[matilda] A message from America

[Jason]

Good evening...

I am still in America, for about a month now, very tired of traveling
around, moving from state to state, carrying bags, the uncomfortable
sleep during journeys, and the time-lag between the farther eastern
states and the farther western. My body is very exhausted, but the
blood stained, sad news from Iraq makes me forget my aches, and
strengthen my resolve to move from city to city, to talk about the
pain and suffering of the Iraqis, for three years now…

I can no longer remember all the details, because of the multitude of
cities, faces, activities, and the packed schedule, but I do remember
our meetings with people in churches, universities, houses, and small
gatherings in various non-governmental organizations. And I found the
people sympathetic and understanding towards the suffering of the
Iraqi families; of the bad security conditions, and the crippled daily
life, for it is at risk and with difficulty that people go about their
business, send their children to schools, go shopping, or go to a
doctor. As for family visiting or going out to a restaurant, well,
those became memories of the past; for who would take the risk of
going out to visit a friend, or have a meal in a restaurant?

The families suffer from the daily shortages of services; water,
electricity, and fuel. There aren't any rebuilding programs. There are
daily stories of millions of dollars' funds thefts, and the
administrational corruption of the government. There is a shortage in
employment opportunities, which created a high unemployment percentage
among the population, and that caused the immigration of the rich and
middle class young people from Iraq. The poor families' sons remained,
to choose either joining the Iraqi Army or Police Force, and thus
become a target and a victim to those who suspect them of being in
collaboration with the occupation, become murdering thieves and drug
addicts, or become members in the death and killing squads, or the
dirty sectarian militia that is ripping Iraq apart, aided by some who
train and pay them. The Iraqis know who is doing all that to them, but
the people here do not know….

The people in the various Iraqi cities are hurting because of what is
happening in their country, being ripped apart, while they cannot do
anything to stop it. And they wonder: where is the key to solve the
dilemma of Iraq?

Is it in Washington? Or in the hands of the warring militias?

Both ways, the key is not in the hands of the Iraqi people…

Is there a catastrophe more grave than this??

After three years of the destruction and the ruin that befell our
country, the key to solve the problem is not in our hands?

Who is responsible for this; isn't it the stupid policy followed by
the American administration in Iraq?

They made the planning, and we are being destroyed, paying the price…

This is the way things are, in Iraq today…


People in Iraq usually live in mixed cities, and mixed neighborhoods.
There are some cities in which there is a bigger concentration of a
sect more than another, because of the presence of a religious shrine
of that sect, for example. The Iraqis have a historical and
traditional culture bearing a lot of tolerance and accepting the
Other; marriages are mixed, neighborhoods are mixed, schools and work
locations are mixed, whether official or private companies.

Before the war, we used to tell jokes about each other, and laugh. We
say, for example:
A man went to a dentist and said: Doctor, my tooth is decayed, ((the
word ' My tooth' is written and pronounced = Sennie= Sunnie)), and the
doctor says: And is their a Sunnie who isn't decayed? Ha,ha,ha, we
used to laugh…

And in a joke about the Day of Judgment: In a graveyard, a Sunnie and
a Shia'at lay side by side, and on the Judgment Day, the Sunnie arose,
but the Shia'at said: No, not today, the Judgment Day is tomorrow for
us. Ha,ha,ha. Because it is their custom to differ from the Feast days
and Ramadan, and delay beginning them till the next day…

And we used to say: An Arab and a Kurd were sentenced to death, and
the guard came to ask them for a last request, the Kurd said: I want
to see my mother. And the Arab said: I do not want the Kurd to see his
mother.

Ha,ha,ha, we used to laugh; the Arab in the joke is mean, and the Kurd
is wronged. And I used to accept that joke, tell it, we used to laugh
about it, and we are Arabs…

We all used to laugh; Sunnies and Shia'ats, Arabs and Kurds, we used
to laugh and accept one another; I am a Shia'at, my husband is a
Sunnie. We raised our children to love all the people, respect all the
people, do not discriminate between people, and hold no grudge against
anyone…

Our neighbors were Arabs and Kurds, Muslims and Christians; we love
and respect them, and they love and respect us…this is how we used to
live…

But Iraq today lives in a big dilemma, there isn't a place for the
neutral logicals, like us. There are some who support and finance the
ugly sectarian call, spiteful of the Other, to destroy the country…

And there are some who assassinate the voice of the logical neutrals…

All who speak with the sectarianism spirit, or say it was present
before the war, is just a fool who is destroying Iraq, knowingly, or
not…

When I met Iraqi women and men here, those who are against the war and
the occupation, all were from various sorts- Muslims and Christians,
Sunnies and Shia'ats, Arabs, Kurds, and Turkman, men and women, they
all spoke like me, all their hearts burned in sadness for Iraq. We
asked each other: Didn't we live together, weren't our parents friends
and neighbors, weren't we childhood and school mates, did we ever ask:
are you a Sunnie or a Shia'at? A Kurd or an Arab?
But now, who tore Iraq apart but this ugly occupation?

The picture gets clearer when we all meet, feel that our hearts are
united, and there is one enemy targeting us, wanting to tear our unity
apart, and divide our country…

The Iraqis aren't fools, these calamities strengthen our unity and
solidarity. People in Baghdad collect donations, from all families,
from all sects and ethnics, building the demolished mosques, so that
Al-Athan (= the Islamic call for prayer) should rise and call in the
Iraqi cities: Allahu Akhbar….GOD IS Great…

This is what they want to deprive the Iraqis from hearing….

Someone out there is targeting our identity and religion, to shred them…

The Iraqis aren't fools…


The Americans usually ask, at the end of each meeting: What can we do
to help the Iraqis?

And I usually say: Tell your friends and neighbors the truth of what
is happening in Iraq, this isn't a noble mission, do not send your
sons to war, put pressure on your government to pull the armies out of
Iraq, and stop building the bases. Do not interfere with the future of
Iraq, leave Iraq for the Iraqis…

The last time, we had two days of joint activities in various
neighborhoods inside San Francisco, we had many participants, one of
them was Scott Ritter, the Weapons Inspector in Iraq during the
embargo. He spoke to the audience about his rejection of the war since
the beginning, that Iraq had no Weapons of Mass Destruction, that this
American administration is practicing an incorrect policy in Iraq;
they waged the war for false reasons, and until now they are
justifying their staying in Iraq with false justifications…

And when people asked him-What should they do, he got angry, and
answered harshly: Don't be fools, you put this administration as a
government, don't say –someone forged the elections. You should open
your eyes and change your lives. Change your life style from relying
on Oil and its revenues that come from occupying other countries, tell
your government that you can live in austerity on your resources only,
there is no need for wars and steeling the revenues of others…

I sat in amazement, watching this angry, frank debate…

He accused them, and they refused these accusations….

I knew the truth of America here, during this month…

People here are weak, submissive, their will taken from them…

They want the change, but do not know how, or else, they are yielding
people, who lost hope in their ability to cause change. The decision
in this country is in the hands of the wealthy, who own the money, the
banks, and the giant companies, and of course- the Media, that
controls the minds of simple people…

Even the election system is controlled by money; the Candidate needs
millions of dollars for the election campaign, meaning- who would care
for a Candidate of principals, humanity, justice, and peace, who shall
take care of him, or finance his campaign?

But that who is ready to market the ideas of the rich class, the class
that loves wars and investments, will find someone to spend millions
on his campaign, will tell people all the nice promises and glamorous
slogans. They will elect him, and when he gets to the chair, and sits
in the position of decision- making, he will carry out the
instructions of the major companies that financed his campaign, not
the poor Americans who elected him…

And so, people would live in one realm, and the decision- maker,
having abandoned them, would live in another…

This is the reality of things in America…

And the Iraq war is the most evident example…

There is a huge popular anger, from before the war, till now, but
people's opinion is marginalized, no one sees that opinion in the
newspapers or the media, not even give a hint about it in a petty way.
It gets lost with the tide of news, with different features about
actors and athletes, then the commercials, the weather broadcast, the
financial and ecological news. And the issue of Iraq gets lost in the
jam of stories, commercials, and empty talk…

I keep asking myself, when I see the American's sorrow and their
inability to change decisions, or influence its makers in the country:
Is this the democracy that Bush and Gondalisa Rice brag about? For
which they destroyed Iraq in order to implement?

The government is strong, rich, and opinionated about decision and
opinion, the people are poor, weak, and no one cares about them, they
walk out in demonstrations, they shout, some of them are arrested and
go to jail, others make documentary films, and talk against the
government's policies. But in result, who cares?

How many of the 350 million Americans will hear him?

And where is the decision?

The decision is in the hands of those who sit in the White House, the
Pentagon, and the Congress…

And they are as far off as can be from the ordinary citizen and his opinion…

As far off as can be…

I felt sorry for these people…

This country is definitely living in a crisis, and the Iraq war is the
issue that revealed everything as it truly is …

Faiza - http://afamilyinbaghdad.blogspot.com/