A Family in Baghdad

Sunday, January 21st, 2007

Peace be upon you…
What does it mean for a human being to live in a state of waiting?
What does it mean when his whole life is restless, unstable, and hanging from a thread?
This is how I feel, and so are the feelings of millions of Iraqis inside Iraq and abroad, since the American invasion of Iraq in 2003, until now…
At the beginning, we used to wait for services to get better, for the emergence of a new government; one that would think in a new way and act with a democratic mentality, an advanced professional mentality that would improve the infrastructure of the country: the water services, the electricity, the communication systems, the schools, hospitals, etc…, to make the Iraqi person feel more comfortable, secure, and happy, to make him enjoy the wealth of his country, which all the world envies him about, in a fair way…
Iraq has oil, water, fertile lands, and precious metals. Iraq is the of land of resources since ancient times, and the Iraqis, like all other nations in the world, dream of living a secure, and settled life…

Since the war in 2003, we have listened to President Bush's promises that he will liberate us, and make us the happiest, most free, and democratic nation in the Middle East…
And we are waiting…
But in reality, everything in Iraq is deteriorating towards bad, and worst…
And we are waiting…
And the whole world, not just the Iraqis; the whole world is waiting for the achievement of Bush's dreams…
But the difference between the Iraqis and the other nations of earth, is that we have lost many things…
We lost the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, most of them innocent…
We lost billions of dollars of oil money, without constructing the country…
We lost our stability, our unity, and solidarity…
We lost our houses and our jobs, and left the country to various exiles…
We lost the best minds in Iraq; who were assassinated or driven outside the boarders…

Millions of Iraqis are scattered now around the world, seeking asylum here and there…
And those inside; are either killed, imprisoned, displaced, or live a continuous daily terror story that breaks the nerves, and turns people into lost, nervous personalities that know not their path?
The Iraqis are also waiting for the disbanding of the militias, the stopping of the daily bloodshed; they await the improvement of the government's performance, await seeing a government that thinks about them and their sufferings, a government that doesn't live in its own world, there, far away behind the fortified walls of the Green Zone…
The government's own world lays in the political considerations and Parties' interests…
The Iraqis wait to see a scheduling for the occupying foreign troops pullout from Iraq, they wait for settlement, working to rebuild the country by the hands of millions of the unemployed Iraqis… they wait for the shining, happy future for their children, in a safe and secure Iraq, where people live like they lived since thousands of years; Arabs and Kurds, different sects and religions in harmony with each other, people who do not fight or quarrel over positions or the wealth of the country, like what is happening now; governed by an ugly, distorted constitution, the principles of which were laid down by the occupation, under the pretext of achieving justice, then they discovered that such a constitution will provoke a civil war rather than achieve justice, and so, Bush finally decided that this constitution should be re-considered…
I mean; we have been waiting since 2003 to see something positive achieved on the ground of reality, but we in truth are harvesting the fruits of the mistakes and the stupidity of the American policy; the policy of a vicious occupier.
Now, Bush and his administration admitted that they made a mistake when they decided to disband the army and its institutions, leaving the country to sink in the chaos of violence, looting, robbery and bloodshed, and when they established this deformed constitution and imposed it upon the Iraqis, when they produced the "Al-Ba'ath uprooting" law, and millions of Iraqis went victims to it, those who lost their jobs in the state because they were compelled in the past to join Al-Ba'ath Party to get a job…
Meaning- after four years, Bush, and according to his new strategy, wants to start from the zero point in Iraq, to correct the mistakes of his dumb instructions, and start from square One…
Can there be more stupidity, or more recklessness about people's lives, than this?
Was the war against Iraq a video game? Let us try this weapon, that plan, and then we can change the rules of the game on the next stage?
We have seen all this misery, we; the Iraqis inside Iraq, or the ones who had to immigrate and live in nearby or far off countries, while our eyes are still on Iraq…
Day and night, our eyes turn to Iraq…
In a state of…. Waiting
We want to go back…
Each day, our eyes go that way; we want to go back to our houses, our jobs, our kin and to our neighbors........
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And always, Bush blames Al-Qaida'a and the terrorists because they destroyed Iraq?
Who entered Iraq first? The occupation or Al-Qaida'a?
Who carried out the stupid policies, destroyed the economy, robbed the wealth, disbanded the army, spread chaos, and shed blood?
The occupation or Al-Qaida'a?
I am not defending Al-Qaida'a, but I see that the occupation opened up the borders, spread chaos, and smoothed every way for them to enter Iraq, and to cause more conflict and bloodshed…
Why should foreigners enter my homeland to kill my people and neighbors?
The occupation, Al-Qaida'a, or other foreigners- we do not want them to remain in Iraq…/

As for the national Iraqi resistance; it existed since the first months of the occupation…
And this is a story that Bush wants to deny its existence on the ground of reality; the story of the existence of a nationalistic Iraqi resistance that rejects the occupation, while he claims his remaining in Iraq to crush Al-Qaida'a?
If the occupation goes out of Iraq, then the Iraqis will know how to crush Al-Qaida'a…
But fabricating explosions that kill innocent Iraqis, plotted by unknown people; this gives a justification for Bush to remain, under the pretext of achieving security in Iraq.
As for the Iraqi symbols who returned to Iraq under the protection of the occupation, those who used to call themselves- the opposition, who allied themselves with Bush to realize his project in Iraq; those symbols, about whom we are certain now, after these barren years, that they came only to monopolize authority and plunder the wealth of the country. Those symbols do not want the world to hear the word - national Iraqi resistance… That word hurts their feelings, or rather, provokes them and makes them angry… because those symbols want to convince the world that all the Iraqis support Bush and his men in Iraq. And whoever objects is a Saddamist, Ba'athi criminal…
And so, this resistance is a bunch of Saddamists, Ba'athies and criminals; or so they were trying to convince the world and the Iraqi people on the first months after the occupation… they attributed the charge of the trapped cars and the daily random killings as an act of the Iraqi resistance.
But the random arrests and mass punishments against innocent civilians, led by the occupation forces joined by the Iraqi Interior and Defense Ministries, made people resentful against the occupation and those who collaborate with it…
The Iraqis began to see themselves as the victims of the occupation and the collaborators…
The Iraqis live daily through human rights violations, and the insulting of human dignity, and no one protects them, defends them, respects them, or cares about their sufferings…

These stupid and aggressive acts against the Iraqis made a big number of them change their minds, and respect anything concerning the national resistance. A lot of people started looking at the resistance with an appreciative and respectful eye, that they aren't a bunch of Ba'athis or foreign people from beyond the borders, and this angers the weak Iraqi government, which possess no popularity or support on the ground of reality. This government is supported only by the occupation, and even the congress criticizes it; being a weak government in need of constant American support…
In the former security plans until now, the government doesn't eliminate the gangs and the militias who kill innocent civilians; but they are rather busy chasing the resistance, joined by the occupation soldiers. This is a priority to them. As to the daily shedding of the innocent Iraqi blood; no one cares about it and no one stops it, neither the occupation nor the government…

Of course, this is the truth that corresponds to the lie Bush usually spreads: this is a legitimate elected government, supported by the Iraqis…
If it were a government loved by the people, why would they need an occupation force to support them?
If it were really a government wanted by the Iraqis, then it is not necessary for the occupation to remain; let the occupation withdraw, and the people along with the government will cooperate to eliminate that bunch of rebellious rioters…
But the actual fact is that this government is isolated, not trusted by the Iraqis. This is a government which the Iraqis feel regretful for having elected, after its credibility has fallen in front of them, after its stupidity, partiality, sectarianism and foolish acts became evident to the people, its slackness in defending the Iraqis and protecting them, its surrender and submission to Bush's decisions and instructions…
If the elections were to be repeated now, the Iraqis would not choose those faces again. They destroyed our lives; they lied to us, and did not fulfill any of the things they promised… they spread chaos, hatred, segregation and injustice among people…
This government didn't provide the minimum level of security and protection to the Iraqis… every Iraqi house is a target to them; meaning- they are ready to storm any Iraqi house, to arrest any Iraqis citizen, to torture any citizen, or kill him…whatever…
The important thing is; they should take over the authority and remain there- that would be enough, even over the dead bodies and the skulls of the innocent Iraqis?
This is what is happening daily…

There are news from Baghdad about endless random arrests, about bombarding civilian residential areas under the pretext of the existence of terrorists among them…
And they cover up the details of the bombarding and the number of the victims who fell…
They accuse any innocent person they hunt from the street of being a terrorist… like the story of bombarding Haifa Street last week, arresting Sudanese and Syrian terrorists… while the truth is, they are innocent citizens who lived in Iraq since the 1980s with their families, and some were political refugees in Iraq, and the government of their original countries wouldn't allow them to go back…

How many people I met in Amman; former detainees or prisoners in the prisons of the occupation or the Iraqi Interior Ministry, all without a charge. They were arrested randomly, insulted and tortured, and then they were released after months or years, after being presented to a judge who dismissed them as innocent…
Of course, the detainees in Iraq are thrown in prisons for months or years without seeing a lawyer or a judge. Some would die under torture, commit suicide, or they might decide to set him free only to de followed and assassinated after a short time…
These are not fantasy- spun tales; these are testimonies we listened to from detainees. I know their names, their faces and addresses. And there will come the time for them to speak up in front of the whole world, for the world to see what Bush has done, his crimes against humanity in Iraq….

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Inside Iraq, the government is trying to hide the numbers of the daily violence victims, protesting against the numbers announced by the United Nations, for example, from time to time… and so, the real numbers of the Iraqis who fled the country are being hidden….
Millions of Iraqis now left their houses and jobs, to run away from the unstoppable daily death inferno…
For two years now, they have been saying there are some (700,000) Iraqis here in Amman. Here in Amman; there are Iraqis in the restaurants, hotels, furnished apartments, and ordinary residential apartments, in schools, universities and hospitals. If you walk some streets, eight out of every ten you meet, are Iraqis…
In Syria, I saw a housing crisis in there because of the Iraqis flow into that country…

And; President Bush is sending more troops…
Are they supposed to empty Iraq of its people, and send more American soldiers?
We await going back to our country and houses, await the return of Iraq to us, await the scheduling of the foreign troops withdrawal, not the opposite…
Here in Amman; there are hundreds of engineers, doctors, pharmacists, lawyers, pilots, university professors from all specializations, and PhD Degrees carriers…
Most of them sit here without a job, for they are not permitted to work in Jordan. And if they happen to find employment, it would be a half-wages job, not enough to keep them barely alive…
When we meet them, the talk is usually about Iraq; lamentation and sadness about what happened to the homeland and the people, wondering why the Iraqis are being driven outside their country to live half a life without a homeland, while foreign armies and foreign contractors come to live in Iraq and plunder its wealth?
These excellent qualifications sit around here frustrated, smashed, being devoured by emptiness, loss and anxiety, looking at Iraq, with nothing in their power to improve things?
In whose hands the fate of the country lies now?
In the hands of foreign troops, a weak government controlled by Bush, and outlaw criminal militias? While hundreds and thousands of Iraqis, civilians and military, well qualified, who can solve the country's problems, were removed from deciding the fate of Iraq?

Iraq will be all right, when the decision goes back into the hands of its men and women, not those who obey the orders of Bush and his administration, but those who carry the love of Iraq, its independence and dignity, in their hearts….
Who carry love for its people, its history and civilization…
Who believe they are one people, with one past, and one future…
Those are the ones who will achieve settlement and justice for Iraq…
They do exist; waiting for the chance to save the country from the catastrophes that has befallen it…

I always hear the question: what will happen to Iraq if the armies withdraw from it?
And the answer, which I heard from most Iraqis, and made me smile: when the occupation leaves, all the mercenary agents will leave with it, for no one will protect them…
And Iraq will go back to its people, those who love Iraq and want what is best for it…
Bush knows this, and that is why he insists upon remaining in Iraq by flimsy excuses, because, if he withdraws his army, his dream and project will be smashed immediately, at once…
But he will get out of Iraq…
He will get out, in spite of his nose…
For neither the Iraqi people want him there, nor the American people…
I pray to God to defeat him, and to make victorious the will of the people who love life, freedom, and peace….
Amen….

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