It was in 2000 when the Baathist professor of the “National Education” came to our classes and threatened us the students to be dismissed from the university if we don’t join al-Quds Army, an army of civilians Saddam formed to “liberate Palestine from the Zinists.” A sophomore in college at the time, I couldn’t but think of how to get away from this. It was the second time that happened to me.I stared at the professor and recalled what happened a fewyears earlier when I was in high school. My school was controlled by Uday Saddam Hussein who was in charge of the “Fidayee Saddam,” a paramilitary force established by the Baathist regime. The force consisted of adults and teenagers’ branches. We were supposed to join “Ashbal Saddam,” the teenagers’ branch, by force.
The “National Education” Baathist teachers came to take us by force to the buses that were lined up on campus. I ran away from classes, but no, all gates were closed. I didn’t know what else to do. I thought if I join the force, it means I will not be able to see my family and study for several months. I recalled my parents’ advice the night before this happened. They told me to do my best to run away, even if it takes climbing the school fence to run away. They sensed something wrong was going to happen.
It was easy to be out of sight. My high school was the biggest school in size in all over Baghdad. I went to the second soccer field. No games were on since students were being led to the buses that were going to the barracks. I reached the fence behind the soccer field, but it was very high that I couldn’t climb easily. I wanted to jump and extend my hands to reach the top, but I couldn’t. The school’s dean who was appointed personally by Uday Saddam Hussein made sure to put barbed wires all over the fence. Yet, I never gave up. I searched for bricks and I found some. I put one above the other until I was able to reach half the fence. Then I grabbed some of my books and put them on the barbed wires. Unfortunately, one of them fell just when I reached the top. I hurt my right hand, but it wasn’t a deep cut. It was a scratch. Then I jumped off the fence to the sidewalk. I ran with all my power before the inspectors reach me. They were at the corner of the streets catching students running away. Finally, I made it home! At night, my friends were all given military haircuts and shown on TV, wearing military uniforms.
When the college professor spat his poison and left, I decided to do the same as I did in high school. This time, I was taller, faster, and stronger to run away.
I will never join an army… Over my dead body!
So, right when the break started, I went to the main gate. I peered right-then left. There were buses ready to take us to go to the barracks. Same old thought came to my mind. I immediately jumped over the metal, thin-barred gate. Luckily, no inspector was there. I later found out that their threats were not serious. They just wanted students to be afraid and get onto the bus to join the army. They never dismissed any student who did not enlist.
In today’s “New Iraq,” and almost five years after the U.S.-led invasion, similar incidents are still taking place on university campuses. Students are forced and threatened to join certain activities and do certain things beyond their desire. Yet the threats are serious now. Death…
Newsweek's Baghdad correspondent Babak Dehghanpisheh wrote a detailed article about how Shiite militias control campuses and how they gun-force students celebrate Shiite religious ceremonies. In his article he narrates a story of a Mahdi Army fighter assigned to “guard” the Mustansiriyah University campus, and how he and his men harassed a Sunni college student because he didn’t want to stay and celebrate the religious ceremony. Two of the student’s classmates were kidnapped and one was found dead.
Dehghanpisheh describes the reasons why al-Mustansiriya University, once was one of the most secular and liberal amongst its peers in the country, has become in this condition. He writes:
Students and professors say the government-appointed security force for the campus, the Facilities Protection Service, is largely made up of Mahdi Army fighters, loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr. Posters of him and his father, Mohammed Sadeq al-Sadr, are dotted around campus; pro-Sadr (and anti-American) graffiti is spray-painted on walls. The faculty includes many Sadr supporters; most teachers who don't like the new regime have either left or learned to keep their mouths shut. "Mustansiriya is a university totally controlled by the Sadr faction," says a Shiite instructor there. "Before, nobody could speak ill about Saddam. Now nobody can speak ill about Moqtada."
Then Dehghanpisheh goes on in detailing how this militia control has affected school and professors.
On religious holidays, local clerics descend on the campus with bullhorns to preach, and female students, whether Shiite or Sunni, are warned they'll go to hell if they don't wear a hijab. Secular professors say the creeping religious influence is affecting student behavior. Recently a group of Shiite students beat their chests to protest poor dorm conditions—"the same way they do during [the Shiite festival of] Ashura," says one professor. "I was shocked."
So what has happened to the “New Iraq”? Is this is the freedom Bush has promised Iraqis with? Isn’t this the same government Bush supports that is supporting these militias in university campuses? In the video that I posted in my previous entry, he said “If you lived in Iraq and had lived under a tyranny, you’d be saying, God, I love freedom — because that’s what’s happened. And there are killers and radicals and murderers who kill the innocent to stop the advance of freedom. But freedom is happening in Iraq.” I lived under tyranny and lived under his freedom. I don’t see any difference. I think Bush’s freedom and Saddam’s are alike. We were harassed under Saddam as students, and today’s students are harassed under the new “free” rule.
Read the Newsweek article HERE.
