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ECC professor's observations of Iraq
Posted Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Editor’s note: Jabria Jassim, an Elgin Community College chemistry professor, recently visited Baghdad to see relatives. She left Iraq years ago. Here is an edited essay on her observations.
Baghdad in 2007
This past December, I had a chance to visit Iraq for about two weeks. Previous to my travel, I was warned that landing at Baghdad’s airport is too dangerous and too risky, so I took a plane from Amman to Irbil, which is in the northern region. The majority of Irbil residents are Kurds. I found the city to be very peaceful, and the people there live “normal” lives. However, the living expenses for an outsider are very high due to the large influx of immigrants coming from Baghdad and a few other cities to the east and south of Baghdad where the violence is predominant. People who had lived in these areas either left their houses by choice or were forced to leave by the insurgents.
I stayed in Irbil for few days before heading to Baghdad. As I traveled across the land with some companions, we were stopped along the way at many checkpoints — some guarded by Americans and some by Iraqi soldiers. Tanks and artillery were on both sides of the highways so we all felt safe; but I was bothered by the reality of these so-called checkpoints. They either don’t check at all or the checking was not adequate. I heard comments from some travelers (Kurds, Arabs, and even foreigners) that these checkpoints were useless, and only there to slow the traffic.
The insurgents know this fact very well; so they continue to smuggle weapons and terrorists into Iraq from the neighboring countries. My gut feeling told me that it was too risky and too dangerous for the soldiers at the checkpoints to even peak into let alone to check inside cars and trucks.
What’s in Baghdad
At first sight, the city looked more damaged and brutally wounded, and more devastated than when I left it last year. Not a single hour passes without one hearing an explosion, a car bomb, or devastated women and children screaming for help. I saw people running from a suicide bomber and others trying to pull bodies from a fire. Sirens from ambulances and police cars and helicopters flying day and night all over the city all join in to create a constant roar of horrible noises.
My beloved Baghdad has a 9 p.m. curfew. The government-run power plants provide residential electricity one hour a day, but not every day. Private sources of electricity are available at very high rates so they are only for people who can afford the high rates. One source is a man located at the end of the block from where I’m staying. He runs a huge generator, and his deal is $100/month for four hours of electricity a day. If we remember that the average salary of an Iraqi college graduate is only $300/month, then we have to agree that the price is a little steep. Most of the people are jobless due to lack of security, the fear of kidnapping, and all the other atrocities being committed on a daily basis. Others buy their own generator run on either gasoline or benzene, which cost about $5/gallon. This is also sold by a private enterprise and the supplies are not always available. Therefore, people look for a few liters of fuel in the black market and pay double if not triple the cost.
Drivers line their cars up at gas stations where they often have to stay all night and sometimes for two days in a row, all while taking the risk of getting shot at by terrorists who thrive on finding crowds in open areas. These kinds of attacks are always on the news.
There is also a rationing of water in Baghdad. Some use water pumps to get additional water, which worsens water shortages and causes friction between neighbors, especially with those who can’t afford powering a water pump.
The continuous shortage of fuel is hard to imagine in Iraq, as it is one of the top producers of petroleum oil in the world. Thousands of barrels of this precious commodity are either smuggled out of Iraq or sold by shrewd businessmen to Iran and other neighboring countries. This transportation occurs right under the noses of the Iraqi and the coalition forces.
The shortages of electricity, fuel and water are tolerable among the Iraqis when compared to the concerns for security and safety. People in Baghdad and other cities who leave their houses face any of the following disasters:
1. Being kidnapped for a hefty ransom. This is a huge business and a very good source of income for insurgents. The minimum ransom demand is $20,000 and often goes up to a million dollars. Talk on the street is that if the ransom is not paid within 24 hours, those kidnapped are simply killed. One FBI agent also said that 90 percent of the kidnapped people don’t return alive to their families. A daily task by some police units is to retrieve bodies from the Tigris River. An office at the American Embassy in Baghdad was established to help with ransom demands, in extreme cases.
2. Being hurt or killed by a car bomb. Car bombs go off in every corner of the city a few times a day.
3. Being injured or killed by suicide bombers: … The goal was to kill those who escaped the first blasts and also those who rush to rescue the victims will be killed the second time around. The suicide bombers are religious extremists who belong to a certain branch in Islam, and they believe strongly that killing even innocent people is a short cut for them to get to heaven, where they get awarded with villas and virgins galore. So the more they kill, the better their rewards.
4. Being attacked by snipers, who are in motorcycles or in private cars. Some even wear police uniforms with heads and faces hidden. They shoot randomly at crowds in streets and open markets.
Besides all that, in some extremely dangerous cities, families are forced by gunmen to leave their houses and everything behind. A very common scene in some neighborhoods is seeing a whole family with children knocking at doors begging for food and a place to stay.
You may ask why don’t they go to the police or call the government. Yes, Iraqi police can be found; however, most of the Iraqis don’t trust them. Some work directly with the insurgents; others are very corrupt and will do anything for money or just a little power. I also learned that the government at one time was so desperate for police that they hired criminals who escaped from prisons without checking their backgrounds. As a result, some criminals are not only getting a good salary but also guns, cars and power. I have to be fair here and say, there are decent and honorable policemen who want to fight terrorists and corruption but they have no power and/or no saying in any matter and their hands are tied.
Where is the Iraqi Government?
The foreign embassies and all governmental agencies, their employees and their families are located in a very secure part of Baghdad known as the International or the Green Zone, which is somehow isolated from the rest of the country. This area used to be occupied by Saddam Hussein and his guards and army. You can find many checkpoints on the road to this zone, and they are guarded by either American soldiers or soldiers of the Coalition forces. At each checkpoint, the soldiers check with electronic devices and dogs to conduct elaborate searches.
During my two-week visit, I listened to a good deal of my people, read news, watched TV, and learned that the elected government officials are in disagreement, feuding about the chaos and horrible conditions.
Besides the daily massacres of the average Iraqi, there is a systematic genocide of educators and medical doctors occurring and also on a daily basis in most of the cities in Iraq, especially Baghdad.
A large percentage were either gunned down in their own offices or forced to flee the country after they were stripped of their houses, money, and all belongings. In the past few months, a petition was sent by the Iraqis in the U.S. to the White House with the names of these university professors and administrators who were killed or forced to leave the country in a very short period of time — a huge list.
According to the United Nations, Iraq currently has the largest population of emigrants in the world — leaving. The neighborhood countries like Jordan decided not to accept further Iraqis immigrants.
The saddest part of all that is the renegade thugs who are still bringing terror on the Iraqis and falsely calling themselves resistant, use religion as an excuse to wipe out the educators, medical doctors, and all good and descent Iraqis, are still free; and are getting more powerful. What first comes to mind is shame upon the Iraqi government who should put all its resources to fight the thugs and give the Iraqis the peace they dream about. But again, the Iraqi government has no much power over the situation; no good police forces to rely on, no strong and loyal army to threaten those ruthless and brutal thugs: you better behave or else. The “or else” has no meaning since the terrorists have more resources and more control on the situation.
What do my country men and women want?
— Effective border patrols: Capture and jail the insurgents.
Support from governments of the insurgents’ native countries: Capture and jail them before they go to Iraq.
— Government officials trained in diplomatic political skills: They need to learn how to negotiate with neighboring countries to create checkpoints before the insurgents pass out of their countries with their weapons. I ran into a truck driver who brings vegetables and fruits from Syria to Baghdad. He said he didn’t mind bringing terrorists whom he called fighters for profit. I am sure there is many like him.
— Safety for their children to go to school: End of fear of kidnappers, snipers and bombers.
— Safety to leave their homes to have constructive lives. They are tired of hiding and tired of listening and witnessing all kinds of destruction.
— Get the chance to build schools, hospitals, roads, and supermarkets.
— Opportunity to refine and distribute their own petroleum oil. Take a hot shower, watch TV, provide light for children’s homework; heat their homes in the brutal winters and cool them when the temperature is over a hundred during the long humid summer days.
— Background checks for security personnel, soldiers and police.
The country is bleeding to death and is facing total destruction. It is losing its best educators and administrators. Now, the medical doctors are targeted. The medical doctors have done nothing except make the insane terrorists unhappy by saving the lives of some of their victims. My nephew, Mohammed, is one such doctor, who now is in hiding from the terrorists who ordered him to either leave the country or they would kill him.
I am not a politician, but I am pleading for help in most effective ways. I don’t know if that means sending more troops. My heart aches for all of the military and families who have become caught up in this fire of hate on behalf of my people. I know the media here is doing a great job reflecting the hate of the insurgents and the terrorists toward the American troops. What they don’t show is the reality of millions of Iraqis praying to God to protect the soldiers who are fighting for their freedoms from the clutches of these ruthless criminals and murderers. Believe me, I was there when people in my neighborhood were happily spreading the good news and congratulating each other when America troops kicked off doors in the Haifa neighborhood, one of the safe-havens for terrorists. The operation lasted a whole day. I, myself, wanted to hug the soldiers and convey to them the gratitude of the Iraqis; but it was impossible to even leave the house that day.
The majority of Iraqis are religious, and the Muslim Iraqis believe strongly in the mission of Islam, which is like all other religions, is to bring peace and justice to humanity. Unfortunately, some leaders are misinterpreting this mission and are spreading hate and retaliation, as has happened in some other religions at one time or another.
What do my people say?
If you talk to any Iraq in the street, whether he/she is Sunni, Shiaa, or Christian, they will say they hate and condemn the killing and atrocities. The Sunnis and the Shiaas in Iraq are saying this fight is not our fight against each other, as we have marriages and blood relations between us. We live together in the same neighborhoods for years, and we share the happiness and sadness times. We attend each other’s weddings and funerals and share memories of our children growing up together, playing and loving each other. Even in this time of crisis, we still help each other. I witnessed a Sunni family, forced to leave by militia gunmen, who received shelter, food, and clothing from some Shiaa families who all condemned this action.
Everyone there believes the atrocities and genocide are part of a huge conspiracy to destroy the country by dividing it into sectors and groups, eliminating its educators, wasting its natural resources, and by planting hate and revenge inside the children. Who is leading this conspiracy? Not America. The average Iraqi person, including me, still believes that this great country — the U.S. — can help us; we pray that indeed it does!
Is there hope?
Who can predict the future of my beloved country – not me. I know the situation is getting worse. After returning to my American home, I called my family, only to learn that the list of disastrous atrocities has worsened — a double suicide bomber attack inside the campus of Mustansyria University resulted in 70 students dead and 200 wounded. Deans and professors at the University of Baghdad were killed; others were kidnapped, ransom was paid but the families received only bodies; snipers killed the man who sells fresh fish and few others who sell vegetables and fruits on the sidewalk of one of the streets in the Karada, and the list seems endless. The latest attack on one of the high schools for girls resulted in the murder of close to a hundred innocent young girls and shocked the nation the most. This tragedy seems to anger and break the hearts of the millions of Iraqis who thought girls were somehow safe. But the terrorists proved us all wrong. No one is safe there.
I believed God is merciful and can overcome the actions of this huge conspiracy that is aiming to destroy the “cradle of civilizations” and the country of Hammurabi of the ancient Mesopotamia.
I started a chain prayer in my city and asked my friends in other cities and states to do the same. Now, I am pleading to all the descent and wonderful people of this nation and to priests, reverends, pastors, imams, rabbis in their churches, mosques and temples to pray for the wounded Iraq and its helpless people. Let us pray to the almighty to give the Iraqis strength and patience to cope with these daily tragedies and rebuff the insane terrorists who have high jacked this peaceful religion and turned it into a machine of terror. Let us pray to the Almighty for intervention to bring justice and peace to the men, women, and children of Iraq. Let us pray to the Almighty to give strength to all the soldiers and give the wisdom to the officials to guide the ship of Iraq to a safe place…amen!
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