Hope's Blog [6 Dec to 12 Jan 2006].
'Hope' is Iraqi, 36 years old, lives in Baghdad and works for a private sector company. Her blog offers an insight into what it's really like living in Bagdad today
10 Jan 2006. How to start a civil war in three years.
All the newspapers and political analysers are heralding a civil war. In fact, they started doing that as soon as Saddam was overthrown.
The shadow of a civil war is cast deliberately on every assassination and every suicide bombing. Yet, Iraqis have been more sensible than all these calls so far.
The thing that many people do not realise is that almost every Iraqi family has a Shia, a Sunni or a Kurd in it, every Muslim has a Christian childhood friend, teacher or neighbour. Division technically is impossible. But, three years of promoting a civil war is causing fear and caution on all sides, and that explains why many people voted in the previous elections on ethnic basis.
Many secular Sunnis voted for Sunni lists although they did not exactly agree with their views, and the same widely applies to Shias and Kurds. Fear has caused them to pick "their own" in spite of not being particularly religious or racist.
A year or two ago everyone was convinced totally that all the strings were being pulled by the Americans, and what America wants will be, if they want things to work they will, if they want a civil war and a divided Iraq that is what will happen. But now everyone is asking, "What does America really want?"
8 Jan 2006
It rained yesterday for the first time this year. Which is usually a reason for optimism, it is customary to thank God with the first drop, perhaps that goes back to our Bedouin ancestors for whom rain was a blessing amidst the desert, which cannot be said nowadays looking at the disfigured streets of Iraq. It is only nice when you look at the sky, but as soon as you get down to earth the romance ends.
Streams of mud, filthy puddles and garbage embellished the miserable streets as I went to the office this morning. And to complete the picture, when I passed by a bank on my way, there were long queues of old people standing in the murky weather to collect their 19000 Dinars (13$): a compensation for some missing food items from the ration card.
Last week was gory: suicide bombs in Karbala, Ramadi and Baghdad left more than 120 corpses. And raids were carried out yesterday in several areas in search of the American journalist that was kidnapped. Kidnapping in Iraq has touched everyone. The reasons differ from seeking ransoms to stating a political point of view, but everyone agrees that the government is equally helpless in handling this issue.
Kidnap is a new fact of our lives. Unlike Lebanon or other parts of the Middle East, it rarely happened before in such numbers, and if it did, mostly the culprits were Saddam’s angels of death.
2 January 2006
New year celebrations were scarce, keeping in mind that we are talking about a city that used to celebrate New year's eve with fireworks, Santa Clauses at every block offering candy, young people splashing pedestrians with water on cold January nights. New year parties were events that everyone looked forward to.
That is all behind us now, let's talk about the present and the future if there is any. Churches held short services and most Iraqis stayed at home congratulating each other by phone, or dropping by for an hour at most, leaving hastily before it gets dark, repeating the same wishes year after year.
We have a saying that goes: "the way you meet the first hour of the year is the way you will spend the whole new year". Well, as soon as the clock hit 12 there were a couple of explosions heard, and shortly the power went out. So let there be war and darkness!
The next day at the office I went out with my friend to the near by shops to buy bags of crisps and soft drinks for everyone. This has become our only entertainment lately, instead of going to a cafe or a restaurant in our breaktimes. One of the shops was closed, the keeper was attending his brother's funeral who had been killed yesterday.
Later on, we heard that the local mechanic had been killed too. It is no news any more to hear some one has been killed for no reason at all.
18 December 2005. The day after the elections
It seemed like the election's wedding and honeymoon was over in one day. As soon as I reached the office a near explosion was heard, I could actually see the smoke from the window: I was told later that is was a car bomb on a nearby bridge.
Later on, distant gun shots were heard. What now? I snapped. The sweet old man that works with us went down to check, he told us when he returned: they say some officer has been killed a few blocks away ... poor soul his brain was scattered all over the dashboard of his car. "God have mercy", I say. "There was no electricity all day yesterday in our area, what about you?" "All night in our case, our water was weak yesterday too. Did you hear they raised fuel prices? A major disaster! The crooks! Right after the elections they announced it. We'll have to consider using bicycles soon". "How am I supposed to ride a bike if I have to wear an abaya* in case the seculars are defeated", I said. "Well, the abaya is good in that case, it will help you in case your brakes don't work, for a smooth pulling-over you know ... ha ha ha". The party is over and the boys are back to business assassinating and bombing. I guess everything is back to Normal !!
* An abaya is a black long cloak worn by women in many Islamic countries. There are rumours that it is going to compulsory!
17 December 2005. The elections.
It was a good day in Iraq, despite a very disturbing night for the people of Baghdad, who were woken up at 2am by loudspeakers from all local mosques warning them in a very serious and somewhat panicking manner not to use tap water because it's been poisoned. Now, what sick mind could come up with such a rumour.
Anyway, I went with my family at about 11am to the election centre. There were not many incidents accept for a missile fired at the Green Zone in the early morning. [The Green Zone is a heavily guarded area surrounded by high concrete blocks in central Baghdad, where American and British authorities, and coalition forces live and work. It was formerly the area where Saddam's Republican Palace stood, a few other Ministry buildings and also an elite neighborhood was situated].
Loads of people turned up; a very encouraging sign. Old people, young people, women ... all arriving in streams, hoping to make a difference with their votes. It was a sunny day, rather hot for this time of the year.
We reached the centre, everything was well organised, police cars passing by every now and then. It did not take long and we returned home with our purple fingers (you have to dip your finger in an ink bottle so you can't vote again).
Fears of the emerge of a religious autocracy was a main issue, you could hear in discussions all around the country especially from middle class Iraqis in the last few weeks.
Over the past year, women have witnessed an unpleasant change in attitudes in streets and work places. It is not uncommon nowadays to get asked by passersby or co-workers to cover up.
A religious-oriented government does not meet the aspirations of most, especially if it is backed by militias, that is what most of us came to learn the hard way. So, we've played our part and voted hoping for the best...
12 December 2005.
A lot of people I know left their jobs after the war, especially women because the streets became too dangerous.
The absence of order is the worst thing that's happened over the last three years. Anything can happen on your way to work: murder, bombing, kidnap, rape. And don't think that anyone is afraid of getting caught.
Most of us thought it would be just a temporary situation, that things would get better soon. Many people decided to wait a while until things straighten out, but now it's been three years. A clean, safe street with proper pavements and traffic that actually moves is a dream that may never happen.
Who can afford to just stop working? Fear of being killed is part of our daily routine nowadays. But it can't be worse than being imprisoned in your own house and after all is your house safer than the streets? No, so say your prays and go out hunting (I mean, work) is the motto of most.
Dust and desolation. Image taken from documentary 'Iraq the Reckoning', on More4 Tues 10 January 2006 10pm.
6 December 2005. Saddam's trial.
I am 36 years old, that makes me officially a member of the 'Lost Generation of Iraq'. When Saddam reached the zenith of power publicly after years of assassinations and sieving his opponents ruthlessly, I was 10 years old. So he was present as far as I remember even before he became Mister President .
The trial has been a bit of a disappointment so far. The mere fact that he was standing there, allowed by the judge to mock the witnesses brought back bad memories. A witness who was explaining how they were all cramped in a room and tortured for months was interrupted by Saddam and his gang asking the witness to go make a movie or how many rooms there were in that so-called torture building.
All Iraqis know that what was said by the witness was no exaggeration, unless 25 million Iraqis were victims of hallucination. But we all had to watch an unrepentant old man saying of the al Digale carnage: "I don't remember, it was an insignificant incident at the time. I have nothing personal against any one of those people".
