Friday, November 24, 2006
Sunday, November 19th, 2006
Peace be upon you…
To continue talking about my visit to Baghdad…
Sunday came on; it was the day of Saddam and his assistant's trial, and the issuing of the verdict.
We were busy with the laundry and house chores, and watching the electrical power, whether it was the national company generated, or by our street generator?
When the national electrical power is on, we operate the washing machine, the electrical heater, and the water pump, to lift up the water from the ground storage tank to the upper tank on the roof.
As for me, I have forgotten these things for two years, as I am living in normal conditions outside Iraq, no problems of national electricity, generators, or suffering. But for the poor Iraqis, these are their every-day vocabulary since the nineties, the embargo, and the electricity problems which weren't solved until now.
Usually, when the national electricity power is off, the water supply stops, because all the central pumps stop, and when the general electricity is on, the water supply comes along, so people operate the pumps to lift up the water to the upper tanks…
We used to come and go, to find out what will the verdict be against Saddam?
Then, at last we saw the verdict, and said: wow, things will burn up with fire again.
And sure enough; mortar shells are still falling over Adamiyah, a Sunnie neighborhood accused of supporting Saddam. And there were many demonstrations in various cities, some supporting, and some condemning the verdict.
But the real disaster was the Prime Minister's (Al-Maliqiee) speech, for it was a disgusting, sectarian, anger-provoking speech, for those wise ones who seek to calm things down and pull the country out of its dilemma.
And for some others, the sectarian, narrow minded like him, they found it a great speech.
And still for some others, those who were angry with the other sect, their anger and indignation increased.
The disasters increased when the Iraqi Police opened fire on demonstrators who denounced the verdict against Saddam, while fire wasn't opened on those who supported it…
There was a sub-title on Iraqi TV stations, that some militias were attacking some areas in Baghdad, or attacking people's houses and kidnapping them. It was supposed to be a curfew, how do these militias move around and attack houses?
Where is the government, the Police, and the Army?
We called many friends to ask what is happening in their areas, and each area had its own terror…
Here, there are militias, and there, mortar shells are falling…
At that moment precisely, I saw the fact that this is a losing sectarian government which pours oil over fire, increasing the blaze in Iraq.
I was amazed at the government's stupidity, and its dumb, backwards political speech. I felt it has revealed to everyone its idiocy and incapability to handle Iraq's problems wisely, and intelligently.
The Prime Minister said in his speech: the execution of Saddam isn't equal to one drop of blood from Al-Sadder the martyr, or Al-Hakeem, or the Al-Da'awa Party martyrs…
This is a catastrophic speech!
This is a speech that can ignite a civil war…
All those whom he mentioned in his speech of Saddam's victims are only the Shia'ats. This is a speech provoking violence, opening wounds, and strengthening the wish of revenge in the victim's kin.
As if he is saying: Saddam is a Sunnie, and his victims were all Shia'ats. Now, we avenged them.
If he had one iota of brains, an iota of understanding, an iota of patriotism, of love to Iraq and the people of Iraq, he should have said: The execution of Saddam isn't equal to one drop of blood from any Iraqi who was the victim of Saddam's injustice.
That would have been enough.
This would have been a speech of a patriotic man, of the head of a national unity government which really wants to save the country from what it is in.
But he rather proved he is the head of a sectarian, spiteful, disjointed government, with a losing speech, far removed from the pulse of the street, caring nothing for it, caring nothing of the bloodshed, and doesn't want to put an end to it….
I felt sad and disappointed; Iraq is surly walking to a pit, under the rule of these losing leaderships, who didn't realize yet the catastrophe that has befallen Iraq and the Iraqis, this leadership is heedless to the fate of the country and its people, thinking with the brains of an ant, seeing only what is small and limited.
So now the fate of Iraq is in the hands of those vicious who live under the motto: We came for revenge?
I always said, and still say; that Iraq needs leaderships like Nelson Mandela, who establish the culture of forgiveness and forgetting the past, who put the interests of the country before their own, who forget their personal grieves and hatreds, and grow above them, in order for peace to prevail in the country, in order for the Iraqis to reconcile and unite.
As for those fools who are ruling in Iraq now, they are destroying the country and tearing its people apart, whether they know it or not. But in the end they are serving the occupation, presenting to it, on a silver plate, a broken country, a torn-up people, and someone begging the occupation, with all submissiveness and humility: Do not move out!
Of course, why would he move out?
Because if the occupier moves out, then the people will throw them into the garbage; the people do not want such leaders; backwards, sectarians who pushed the country back into the dark ages, who killed its people, robbed its wealth, destroyed its economy, and pushed it into a dark tunnel, carrying it towards an unknown, dark future as well…
Iraq should be led by cultured men and women, nationalists, without sectarian mentalities, only the love of Iraq, its people, and its interest. That should be their urge.
Do they exist?
Yes, Iraq is full with thousands of them, but the government of Bush, and those retard leaderships who came with it do not allow them to appear on the stage, so, they were killed and displaced, so the ugly faces would remain in the forefront.
Who brought on those faces? And who handed them the authority, and made them the decision makers?
The elections and the constitution?
All these were false and illegal, manufactured by the occupier, and now we saw what it has exuded; the destruction, and the bloodshed…
This is not what the Iraqis want. These leaderships aren't our ambition after all the agonies we saw.
These leaderships are worst then Saddam Hussein.
Saddam used to terrorize us with his security institutions, but at least no one kidnapped our sons or our cars, and no one raided the houses of innocent people to kidnap them or spill their blood on the streets without a cause.
The country was secure and safe…
And now?
Destruction, ruin, bloodshed spread, and lying, too!
They say Iraq was liberated, that it has a national-unity government, and its future is shiny, happy, and like honey.
At the time of Saddam there were some who cried for us, and consoled us. Now, they are killing us, destroying the future of our children, and then send false stories about us: that the Iraqi people are building a young democratic country…
Ha,ha,ha…hello…
Where is that young structures?
I see nothing but a destroyed country, and terrified, thwarted people, exhausted by calamities, who are calling for help, and calling, but no one is answering….
As if the whole world has gone deaf…
****************************
At the peak of my sadness and frustration, while I was at my friend's house, Bush appeared on TV in the evening, and said: The world became a better place without Saddam Hussein…
I fell into laughter… I said to my friend: listen, everything is perfect, everything is better than it was, but we- the Iraqis- do not comprehend, and do not appreciate the miracles that Bush brought to Iraq…
***************************
Sunday and Monday passed slowly, boringly, I wished I could go out of the house and walk around in Baghdad, but it was still a curfew because of Saddam's trial, and the bad security conditions.
We read on the subtitles at the Iraqi TV stations that the people of Adamiyah are calling for help from the government, demanding the stopping of the mortar shelling on the neighborhood. The government says it doesn't know the source of the shelling.
People were calling for medical help, and blood donations for the victims…
Two days later, mortar shells landed on Al-Kadimiyah, Al-Sha'ab District, Bad Al-Mua'adam, and on Adamiyah too.
And still the government does nothing…
A week later, while I was in Amman, I saw on one of the Iraqi TV stations, the meeting of the parliament with the Iraqi Defense Minister, and when they asked him about the source of the mortar shells that are landing on residential areas and killing innocent civilians, he said that- speaking militarily, we cannot pinpoint the location precisely, because the shelling could be operated from a pickup track, shooting the target, than moving on. And after a discussion with the parliament he said: we do not have the instruments that can locate the source of firing, but the coalition forces have them…
Well then, asks the poor Iraqi citizen: and what exactly is your job, you and the blessed coalition forces? Didn’t you sit upon the chairs and take over the authority under the pretext of protecting Iraqi civilians?
Where are the protection plans?
What have you done to stop the Iraqi blood flow?
Each of you is throwing the responsibility upon another, blaming him for the failure?
Grief increased in my heart for what is happening to Iraq and its people… my conviction grew that, the conditions of Iraq will never be mended until these deformed shapes are removed from the responsibility positions.
Iraq needs faithful leaders who can achieve security and settlement for the country, and not for a bunch of meek followers, who act according to the occupier's orders, and cannot protect their country, and their people…..
***************
Peace be upon you…
To continue talking about my visit to Baghdad…
Sunday came on; it was the day of Saddam and his assistant's trial, and the issuing of the verdict.
We were busy with the laundry and house chores, and watching the electrical power, whether it was the national company generated, or by our street generator?
When the national electrical power is on, we operate the washing machine, the electrical heater, and the water pump, to lift up the water from the ground storage tank to the upper tank on the roof.
As for me, I have forgotten these things for two years, as I am living in normal conditions outside Iraq, no problems of national electricity, generators, or suffering. But for the poor Iraqis, these are their every-day vocabulary since the nineties, the embargo, and the electricity problems which weren't solved until now.
Usually, when the national electricity power is off, the water supply stops, because all the central pumps stop, and when the general electricity is on, the water supply comes along, so people operate the pumps to lift up the water to the upper tanks…
We used to come and go, to find out what will the verdict be against Saddam?
Then, at last we saw the verdict, and said: wow, things will burn up with fire again.
And sure enough; mortar shells are still falling over Adamiyah, a Sunnie neighborhood accused of supporting Saddam. And there were many demonstrations in various cities, some supporting, and some condemning the verdict.
But the real disaster was the Prime Minister's (Al-Maliqiee) speech, for it was a disgusting, sectarian, anger-provoking speech, for those wise ones who seek to calm things down and pull the country out of its dilemma.
And for some others, the sectarian, narrow minded like him, they found it a great speech.
And still for some others, those who were angry with the other sect, their anger and indignation increased.
The disasters increased when the Iraqi Police opened fire on demonstrators who denounced the verdict against Saddam, while fire wasn't opened on those who supported it…
There was a sub-title on Iraqi TV stations, that some militias were attacking some areas in Baghdad, or attacking people's houses and kidnapping them. It was supposed to be a curfew, how do these militias move around and attack houses?
Where is the government, the Police, and the Army?
We called many friends to ask what is happening in their areas, and each area had its own terror…
Here, there are militias, and there, mortar shells are falling…
At that moment precisely, I saw the fact that this is a losing sectarian government which pours oil over fire, increasing the blaze in Iraq.
I was amazed at the government's stupidity, and its dumb, backwards political speech. I felt it has revealed to everyone its idiocy and incapability to handle Iraq's problems wisely, and intelligently.
The Prime Minister said in his speech: the execution of Saddam isn't equal to one drop of blood from Al-Sadder the martyr, or Al-Hakeem, or the Al-Da'awa Party martyrs…
This is a catastrophic speech!
This is a speech that can ignite a civil war…
All those whom he mentioned in his speech of Saddam's victims are only the Shia'ats. This is a speech provoking violence, opening wounds, and strengthening the wish of revenge in the victim's kin.
As if he is saying: Saddam is a Sunnie, and his victims were all Shia'ats. Now, we avenged them.
If he had one iota of brains, an iota of understanding, an iota of patriotism, of love to Iraq and the people of Iraq, he should have said: The execution of Saddam isn't equal to one drop of blood from any Iraqi who was the victim of Saddam's injustice.
That would have been enough.
This would have been a speech of a patriotic man, of the head of a national unity government which really wants to save the country from what it is in.
But he rather proved he is the head of a sectarian, spiteful, disjointed government, with a losing speech, far removed from the pulse of the street, caring nothing for it, caring nothing of the bloodshed, and doesn't want to put an end to it….
I felt sad and disappointed; Iraq is surly walking to a pit, under the rule of these losing leaderships, who didn't realize yet the catastrophe that has befallen Iraq and the Iraqis, this leadership is heedless to the fate of the country and its people, thinking with the brains of an ant, seeing only what is small and limited.
So now the fate of Iraq is in the hands of those vicious who live under the motto: We came for revenge?
I always said, and still say; that Iraq needs leaderships like Nelson Mandela, who establish the culture of forgiveness and forgetting the past, who put the interests of the country before their own, who forget their personal grieves and hatreds, and grow above them, in order for peace to prevail in the country, in order for the Iraqis to reconcile and unite.
As for those fools who are ruling in Iraq now, they are destroying the country and tearing its people apart, whether they know it or not. But in the end they are serving the occupation, presenting to it, on a silver plate, a broken country, a torn-up people, and someone begging the occupation, with all submissiveness and humility: Do not move out!
Of course, why would he move out?
Because if the occupier moves out, then the people will throw them into the garbage; the people do not want such leaders; backwards, sectarians who pushed the country back into the dark ages, who killed its people, robbed its wealth, destroyed its economy, and pushed it into a dark tunnel, carrying it towards an unknown, dark future as well…
Iraq should be led by cultured men and women, nationalists, without sectarian mentalities, only the love of Iraq, its people, and its interest. That should be their urge.
Do they exist?
Yes, Iraq is full with thousands of them, but the government of Bush, and those retard leaderships who came with it do not allow them to appear on the stage, so, they were killed and displaced, so the ugly faces would remain in the forefront.
Who brought on those faces? And who handed them the authority, and made them the decision makers?
The elections and the constitution?
All these were false and illegal, manufactured by the occupier, and now we saw what it has exuded; the destruction, and the bloodshed…
This is not what the Iraqis want. These leaderships aren't our ambition after all the agonies we saw.
These leaderships are worst then Saddam Hussein.
Saddam used to terrorize us with his security institutions, but at least no one kidnapped our sons or our cars, and no one raided the houses of innocent people to kidnap them or spill their blood on the streets without a cause.
The country was secure and safe…
And now?
Destruction, ruin, bloodshed spread, and lying, too!
They say Iraq was liberated, that it has a national-unity government, and its future is shiny, happy, and like honey.
At the time of Saddam there were some who cried for us, and consoled us. Now, they are killing us, destroying the future of our children, and then send false stories about us: that the Iraqi people are building a young democratic country…
Ha,ha,ha…hello…
Where is that young structures?
I see nothing but a destroyed country, and terrified, thwarted people, exhausted by calamities, who are calling for help, and calling, but no one is answering….
As if the whole world has gone deaf…
****************************
At the peak of my sadness and frustration, while I was at my friend's house, Bush appeared on TV in the evening, and said: The world became a better place without Saddam Hussein…
I fell into laughter… I said to my friend: listen, everything is perfect, everything is better than it was, but we- the Iraqis- do not comprehend, and do not appreciate the miracles that Bush brought to Iraq…
***************************
Sunday and Monday passed slowly, boringly, I wished I could go out of the house and walk around in Baghdad, but it was still a curfew because of Saddam's trial, and the bad security conditions.
We read on the subtitles at the Iraqi TV stations that the people of Adamiyah are calling for help from the government, demanding the stopping of the mortar shelling on the neighborhood. The government says it doesn't know the source of the shelling.
People were calling for medical help, and blood donations for the victims…
Two days later, mortar shells landed on Al-Kadimiyah, Al-Sha'ab District, Bad Al-Mua'adam, and on Adamiyah too.
And still the government does nothing…
A week later, while I was in Amman, I saw on one of the Iraqi TV stations, the meeting of the parliament with the Iraqi Defense Minister, and when they asked him about the source of the mortar shells that are landing on residential areas and killing innocent civilians, he said that- speaking militarily, we cannot pinpoint the location precisely, because the shelling could be operated from a pickup track, shooting the target, than moving on. And after a discussion with the parliament he said: we do not have the instruments that can locate the source of firing, but the coalition forces have them…
Well then, asks the poor Iraqi citizen: and what exactly is your job, you and the blessed coalition forces? Didn’t you sit upon the chairs and take over the authority under the pretext of protecting Iraqi civilians?
Where are the protection plans?
What have you done to stop the Iraqi blood flow?
Each of you is throwing the responsibility upon another, blaming him for the failure?
Grief increased in my heart for what is happening to Iraq and its people… my conviction grew that, the conditions of Iraq will never be mended until these deformed shapes are removed from the responsibility positions.
Iraq needs faithful leaders who can achieve security and settlement for the country, and not for a bunch of meek followers, who act according to the occupier's orders, and cannot protect their country, and their people…..
***************
# posted by Faiza Al-Araji @ 4:27 pm 
