A Family in Baghdad

Monday, October 15th, 2007
Peace be upon you…
The holy month of Ramada is finished, and Al-Fiter Feast is here; we exchanged congratulations with each other; in person, or by mobile phone messages and phone calls. We prayed to God that the next Ramadan and Feast would come and we are in Iraq, and Iraq would be well, basking in peace and security, without a hateful occupation…
But we all realize that wishes cannot be achieved by prayers alone; action is very necessary to achieve wishes, and God will help his followers who work, try hard, and seek, but wouldn't help the lazy who sleeps while hoping God would grant him his wishes…
And we all know our wishes are very difficult to achieve, for after four and a half years it is becoming clear what is the goal of invading Iraq and occupying it; not just the oil and monopolizing its exploitation to American companies in the first degree, but there is also the spite against something called Iraq, the civilization of Iraq, the history of Iraq, and the unity of Iraq… and everything was shredded to pieces since the occupation entered into the Iraqi land, and they are still there…
The Iraqi Museum was bombarded and plundered since the first week, and thousands of valuable ancient pieces disappeared; pieces telling the story of the Mesopotamian civilization, one of the oldest civilizations on earth…
Then the National Library was burned down, which used to house thousands of historical documents of various Iraqi times…
Then, an ugly distorted constitution was composed under the supervision of Paul Bremer, the American civil governor after the invasion. He put down a constitution comprising the foundation to create a torn ethnic, sectarian state, which they called- Federalisms; meaning- giving it any name as long as it covers up their vicious intentions, trying to show that the principle of Federalism is democracy and freedom for the regions, while in truth it means tearing apart the country's unity, placing the heads of ethnics and sects to govern each region, and those will control the wealth of each region as they please. The wealth of Iraq will be crumbled in a suspicious rather than a just way, and the occupier will establish special relations and special interests with the leaders of each region, and bye-bye to Iraq… meaning- the entity called "Iraq" will be no more… just like they did as a first step when they divided us into Sunnies, Shia'ats, Arabs and Kurds, so that when we meet someone abroad they confront us with the stupid question: are you Sunnies or Shia'ats? Arabs or Kurds?
And after the division of Iraq, the question will become: are you from Kurdistan, Shia'atstan, or Sunniestan?
Just like they dissolved the word- Islam in Iraq after the war, and people came to be categorized into Sunnies and Shia'ats, now the name of Iraq will be dissolved and lost, after it will be divided into regions, or federalisms, or any other mishap, and people abroad will ask us their stupid question: from which federalism are you? From which region? Just like what happened to Yugoslavia, for example, when it's name disappeared from the map, and turned into regions like- Croatia, the Serb, Montenegro, and so on…
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Every time it gets more gloomy in Iraq we say: soon things will be better…. But it seems such a notion will not take place, as long as there is an occupier residing with his military power on the land of Iraq. Why? Because the American administration is using the military power to carry out its political intentions….
Two days ago, the former American troops general commander in Iraq, Sanchez, said that the war in Iraq is an endless nightmare, that the American politicians are using the army to achieve their own interests…
By God this is something sad; the armies are the power of any country, and that power consumes up the country's budget to become highly ready with weapons, equipments, and trained personnel. That money spent to develop the army is taken out of the country's budget and out of people's pockets; I mean- from the tax money cut out of their salaries and earnings. And as a result, the ordinary American people are the financers of this war against Iraq, and the majority of American people, according to public opinion polls from time to time, are against the war in Iraq, or the continuing presence of the armies there. Who can believe that this is happening in America, and not in a country of those whom they call- a third world country, that doesn't respect democracy and human rights? Who can believe that in America there is a tyrant, corrupt minority that controls a weak, overwhelmed majority?
Perhaps America is like this for a long time now, but the people were busy with their own daily lives, and the war on Iraq changed a lot of things. People are no longer negligent as they used to be…
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Since the beginning of the invasion and the occupation of Iraq, we passed through a lot of hard times and many calamities. And whenever things calmed down a bit and headed towards a national reconciliation or an agreement among the contradicting parties to calm down the situation in Iraq, things somehow would turn back on to crises again. There is someone who kindles the fire so Iraq would keep on being in a state of fighting and conflict, without peace.
In 2006, the Dome of Samara shrine was blown up, right after the Iraqi's happiness with the elections, the beginning of uniting their ranks and putting down a program to get out of the ordeal. But the evil hands moved forth to scatter the Iraqis anew, and the sectarian death gangs spread to kill Iraqis from all sides, to blow up their houses and burn down their mosques… then, the situation became tense again, things kept on deteriorating until the "phenomenon" of displacing the Iraqis from their homes became one of the daily rituals, as if there was someone who put down a division map to every town and city in Iraq and was pushing on into the direction of implementing it on the ground; these are Sunnie towns and these are Shia'at towns, these are Sunnie neighborhoods and those are Shia'at neighborhoods… and in this chaos, millions of Iraqis emigrated to neighboring countries or asked for humanitarian asylum in various European countries…
And, the pressure kept on going in the issues of killings and sectarian displacement every day........ Veiled armed gangs would come from outside the neighborhoods and start writing threats on the walls of the houses, or send threatening messages to the families demanding they should leave the neighborhood… and of course, these mercenary gangs collaborate with the lowly people of that neighborhood; the criminals, jail-birds, and drug addicts, so they can be their eyes to watch the neighborhood and write them reports against the families, and then the houses would be attacked and burned, and its inhabitants would be threatened and forced to leave….
This series has been going on since 2006 until now, ignored by and met with the silence of the occupation forces and the present Iraqi government, but the Iraqis refuse the idea of a sectarian division and see it as the biggest catastrophe that could befall Iraq since it existed on the face of earth…
And in the middle of this daily violence and clashes, there were some parties in the parliament in opposition of the government and the occupation, who wanted to form an alliance to make the government fall and demand new elections, to pull the country out of this crises of violence, chaos and bloodshed… all the Iraqis' eyes were open and their hearts hanging in wait for the positive change on the ground last month, I was one among them, and I wrote the last post in which I said- Iraq is boiling in wait for change… but what happened?
There came the declaration of the American Congress suggesting to divide Iraq, to be a big rock falling over the poor Iraqis' heads, to be the uncovering of the real intentions of the American politicians; neither the Democratic Party nor the Republican have any vision that would satisfy the Iraqis about their future…
The Iraqis remained astonished!
We endured a lot, we were very patient, and sacrificed our souls and money, then, a decision to divide Iraq comes from America itself?
We were awaiting a decision to pull out the troops from Iraq, so we could begin our march of rebuilding our country and going back home.
Who gave them the right to issue decisions about the future of Iraq? Where did the 27 million Iraqis go, or- what is left of them, Where are they? Don't they have the right to decide the fate of their country and future? In all our lives, we never saw such rudeness and such venom directed against Iraq and its people…
But, they revealed their fangs, and it is very obvious now that invading Iraq wasn't only for the oil and monopolizing it, but to tear Iraq and its people apart, to turn them into shreds that cannot stand up one day united and strong enough to drive them out of the country…
Then, some of the Iraqi government people appeared to give justifications, to patch up the disaster that took place after the people rejected the decision. They declared that- the division is a federalism to ease up democracy and freedom…
Poison put into sweet words…
Then they said that the occupation forces will withdraw from Iraq, but will leave some camps and bases, to ensure the ""security of Iraq"", and a long-term treaty with the Iraqi government….
Aren't these the same old-new, repeated, boring stories?
Do they think that people are stupid and naïve?
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Anyway; let them do what they will…
For this world has a mighty creator who controls it, who is looking down upon all from high up in heaven, smiling; He gives one round to the unjust, then blows up the ground from under their feet, when He so wills…
We ask Him to aid the free, honest Iraqis in their struggle to liberate their country from the occupation and its followers… and to give patience to the poor, weak Iraqis who suffer still, whether they were inside, or those who had to emigrate to different exiles… and to have His mercy upon the martyrs whose blood filled the streets, walkways, and the cities of Iraq…
Amen.........
My conviction will not shake:
Victory is coming… no matter how long it takes…
And the occupation will walk out, defeated, let down, from Iraq…
No matter how long it takes…
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May peace be upon you ......