... That is the wall the current Iraqi government is building (with the support and guidance of the Americans). It is a wall that is meant to separate and isolate what is now regarded as the "largest Sunni zone" in Baghdad, let's not say that Americans are not building anything. According to plans the Iraqi puppets and Americans have "cooked" protect A'adhimiya, a residential and commercial area that the current Iraqi government and their death squads could not empty of Sunnis.
The wall, of course, will not protect anyone. Sometimes I wonder if this is how the concentration camps began in Europe. The Nazi government probably said "Oh look, we only protect the Jews with this little wall here it difficult for people to come into their special area to hurt them! ". And also be difficult to escape.
The Wall is the latest effort to support the breakdown of Iraqi society. Promoting and supporting civil war does not seem enough. Iraqis have generally proven more tenacious and tolerant than their mullahs, ayatollahs, and Vichy leaders. USA is the time to physically divide and conquer, like Berlin before the Wall came down or Palestine today. So they can continue chasing Sunnis out of Shiite areas and Shiites outside Sunni areas.
always hear the Iraqi people that is in favor of the war interviewed on television from foreign capitals (they can only appear on television from the safety of foreign capitals because defy anyone to position publicly in favor of the war in Iraq.) Deny that their sectarian political parties and religious inclination have ignited this whole Sunni-Shiite confrontation. They refuse to acknowledge that this situation is a direct result of war and occupation. Again and again continue the story of Iraq and the Sunnis and the Shiites have always been in conflict, and I hate it. I hate that a handful of expatriates who have been in the country in decades pretend to know more about it people who actually live there.
remember Baghdad before the war - you could live anywhere. We did not know what they were our neighbors, we did not care. No one asked about religion or sect. No concern to anyone what was considered a trivial topic: are you Sunni or Shia? Just wondering if you were a sort of rude and retrograde. Our lives now revolve around this. Our existence depends on hiding it or bring it to light, as the group of masked men who stop you or register your house in the middle of the night.
a personal note, we have finally decided to leave. I think that we would have known long ago. We discussed lots of times as a family. At first someone would suggest it tentatively because it was just a preposterous idea - leaving your own home and extended family, leaving your country and for what? Where?
Since last summer we have discussed more and more. It was only a matter of time before what began as a suggestion, the last thing that could happen, soon took on solidity and became a plan. Over the last couple of months, it has only been a matter of logistics. "Plane or car? "Jordan or Syria? Do we go together as a family? Or, we will at first only my brother and me?
After Jordan or Syria, where do then? Obviously either of these two countries will be a transit to something else. Both are flooded with Iraqi refugees, and each and every one of the Iraqis who live in any of them complain that it is difficult to achieve, and to get the residence permit is even more difficult. There is also the small matter of return you to the border. Thousands of Iraqis are not allowing them to enter Syria and Jordan, and there is no definite criteria for entry. The decision on the whim of customs duty border check your passport.
An aircraft is not necessarily safer because the trip to Baghdad International Airport in itself is risky and travelers are equally likely to refuse them permission to enter the country (Syria and Jordan) if they arrive by plane. And if you're wondering why Syria or Jordan, is because they are the only two countries that would allow Iraqis to enter without a visa. Following the procedures of visa with the few functioning embassies or consulates in Baghdad is almost impossible.
So we've been busy. Busy trying to decide what part of our lives to leave behind. What memories can be dispensed? We, like many Iraqis, refugees are not typical, these clothes are only on their backs and no choice. We are choosing to leave because the other option is simply the continuation of what has been one long nightmare - stay, wait and try to survive.
First, I must leave the country and start a new life somewhere else, still unknown, it is so important that it should minimize any concerns trivial. The funny thing is that it is trivial that seems to fill our lives. We discussed whether take the photo albums or leave them behind. "I can take the stuffed animal that I have since I was four years? Is there room for E. Guitar? What clothes do we take? "Summer clothes? Do you also the winter? What about my books? What about the CDs, the baby pictures?
The problem is that we do not know if we will see these things again. We do not know if we leave, including the house, will be available when and if they return. There are moments when the injustice of having to leave your country, simply because an imbecile got it into his head to invade it, is overwhelming. It is unfair to survive and live normally have to leave our home and what remains of family and friends ... And why?
is difficult to decide which is scarier, the car bombs and militias, or having to leave everything you know and want to go somewhere without specifying in search of a future where nothing is certain.
- posted by river @ 5:03 PM
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