I wasn’t prepared for what I read, couldn’t even believe that I read it correctly and that it could be our fate as well. His words shock, but I found them so real. It was a blow, a reminder, and a desperate call. While waiting for some friends at the coffee shop this morning, I browsed the internet in search of news, maybe hopeful ones. Yet, one article took me thousands of miles away, to Iraq. The article was about the 33rd anniversary of the start of Lebanon’s civil war. In a televised speech, Lebanese Prime Minister, Fouad al-Sanyoora, said, "Today, after 33 years of wounds, we are still suffering and we haven't recovered from its effects, pains and memories."
I took a sip from my coke and leaned back on the chair and gazed off nowhere in particular. His words took me 17 years back. I was in a taxi cab with my mother, shortly after the 1991 U.S. led war destroyed our country’s infrastructure in response to Saddam’s invasion of Kuwait. My mother was still hopeful that the destroyed buildings we passed by would be rebuilt and Iraq would restore its power and life. The cab driver sounded pessimistic. I was only 11 years-old then and had no idea how cruel life could be. He told my mother, “We could easily rebuild the buildings and the bridges, but how are we going to heal people’s wounds?” Seventeen years passed and his words still ring in my mind.
It was different. My mother was right. Things got better in terms of buildings and the cab driver was right as well. But that was not a civil war and things were not as bad as they were during Lebanon’s civil war. Now it is. Chaos, blood, refugees, occupation, revenge … But it’s been only five years. Would it continue to fifteen more years like how it happened in Lebanon? I think it would. All politicians are caring about is their benefits and loyalty to their religions, ethnicities and sects rather than the country itself.
The entire coffee shop seemed quiet for a minute. People were talking but I wasn’t listening. I just saw their mouths opened and closed and there was a killing silence, one that makes you feel you were in a nightmare trying to say something or hear something but you can’t. I tried to imagine the future, but forced myself not to. Too much pain to carry to that ambiguous future.
Last Wednesday marked the fifth anniversary of Saddam’s fall. Five years passed and the train of pain and mayhem is still going on and on and on. It doesn’t even seem it is going to stop. I am afraid that this war is going to take us as far as the war took the Lebanese. Life of Iraqis is already destroyed, tainted with mayhem and ongoing horror that forced millions to immigrate, seeking a safe roof to cover their bare heads.
A few hours ago, I was surfing Youtube about Iraq and found an astonishing series of documentaries and news reports on Aljazeera International Youtube page. The one that shook me off and chilled my entire spine was called “Witness,” a nightly weekday documentary series, presented by the former BBC reporter Rageh Omaar.
Unlike everyday, Omaar was the one to be the witness on that show. In 2003, he covered the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Five years later, he visited Baghdad and saw how things dramatically changed. In part three of the series, he interviewed an Iraqi friend of his who was kidnapped and tortured by insurgents who also forced him unwillingly to watch them behead another hostage. The way they both narrated the story left me motionless, eyes wide-open and mouth open. It could have been me to be beheaded or forced to watch the beheading. As I was watching I thanked God a hundred times for protecting me and my family from such horror.
The other series were those of Iraqi translators’ lives and the lives of the Iraqis in general during five years of ongoing war. Below are the most interesting videos I found where Iraqis’ real life has no space or little attention on American media.
Working in a War Zone: Life for many in Iraq has been a daily struggle to survive. Some jobs have opened up and local Iraqis have found a platform to perform. However, not every one has an exactly hassle-free job. A journalist and a translator with the American army describe their experiences of working in Iraq.
Witness - Return to Iraq: Witness presenter Rageh Omaar returned to Iraq five years after reporting on the US-led invasion. He found much had changed and, as ordinary Iraqis told him, rarely for the better.
Witness - Return to Iraq - Part 1
Witness - Return to Iraq - Part 2
Witness - Return to Iraq - Part 3
Witness - Return to Iraq - Part 4
Failing health care in Iraq - 20 Mar 08: Five years after the invasion, Iraq's health care system remains in crisis. Hospitals have to deal with the aftermath of bombs and shootings on a daily basis. It is very hard for doctors to do their job. They often lack basic equipment and the necessary drugs to treat the injured. And many health workers have just been murdered or kidnapped.
Like Omaar said in Witness, “for so many [in Iraq], the last five years have been a lifetime.”
