A Family in Baghdad

Wednesday, July 26th, 2006
Good morning…

The Iraqi Prime Minister is visiting America these days, for talks with the American administration about the Iraqi affairs, and how to pull the country out of the chaos and the mess that is drowning it, since the American war upon us in 2003, till now…
I saw president Bush giving a speech. I have heard so many speeches and empty talk that has nothing to do with reality, that I stood for short moments to listen, then I went out of the room. It was the same rigid address in the minds of the American administration's members; who do not read reality, but only repeat what is in their minds, which is usually as far as can be from truth, and as near as can be to their personal interests…
Did you ever meet a kind of person to whom you tell a story, or complain about some sort of problem, then look at him, only to find him absent minded in another world, then, he would turn to you to give you remarks and deductions which have nothing to do whatsoever with what you were talking about?
This is how it is to talk with most of the American administration's members, and most of the American Congress members. They are people who live only in their closed, limited world, who have no wish, or mental ability, to listen to the Other. They listen to the illusory, inner voice in their heads, insisting upon it, for years and years, until they are removed from their posts. And I don't know then whether their stupid, parrot-style mentality will change, or evolve into one that understands reality and responds to it. But what will be the point?
By then they would be outside of the decision-making zone….
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Bush yesterday said, as usual, the sentence that all the losers in the American administration like to say, and by which they justify the remaining of the occupation forces in Iraq indefinitely, justifying it with noble causes… (I have told the Iraqi Prime Minister we will not abandon you, and will not pull the troops out of Iraq….)
I heard that sentence for the first time from an American congressman, while we were standing in one of the corridors of the congress building some months ago, with an Iraqi women delegation, when the man passed. Some of the Americans standing about volunteered to introduce us to him. He puffed up his feathers and said the same phrase: Don't worry, we will not abandon you, and will not pull the troops out of Iraq….
I looked at that foolish man, and saw how stupid and conceited he is, how he reads reality according to his mood, imagining he is playing the role of the savior hero, while we play the role of the weaklings who call to him for help. The truth is exactly the opposite; the American presence in Iraq brought upon us destruction, catastrophes, chaos and terrorism. And scheduling the withdrawal is the only thing that can make the Iraqis happy.........
We saw nothing from them but stupidity and floundering in Iraq, starting from the bad planning, the mismanagement, and the wrong foolish decisions, only to retreat back from them later on. To induce America's opponents in the region, countries or individuals, to enter into the Iraqi field, and turn it into a battlefield of regional and international battles. The victim and the loser are the Iraqis. And that is carelessness about the innocent Iraqi blood, turning it into a sacrifice so that the people of other nations could live happily and peacefully, away from these bloodied struggles…..
Meaning- let Iraq be an experimental field, the Iraqis experimental mice, which die so that others would live happily, and sleep peacefully.
This is the reality of things for more than three years now…
The carelessness is very evident about the issue of shedding the Iraqi blood. There are no investigations about the bombings, killings, kidnappings, or violence. Everything is being repeated everyday, in the same stupid way, as if those who die are animals, not humans, for three years and more…
There is no real improvement in the work of the Iraqi Police force or the Army, something to suggest they were ready and competent to take over the security agenda, and control Iraq in an acceptable way that would allow for the scheduling of the foreign force withdrawal. And the American administration always says they will withdraw when the Iraqi forces are competent to take over the security issue in Iraq…..
This means it is in the interest of the foreign forces that the Iraqi forces should remain weak, defeated, or hated by its citizens, and under suspicion of its good performance, so the foreign forces would remain indefinitely on the Iraqi soil….
There is no responsibility about the human rights violations held against the Iraqi Ministries of Defense or Interior, who committed many crimes, but no one brought forth the ministers, held them responsible, or put them to investigation…
No accounts were settled about stealing billions of dollars from the Iraqi treasury and public funds, which were supposed to be used for reconstructing Iraq.
There was no improvement for the citizen's services. Who cares about them? What are they worth?
Huh, huh, huh. (to laugh at a bitter joke, the Iraqi way)…..
The prices of fuels and food were raised, while the country sinks in high (and growing) unemployment levels, of about 50-70%...
Who cares?
No one cares about the Iraqis' souls, comfort, or food…
I do not know why the whole world turned against us, or abandoned us??
International interests?
May God curse the interests that kill people's consciences, and make them stony hearted like rocks, and rascals like pigs…
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If we, as Iraqis, went over what happened to Iraq, the series of violence, since 2003 till now; how the circle of violence whirled and whirled every day, but taking on a different shape or appearance every while (each cycle might take 3 to 6 months). I mean; I want to remember the stages of violence in Iraq, which is in anyway an organized and calculated violence, because the transformation from one stage to another is suddenly put into effect in the street. Praise God!
The beginning was attacking the Iraqi Museum and the state offices; plundering and burning everything.
Who can believe those were spontaneous actions?
We were sitting in our houses; there was random shooting, and a curfew outside!
(later on, we learned that the plundered documents from Ministries or state offices went either to the north, in Kurdistan, or Al-Aydeed Base in Qatar).
And it was confirmed precisely that these were not the actions of ordinary people from the street…
Then things moved on to bank robberies, and robbing the houses of former officials.
Then started the campaign of assassinating general directors, doctors, scientists, university professors, air force pilots, former military officers, and former Ba'athies…
Then a campaign of robbing the cars of ordinary citizens and killing them, in the inner streets or along the main outside roads.
Then a campaign of raiding houses by Iraqi and American forces, for random arrests.
Then a campaign of kidnapping rich people, which went on to include even the poor, not sparing even the baker's son!
Then a campaign of exploding trapped cars in public marketplaces, in front of schools, universities, old people's Nursing Homes, and the gathering areas of poor workers.
Violence targeted the Shia'at towns especially with trapped cars and suicide persons. They say: those are from Al-Qaida, which hates Shia'ats and consider them traitors who collaborated with the occupation. [Al-Qaida is a dubious, extremist formation, which is damaging all of Islam. It does not express the feelings of the majority of Muslims. The American CIA joined in establishing it. Without any arguments; we are not making this up against them, go and ask Pakistan and Afghanistan].
Then, came the last Iraqi elections in mid-December 2005. It was an optimistic point for most Iraqis, and most of them participated, saying it was a step we should take in the right direction; we will unite the ranks, build a harmonious national unity government, and push the occupation forces out quickly…
Then, came the explosion in Samara, to push Iraq into a new cycle of violence, and demolish all dreams…
Some gangs and militias appeared which none of the Iraqi Parties admit being responsible for. Dressed in black, attacking the Sunnies in Iraq. Meaning- a violence from the Shia'at's side in Iraq, against the Sunnies in Iraq, this time…. And a series started; of killing Sunnies, dislodging them from their houses and places of living, killing them according to their ID cards, and torturing them in a new trend called- the drill, as holes are made in the victim's body until he dies.
By God, this is a kind of literature not even saddam Hussein in his time knew of. There is also killing by cutting off heads and throwing them in the street, and the random shootings of people on the streets, or at their work locations. Death became so available and cheap, like trash, in Iraq….
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The latest trend in Iraq in the last months is that of the militias, which raid residential neighborhoods in broad daylight, or in the dead of night, breaking through the curfew hours, and none of the occupation forces or the official Iraqi police can control them, or deter their attacks and protect the civilian residents… they enter residential areas, attacking mosques, burning them, killing the Imam and the security group. (are these Muslims? In all our lives, we never heard of a Muslim who attacks a mosque and burns it. Who are these? Magies? Infidels? Zionists? No one knows). Or they might have some seeking eyes in collaboration with them in the neighborhood, who give them lists of the families there and their "kinds"; these are Sunnies, those are Shia'ats. And so, the houses are raided, and a certain sect gets killed. A number of shop owners get killed; mobile shops, furniture shops, groceries, vegetable shops, a bakery, whatever…
These battles rage for hours, then the militias run away. And the government and the occupation forces are powerless, or uncooperative with the cries of the residents.
And the same story is repeated for months in the same neighborhood, until it becomes deserted, and lifeless… the residents departed, and left their houses, and shops closed….
These stories happened in neighborhoods in Baghdad, like Al-Ameriyah, Al-Gazaliyah, Al-Doora, Al-Khadra'a, and Hay Al-Jamee'a, and now in Hay Al-Jihad and Al-Mansoor, and so on…. A grinder turning on and on, grinding the innocent Iraqi civilians. The government and the occupation forces give statements, and condemn, but in reality, one of them is powerless (that, of course, is the government), and the other is happy (for such stories justifies their existence as an occupation sitting heavily over the Iraqis' hearts, one who wants to achieve security for the happy Iraqi people).
Well then, if the attackers were from Al-Qaida, why do they target the Sunnies, being Sunnies themselves?
Why do the target Iraqis? Who is their enemy?
The American occupier, or the miserable Iraqi?
Silly, unreasonable justifications. But the result of all this violence, organized or un-organized, lands into the interest of the occupation forces, one way or another, justifying its remaining in Iraq indefinitely….
Those neighborhoods, before the militias attacked them and ripped them apart, were crowded with people, mixed, and secure, but witness now and then an attack against the occupation forces….
Praise is to God, who changes all. What has the killing militias and the death groups done to them? How was the "program" changed, from crowded, mixed residential neighborhoods with a little resistance against the occupation, into neighborhoods suffering the daily raids of the occupation forces and the random arrests of men, then into suffering from killing militias and death groups, who attack them, killing the men, and dislodging the families, thus turning them into lifeless ghost towns….
Is there a logical connection between these stages?
Yes, there is definitely an invisible line connecting the violence episodes with each other…
This is the summery as I see it in front of me.
And I always ask: where is the Iraqi house which wasn't touched by fire after this war?
The fire touched us all, and burned us, one way or another….
We no longer believe the stories of the dumb American administration, in explaining what is going on in Iraq… or showing themselves innocent from the crimes that ripped the Iraqi society apart……
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About two months ago, the new Iraqi government announced that they, aided by the heroic, esteemed occupation forces, will carry out a great, excellent security plan. And the miserable Iraqis felt optimistic. We said; oh well, let us see the genius of the occupation forces and the magical solutions they will apply to the wounded Iraq to stop the bleeding…
There were some voices in the government who rose to say that that security plan had many holes in it, but nobody listened to them, and their protests were ignored…
The plan was implemented by deploying large numbers of Iraqi police men, accompanied by the occupation forces, in hundreds of roadblocks… but the jam increased on the main streets, and the militias spread death and destruction in the various residential neighborhoods on the outskirts of Baghdad, like Al-Jihad Dist., Al-Doora, Al-Mahmoodiyah, and others…
The stupid plan went on, failure accumulated day after day, and so did the civilian victims…
And now, the American administration announces and admits the stupidity of the approved plan, deciding to lay a new plan. Yes, of course; the Iraqis are a field of experiments for the fools…
Once, in 2004, I was on the Airport Road on my way to my work. We met an American roadblock. I said to my driver: reduce the speed; I want to talk to the American officer. We stopped. He raised his weapon in our faces as usual, in panic, believing us to be terrorists. I said to him: Excuse me, I have a remark. Why do you put the roadblock on the main street, and you know that the killing and kidnapping gangs are ravaging the back streets. Why don't you put the roadblocks there?
He looked at me angrily, then told the driver, angrily: move on, go…
Huh, huh, huh. I took it that he didn't like my words. Another stupid American sinking in the Iraqi swamp, refusing to listen to the Iraqis' remarks…
We have an old Arabic saying: The people of Mecca know better its terrains…
Meaning; the people of any city know better the secrets and details of their city, and their life…
And that is how it is in Iraq…
There won't be any security or settlement in Iraq, unless made by clean, honest, national hands and minds…
America will get tired, and all the fools in the Congress and the administration… and failure will remain their ally in Iraq…
Until the administration of Iraq will be taken over by the true Iraqis, who work with attention for the happiness of their people and its future. Not by traitorous collaborating hands, stained with stealing public funds and the wealth of Iraq, stained by the blood of innocent Iraqis…
These are the merchants of wars, a bad trade, and a bad profit…
These are the sweethearts of the occupation, the enemies of Iraq, and the Iraqis…
When these faces would be removed away from the power and responsibility positions in Iraq, then Iraq would have started its first steps in the right direction, by the will of God…
Peace be upon you………

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