment that could cost tens of thousands of dollars…
She is back to Baghdad, and she gave me her address to call her and help her as soon as I find a human organization that could be interested to help her….
This kind of criminal, terrorist explosion that targets innocent Iraqi civilians and mix facts on Iraqi soil……
What did they say in the news that day?
Did they say it was an Islamic suicide bomber who exploded himself in front of a bank?
It means that the cart driver was a victim of criminals who killed him and killed other innocent civilians. They dragged the nation into a conflict….
This is a sign of sneaky foreign hand in Iraq that mercilessly wants to shed the Iraqi blood…..
While that, who explodes himself in an allied military force, have come with a clear objective and clear story and clear reasons too.
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My son told me in Amman few days ago…
There is a flyer on the supermarket wall that is near our house asking for employees to work as translators who can translate from Arabic to English or from English to Arabic. The salary is over a thousand dollar. The phone number is on the flyer….
I wondered…
The story is illogical…
There are no such work opportunities that pays this salary in this city…..
I went to the office supplies store and found an announcements board inside the store. It included flyers that belonged to people seeking jobs such as physics, mathematics and English teachers. The majority were English teachers. I said to myself, if I called the company that asks for translators, I will find the job taken by now. The country is full of people who are seeking such opportunities….
Also the salary is relatively high compared to the job market standards in this country? What is the nature of their work?
Why didn’t they advertise in the newspaper?
Why did they put the flyer on the back streets’ walls?
I kept thinking all the way home……
I went to the nearby supermarket and found the flyer on the wall. I took the phone numbers and went back home…
There is a local number and a mobile number. I decided to call the mobile since it is night time and after working hours. I figured the company would be closed and the other number will not answer…..
I called the mobile. A young man voice answered. I asked him if the job was still available.
He said: Actually work will be abroad…
I started to suspect something wasn’t right…
I said: Hmm, don’t tell me it is in Iraq!
He said laughing: You’re Iraqi, Aren’t you?
I said: yes…
He said: Yes, work will be in Iraq, what do you think?
Don’t say that I will be working as a translator for the Americans?
Yes of course, in an American Base? What do you think? Are you interested?
He had a happy voice. It was very obvious that he was happy and proud of his job….
I laughed, and I don’t know what kind of humor in a moment like this…
But I said: Thank you. Keep it to yourself…
I hanged up the phone and kept laughing…

I will remember this story as an example of irrational and illogical matters
I think that a lot of stories in our daily lives or in the media are suspicious and irrational and raise a lot of questions, exactly like that add on the wall…..
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I watched a couple of reports on one of the TV news channels last week….
One was about the smuggling of drugs to Iraq from Afghanistan vial the Iranian boarder or Shat Al Arab….
The other was on the poverty phenomenon in Israel to government’s exhaustion of state budget on arming its military. Since there is misdistribution of wealth and due to the capitalization system and administration corruption, these types of problems are becoming more familiar in the western and eastern societies.

The first report saddened me a lot. This is another ugly face of War on Iraq..
Under the miserable circumstances that young men are living where there are no job opportunities or income improvement, criminals will find a market to sell drugs in Iraq now. It is suitable environment where criminals will find young poor men who lack have little awareness, religious faith. They will find other criminals and gangs who will pay any price to buy these substances. This will raise the murder and theft crime rate among drug addicts in order to get hold of enough money to buy drugs….

This is a new disaster that faces the Iraqis and targets its young people …

The second report left me wondering…
There are poor people and economy problems in Israel? Who believes that?
Israel presents itself in front of the world as a civil, democratic, and economically prosperous state. Its hostile policy against its neighbors and their obsession of arming themselves to use those weapons for the killing of Palestinians every day and night, it appears that it started to take a toll on the state budget and creates problems inside the Israeli society.
Is this why the United States putting pressure on the Arab countries to include their innocent adorable sister Israel to the big middle eastern family?
Or is it to open the Arab markets for the Israeli products and improve the state’s economy that started to have poverty and unemployment?
Oh dear! How pathetic.
They ran out of money buying weapons to kill Palestinians which lead the country into poverty. And what about those damn Palestinians. They haven’t vanished yet!
So what is the problem?
I always ask myself: why do the west love Israel and defend it? Why do they provide it with mass destruction weapons? Why do they justify all their oppressive doings against us and cover for them. Why do they refuse to deal with international decisions that condemn the Israel policy against Palestinians? Why do they use the VITO to save Israel?
At the same time they hates us, Arabs, and portrait us as the bad guys although we are Semite too?
Aren’t the Arab and the Jews are both Semite nations from the Arab peninsula?
Don’t they have the same grandfather, Prophet Abraham, peace be upon him?
Why did Hitler oppress the Jews among all people?
Why did Britain volunteer the Bellfor Promise and gave them the right to create a state in Palestine?
Those who don’t own the land volunteered, and gave it away…
Why did Britain do that?
Is their really a human aspect to this matter?
They brought them from Europe and other neighboring countries to inhabit in their new statehood. Ok Welcome…
Come and live with us as brothers on the one land share everything fairly and in peace…
But what happened?
Armed terrorists invade Palestine and commit massacres and force the poor, civilian peasants to leave their lands and homes in Palestine...
Then Britain encouraged the immigration of tens of thousands of Jews from Europe to live where those were killed or forcefully immigrated to neighboring countries to live in camps used to live....
Where is justice and humanity in this story?
Then the series of wars between Arab country militaries and Israel supported by America and Britain over 60 years ago. Israel always wins and the scale usually on its side...
Ok, who is winning so far?
I see that all parties are losers...
The Palestinians and the Israelis are both living in hell...
Neither the victim nor the victimizer is happy...
When this is going to stop?
Generations grow here and there and aggressive measures continue...
The funny thing is that a man like Sharon spent his life playing the mass murderer role whose palms drip of Palestinian blood and now seems that he is tiered from this game and decides to change his motto and become man of peace. Oh my God?
OK! They want peace, don’t they?
We also peaceful nation who love peace…
But what kind of peace can happen with a state believes in the diminishing the other state existence
And denying its rights and history?
What type of peace?
Is it the type of yes sir you are right and I am stupid I will obey no questions asked??
Even this type of negotiation will not get the poor Palestinians any gains…
I want to read the Torah; I want to know where the problem is?
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I go back to the sad Iraq….
The situation is still worrying and the aggression continues. There are still invisible hand persisting to raise a conflict among Iraqis….
After Cairo Summit, Things were supposed to gear towards calming things up between the different parties in Iraq…
Everybody was supposed to get ready for election to and rationalize the situation according to the choices of the Iraqi people…
But there still are groups that explode, assassinate, kill and shed blood. The victims are mostly elderly, civilians or Iraqi police…
Yesterday, I smiled while hearing George Bush saying that the next step in Iraq is to achieve the national interest among Iraqis and that his administration is working to achieve this matter…
That’s strange!
Who divided the Iraqis to groups and sects and planted evil, riot and sectarianism among them other than the American Administration? And now they play the role of the rational Wiseman who wants to help the idiot disagreeing parties in Iraq to live in harmony??

My GOD be our witness and support
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I want to comment on this one new subject in Iraq that raised a lot of questions…
It is about the interference of the occupying force in publishing articles and spreading untrue stories in some Iraqi papers to beautify the picture of occupation and promote it.
We were talking about this subject a lot when we were in Baghdad
We were wondering why some papers write as if it is commercial station that promotes the occupation.
The papers were glorifying it day and night.
And talk about romantic beautiful stories about the occupying soldiers who love the Iraqis and save them from disastrous situations.
The publish pictures of occupying soldiers surrounded by Iraqi children
As if it is sign of love from Iraqis.
And a sign of nobility and humanity that add to the reason why occupying soldiers are around
The west will be glad to see these pictures of course
It proves to them Bush’s point of view that his administration and the war on Iraq is purely for humane reason
Look at the pictures, do you see them?
These pictures are the biggest evidence of soldiers’ humanity and gentleness.
Then the pictures of Abu Ghreib Prison surfaced and blew in the face of those in the west and in Iraq.
After that people here and there started to doubt about the meaning of war and its true motives
After that new pictures were found revealing showing torture inside the Iraqi prison.
And The white phosphoric explosives in Falluja, and the killing of unarmed injured people inside mosques in the battle of Falluja
and the random shooting in streets from their hummer cars that are driven by security guard mercenaries.
The shoot on innocent Iraqis
Just because drivers were not paying attention and slowed down for them

We want the whole world to see the truth about occupation the way we see it.
We always say it is a matter of time
The lying and forging of those paid commercial will be revealed by time
People will open their eyes to see what is going on in Iraq
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I still have one question regarding the Iraqi Bloggers. I always wonder about those who cheer for the occupation since the fall of Baghdad and post beautiful pictures for occupation soldiers.
And write all kind of lies against the patriotic Iraqis
Is anybody paying those monkeys?
Or are they a special kind of monkeys who offer themselves for free?
I just wonder…..
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(Translated by Manal)