In a normal country, when someone receives a phone call on his cell phone, he hears phrases like, “good morning, how are you? How is it going?” But in Iraq, it’s getting different specially these days. This morning, while I was heading to the office for work, I received a phone call from a colleague of mine, R. “Be careful when you arrive to the office. We were attacked,” he said. I panicked in the car. “What?!! What happened?!! Anyone is killed?! Oh my God!” I asked him. He was shaking and couldn’t complete. I called my friend O. to tell him the news. I called him. He called back to tell me he is going to the house of N, our other friend and colleague. O1, O2, N, M, and I went together to the office. When we arrived, the only words we said and were told were “Hamdulilah AlSalama” [Thanks Be to God for your safety].O. and I entered the office. It was in a bad shape; windows were broken, the floor was furnished with newspapers and books, including Quran and Shadid’s Night Draws Near, our Bible. Our memories, which we keep on shelves in the office, like pictures, souvenirs, and O’s favorite souvenir from NY City, a small statue of liberty, were all buried under dust and mud from plants we keep in the office. Plants to remind us of life, mourned our memories today. No room was spared this “House Swap.”
Walking out to the scene, O. and I were almost expecting what to see in front of us. “Look, look… a foot,” B. told me. Although I was carrying my camera with me, I couldn’t shoot a photo for it. “Oh my Lord!” I said within myself. The scene was scary. I found out that two suicide car bombs targeted Hamra hotel but failed to demolish the hotel and destroyed an apartment block instead, killing at least six people, including two children and wounding more than 40. Wailing women in black veils slapped their heads as they watched the destruction, a man embraced a weeping woman and other wounded people full of blood were crossing the huge craters the explosions caused. I had to jump on an armored car, destroyed in the blast, to be close enough to see the rescuers, firemen, police, and army.The blasts knocked down protective concrete walls and blew out windows. Several nearby homes were destroyed, and firemen and U.S. troops joined neighbors and Iraqi security forces to dig through the debris to pull out victims.
I stood in front of the collapsed apartment block and imagined myself there. It’s Friday for God’s sake. People were sleeping in peace after a week full of suffering and tragedy. Didn’t these people deserve to spend at least few hours of rest?
When I saw the apartment collapsed, I immediately remembered Alhoor Alain which I mentioned in previous posts.
I was about to stop blogging for good. I told O. that there is no benefit from writing. No one is listening and no one is trying to help. This country is being destroyed and no one is doing anything. O. told me I was wrong because there are many people who don’t know what is going on in the country.
As usual, we returned back to the office to continue working and our usual day. “What happened to us?” O. wondered while he was wiping the dust off his desk. “We became emotionless. We work, eat, smile in such a day. We lost our feelings and emotions. We became senseless,” he said to me. I smiled and said, “We get used to it,” and continued staring at my laptop.
At that time, our bureau chief said, “look, look at the CNN.” A security camera footage showed a white van driving up to blast walls at the exterior perimeter of the hotel complex and exploding. About 20 seconds later the second explosion blew out the camera.
Just few hours later, another huge disaster happened but not in Baghdad. It was in Khanaqin instead. Two suicide bombers strapped with explosives killed at least 74 people and wounded 75 when they blew themselves up inside crowded Shiite mosques at prayer time in this northeastern Iraqi town.
The attacks in Khanaqin, a mixed Shiite and Kurdish town near the border with Iran, seemed to fuel sectarian tensions ahead of a Dec. 15 election. But the question is will these attacks create a civil war?! What if it happens? I don’t know, I just don’t know… What I can say for now is Farewell Peace. We’ll miss you.
