A Family in Baghdad

Tuesday, February 7th, 2006
Good morning…
Last week was so full for me, and loaded with sorrow…
A group of ladies came from Baghdad, some I met for the first time, and the others I knew when I was in Baghdad. The business they were here for was starting the procedures of acquiring the visa to travel to the United States, to participate in the activities of the International Women's Day next March, with an American, non-governmental organization which opposes the war on Iraq, and want these Iraqi women, all of them mothers, to talk about their personal experiences during that war.
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Some women came along, working with Iraqi societies for helping the residents in the devastated areas, like Fallujah, Al-Qa'aim, Ramadi, and others of the tense and hot towns, towns which still get American air raids from time to time, or get shelled by missiles aiming at the Iraqi resistance there, and of course- they hit the civilians without mercy, as a form of the punishment policy used by the occupation and the imperialism every time, everywhere, as we read the history books.
Those civilians have hot files that are worth following up:

• The widows and orphans file: those who were left behind as a result of this silly war, and now this is the responsibility of the Iraqi non-governmental organizations.

• The detention camps and prisons file: and the human rights transgressions that are taking place there, against the detainees, men and women, Iraqis and non-Iraqis. Some Iraqi non-governmental organizations are struggling to defend them, after the international organizations proved incapable of interfering to help them.

• The town services file: about the services of the towns which are being besieged, stormed, and raided by the occupation forces; services like water supply, electricity, communications, reconstructing schools, hospitals, public streets and roads, and other public services. These are the responsibility of the state, but where is the Iraqi state now? There is ruin, chaos, and stealing the public funds, without any obvious, and serious accomplishments on the ground of reality, to assure people and give them confidence in the new government…

• The dead and wounded, the ruined houses, and compensations file: this is a long, spiky file, of which the Iraqi and American governments elude, but I am sure it is a file demanding justice, and legal rights, and it shall be won, no matter how long it takes- a year, five, ten, or fifty. The Iraqis will be compensated, and those will be taken out of the American government's eyes, and despite her nose, one day. The American army eludes the compensations now, telling the citizens who complain: who can prove that the source of the missile that fell upon you is the American army? Perhaps you are the victims of the resistance and its missiles in the combat zone. Well then; how can a family prove that their house was ruined by an American missile? Or that her children were killed by an American missile? Do they photograph that and put it in the complaint file? Who guarantees the army will admit to that? They will simply tell them they are liars; you made up that story, and brought that missile from another site… very well, logically- when an occupation force enter a village or town, besiege it, and forbid people from leaving it, and the shelling starts, people get killed, and all is ruined, the green and the dry, as they say, to whom shall the residents go, those who lost casualties, and their houses were ruined by the violence of the engagement? Logically; isn't the occupation force responsible for what is happening? How are these cases solved internationally? There must be some international law that should be taken as a reference to the Iraqi lawyers, to follow up this file…

• The children file: those who became crippled or disfigured by this war, or those who need urgent surgery, like Hakeem, whom I saw here, waiting for a visa to travel to America for treatment, that was a donation of an American, non-governmental organization.


I want to tell the story of Hakeem: Hakeem is a six years old child. When Fallujah was bombed in April 2004, many missiles fell over their house, the glass was shattered, and the missile's shrapnel fell over the people in the house, his mother's belly was ripped open, she was pregnant, and the embryo died, while she miraculously survived. A splinter hit Hakeem in the face, and he lost a side of his face- the left side; no eye, no skin. They performed a patching face surgery in a Baghdad hospital, taking some skin out of his thigh, but he still needs plastic surgery, and a solution for his eye problem…
I went with the Iraqi ladies to the hotel to see him, and meet him. My heart went out at the sight of him. I took a photo of Hakeem, but I can't look at him for long. I shall put down his photo, you will have to excuse me because it isn't a comforting sight to the heart, but what can I do?
Hakeem has been sitting in the hotel with his father for a month now, waiting for the visa, why? Because at the embassy they interviewed his father and asked him, was he in the Iraqi army? He said- yes of course, I served the compulsory military service, like any other Iraqi. And of course they are hesitant in the embassy to issue a visa, lest Hakeem's father would turn out to be a terrorist who would bomb America.
Ha,ha,ha….isn't that a comedy?
The executioner fears the victim…
I do not want to get into more details, more questions, I want to pass by this article on to a question that is jumping in front of me:
Why would America come to bomb our towns and villages, then we go to look for an American, non-governmental organization to treat the victim-child?
With all my respect and appreciation for this organization and its high morals, but my anger and pain raise these innocent questions: where are the Arabs, the Muslims? Where are the rich people of Iraq, the Arabs, and the Muslims? Are they storing their money in the banks of Europe and America? To gamble with it there? To buy palaces and villas there? To spend it on drinks and gambling in the nightclubs?
Aren't those obliged to treat a child like Hakeem? An Arabic, Muslim child, the victim of an unjust war? Where are the rich and princes of the Gulf, so far from the catastrophes taking place in Iraq, Palestine, and Afghanistan? There are millions of widows and orphans in Iraq, Palestine, and Afghanistan, for whom we tour around, begging for them to be sponsored, at $ 25 an orphan?
Has the money of this nation become so rare?
Not at all, for we can all see the hotels and palaces being build by the rich of the nation, here and there, the money being spend without a moment's thought, on entertainment and fun, and satellite channels, worth millions of dollars, owned by Arab princes, to spread corruption and loss among the young of the nation.
And when we speak about the wounded, the orphans, and the widows, the mood of the listeners would crumble…
Are these the ethics of Muslims?
What is left of Islam?
And why do you move in angry marches against the newspaper that ridiculed the Prophet Muhammad, (May prayers and peace be upon him)? I think he is looking down at most Muslims, and saying: "You hypocrites, what have you kept of my teachings, and my path? What have you done after me? What have you preserved of your religion, and what have you lost? You are suffering all these insults because you are sinking into sins. You have moved away from your religion and its teachings, you have forgotten mercy in your hearts, and GOD will not change your conditions until you change the deformities and defects in your selves".
By GOD, if I keep talking for hours about this subject, my pain and anger wouldn't become less, but we are a nation that does deserve mercy as long as we have a repentant among us, or ask for forgiveness.
And I do hope the rich of this nation will repent, and ask for forgiveness, for what they neglected in helping their brothers, for they will be asked about how they spent each penny, and they will know, then…
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Among the ladies who came from Baghdad, who were invited to participate in the Women's Day in America, there are two Iraqi mothers, who came to talk about their own personal experience in the war…
The first one's name is Vivian, a Christian. She was with her husband, children, mother in law, and brother in law in their car, at the 7th of March 2003, that is- before the official fall of Baghdad at the 9th of March. they were in their car, driving in one of Baghdad's streets, near the famous Baghdad Clock, when they were surprised by an American tank, carrying some sweet soldiers, who started firing randomly at the car of those miserable people. The husband, his mother, and three children were all killed, while the woman and her brother in law escaped from the car to the street, hid behind some trees, with the shooting still going on at them. Then the tank stopped, and the hero American soldiers discovered that this was a family, that those were unarmed civilians, so they asked the wife and her brother in law to leave the place, and leave the bodies behind.
She says: (We walked down the street, until we reached a safe area with civilian cars, who took us home. And after a week of negotiations with the American army, they handed over the bodies to us. We took them to the church, where we washed them, prayed for them, then buried them….).
How would my tears not fall down, or my heart wouldn't twist in pain, when I tell you this story? Whenever I saw that woman I wondered in my heart; how did she retain the ability to talk, or smile? The bullets entered the heads of her children, as she said; she saw bullets get into her son's forehead, who was sitting beside her. Two of her children were in intermediate school, and the youngest was in primary school… now, she went back to live with her elderly parents…
She was a mother, a wife with a family, and suddenly, everything evaporated…
I looked at her, a young woman wearing black. I asked her about her age, and she said-45 years. But she looks younger than her years…
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Another mother came from Baghdad, with another story…
A lady called – Anwaar…
At August 8th, 2003, that is, months after the fall of Baghdad, she was with her husband and children in their car, and the lovely tank came along, as usual, and there was random shooting. The husband was killed with three of her children, while she and one of her daughters were wounded… the mother was pregnant, and now she lives with her in-laws, with a 3 years old child, and a 17 years old daughter. The baby was born after his father and brothers left this world…
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The four ladies went to the embassy to apply for a visa, the Council met them all, one by one, and looked with doubt at the ones wearing black. He asked them; when did their husbands die? And the answer was: during the war…
The result- he did not issue a visa for them, but only to the others who did not lose their families in the war…
Why? Everyone kept wondering….
Then they went back to Baghdad…
Why didn't he grant them a visa? Was he afraid they would confront the American people, talk about their experience, and embarrass the government and the American army?
I don't know…
But he knows the answer.
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I kept thinking of them…
Who will compensate them for the devastation of their lives?
Who will compensate, and question about what befell thousands of Iraqi families; the killings, and the ruin of houses, before the fall of Baghdad, until now?
The military actions are still on, the victims are still falling every day, and the questions are still hanging, without answers….
My heart is full of sadness, bitterness, and anger at what is happening in Iraq, so, DO NOT BLAME ME.
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Translated by May/Baghdad.