Al-Ahram Weekly | Special | Scorched dreams

On Monday, US Civil Administrator Paul Bremer handed over "sovereignty" to the Interim Government of Iraq in a furtive ceremony, two days ahead of schedule. Not the stuff that independence days are made of. How sovereign is Iraq; what kind of future does the ongoing process offer for that shattered nation; and most significantly, how can a genuinely free, democratic and prosperous Iraq be created? Al-Ahram Weekly, in these special pages, invited Iraqi journalists and intellectuals to provide some answers

Scorched dreams

As Baghdad gets ready for sovereignty, Nermeen Al-Mufti discovers that dreams can taste of death and ashes

For years, it has been easier to die in Iraq than to dream. Fifteen months after the occupation, the only people who saw their lot improve are the merchants of black fabric, for there are plenty of black banners announcing the death of martyrs. The Iraqis who used to die in the front, facing death from one direction, are now being attacked from all directions with offerings of ample options of death. Some die because they are scientists, Baathists or academics, while others die in reprisals or by friendly fire; namely US and coalition fire. Others still die in car bombings. Now the Iraqis are coming to the realisation that dreams can assume the smell of fire and the colour of smoke.

The Iraqi Minister of Interior, Falah Al-Naquib, says 27 armed groups are killing the Iraqis. Who dares to name these groups? Medical sources say that 40 bodies arrived at the forensic morgue in Baghdad, apart from the bodies that go to hospitals, apart from the cases of normal death.

At the forensic morgue's gate, Udah Al-Halfi is waiting for the paperwork to finish so that he may take home the body of his 11-year old nephew who was shot at home in the Ur neighbourhood of Baghdad. Was it a US bullet? "I don't know," says Al-Halfi. "US vehicles were driving in the street and they came under attack. The Americans, when they defend themselves, shoot right and left and don't care who they are killing."

"They are targeting every living creature in Iraq. A few days ago, on Beirut Square, someone tried to steal a car and shots were fired. The Americans arrived and one of them drove a tank over the median road-divider, almost uprooting a palm tree. I sent my son immediately to stand near the tree."

What Al-Halfi didn't see were the palm trees, the eucalyptuses, and other trees cut down by the hundreds in various areas of Baghdad and Iraq. The Abu Nawwas Street, which runs parallel to the Tigris, an avenue full of gardens and children parks, has been turned into a parking lot for occupation vehicles, complete with high concrete barriers "planted" everywhere. Baghdad smells of smoke and looks like a big prison divided by barbed wire. The poet Abu Nawwas raises an empty glass all alone, apparently toasting abandonment. His statue is still standing, one of the few not yet stolen by the organised gangs that have removed the most beautiful statues from old and modern Baghdad, to have them melted or smuggled to neighbouring countries.

At the side gate of the forensics building, people are waiting for bodies to come out. Aziz Mahdi has come from Al-Sadr City to receive the body of a relative killed the night before. "I do not know why the transitional government and the powers that be refuse to believe us when we say that the occupation forces are making excuses to kill. In Al-Sadr City, these forces enter and even without encountering resistance, they open fire, killing without reason. With the weather getting so hot and the power constantly out, Baghdad inhabitants have to sleep on the rooftops of their homes, where they are vulnerable to bullets flying here and there. Who cares about us?"

In theory, the occupation forces should compensate the families of those killed by mistake, but those killed in venues where these forces fired in response to an attack are not considered "mistakes", as the Compensation Data Center says. And yet, Fawzi Al-Zeidi, who lost his eldest son, Ahmed (15), in August 2003 due to a "US mistake", has not received any compensation or even apology. The same goes for the family of Rusl (7), a girl killed while at home with her family in a suburb of Al- Yusfiyah, south of Baghdad. Rusl's father says that when the Americans discovered their mistake, one of them cried and then they left the area. The father tried repeatedly in vain to get compensation. The Americans were passing on a highway in this tense area and heard gunshots. A family living in a house near to that of Rusl's family (about 200 metres away) was celebrating the wedding of their son and shots were fired in festivity. The Americans heard the shots and fired, killing Rusl, who was over 500 metres away from the highway.

The scenes of killing continue. In Falluja, and even before the recent US raid in which 24 civilians were killed, over 1,000 civilians have been killed since April 2003. In Najaf, during the recent confrontations between Al-Mahdi Army and the occupation forces, 1,000 civilians were killed. Thousands have died across Iraq. The worst part is when those who are looking for a living lose their lives. Several car bombs have been detonated at the new army recruitment centres. Most Iraqis are uncomfortable with the army and the police, but the young need military employment in a country where unemployment is estimated officially at 42 per cent and unofficially at between 60 per cent and 72 per cent.

Gabbar Abdul-Nasser came from Al-Diwaniyah (180km south of Baghdad) to look for a job. He now lies in hospital with serious wounds he received when a suicide bomber drove a car bomb on 17 June into an army recruitment centre in Baghdad. "For months, I waited at the workers' line on the eastern gate. I was barely supporting myself in Baghdad and my family in Al-Diwaniyah," Abdul-Nasser said. "Then a car bomb came on 14 June, targeting vehicles transporting foreigners. The suicide bomber killed dozens of Iraqis who, like me, were waiting for work. Who is thinking of us? And why have the others turned their war from one against the Americans to one against Iraq, killing only Iraqis?" Abdul-Nasser exclaimed.

His questions remain unanswered for who is to explain things to the Iraqis who were once among the richest and most civilised nations on earth?

A doctor at Al-Nur hospital pointed out that "the conditions in hospitals did not improve, and are getting worse. The former minister had ordered us not to speak to local and foreign press about what goes on in hospitals with regard to the theft of medicine and equipment, a matter which has led to an increase in fatalities, particularly among those wounded in accidents." "Our hospital was not robbed when Baghdad fell, but our medicine inventory is still empty and we don't know where the aid goes, if there is aid to start with," a pharmaceutical assistant in the same hospital remarked.

Every so often, the papers publish news about the immense robberies that took place in the Ministry of Health between the formation of the Governing Council cabinet and that of the interim government. Documents are published indicating that theft has taken place. A recent report in Al-Sabah, a US- financed paper issued by the Iraqi media network, says that medical equipment worth billions of dinars have been stolen and smuggled abroad. An earlier report claims that the equipment was registered under the "scrap" category, as there is a recent law allowing for the export of scrap. In other words, the smuggling has been disguised as a legal procedure. Millions of tonnes of scrap metal from Iraqi military vehicles and buildings destroyed in bombardment, along with other material, have been sold as junk and scrap.

Pity Iraq! This a country that I have refused to leave despite all the difficulties, and perhaps because of a myth that we have verbally passed on from one generation to another. Adam is said to have cried to God, imploring Him to send him to a place similar to paradise, of which he had been banished. God took pity on him and sent him down to Al-Qurna, east of Al-Basra in south Iraq. There, Adam met with Eve and together they committed the first act of love, giving birth to humanity. Where has the love gone? Why has the world forgotten that we are a cornerstone of its existence and civilisation? Because of this myth and because of my belief in the collective subconscious, I stay in Iraq, a country in which occupation and those coming from abroad make me wonder if it is still ours.

Babylon, one of the world's seven wonders, is said to have become a parking space for The Polish (Alpha) forces. How much of ancient history is humanity losing? Prior to the occupation, Dr Dony George, a world renowned Iraqi archaeologist, said that the Iraqi archaeological authorities have tried for long with UNESCO to register Babylon as a heritage site but failed. Nada Saleh, who owns a tourist agency, has an interesting story. She received a fax from a Japanese tour group a few days before the war, saying that the group wants to be the last to see Iraqi archaeological sites and national museum. Was the fate of Babylon and the Iraqi national museum sealed before the occupation? Have our dreams gone up in smoke?

College students celebrating their graduation attempt to bring some hope into the scene, some by dubbing their class "resistance". Other political and social groups meet to draw up a plan for peaceful resistance, anything that does not involve the killing of Iraqis. There are glimpses of hope among the ashes. Arab television networks, meanwhile, don't seem to care much for the hopes and survival attempts of the Iraqis. All they care for is death and destruction. Of course, the future of these networks and their advertisements depends on the continued violence in Iraq. Previously unknown journalists have become stars because they interviewed dying children and filmed the tears of parents. Sympathy with the Iraqi pain sells. The scenes of death, and the torrent of interviews with Iraqis who care more about their own interests than about Iraq, keep the media going.

Sovereignty is on its way to Iraq. One sign is the trial of soldiers charged with abusing Iraqi detainees. Whatever the sentences are, nothing will take away the pain of those abused. Some of the Iraqi prisoners have been released without charges, without knowing why they were held in the first place. Security Council resolution 1546 states clearly that sovereignty should be complete, with foreign troops flying the blue flag. US sources, however, say that the law giving immunity from prosecution to US and UK soldiers will remain in force despite the "complete" sovereignty. The interim government hopes to take possession of the Republican Palace and the adjoining installations -- the area the Americans call the green zone. The government sees the Presidential Palace as a symbol of sovereignty, but so far there is no sign that the Americans are preparing to leave the site. If they do so, what will happen to the thousands of massive concrete barriers and tonnes of barbed wire? What will happen to the individual who owns the concrete factory in the north, to the $170 he gets for each small-size barrier he sells? How will that individual convince a fully-sovereign government to buy more barriers? Of course, there are many forms of persuasion, hopefully bombing is not on the list.

New terms, such as those of full or diminished sovereignty, are getting into the Iraqi lexicon everyday. Al-Hawasem (the finals) a word Saddam used to describe the recent war, now refers to those who became rich through acts of post-war robbery. Sakan Awael (residential quarters) is a term referring to government buildings taken over by squatters. Manifest, a word formerly describing vehicles that enter the country without paying duties or bearing licence plates, is now used to describe people employed through contracts. Drugs and AIDS are now common words, just as references to forces licensed to kill and terrorise.

The two most important words, however, are monhal (disbanded) as in reference to the army, the police, the security services, the Information Ministry, the Baath Party, the governing Council; and intiqali (interim/ transitional) as in reference to the interim government, president, constitution, and National Council. In a sense, all of us are transitional in this country. We are still living because car bombs and US bullets have missed us.

Can one dream once again that transitional sovereignty will become real? Can one dream that sovereignty will bring along jobs and security? After all, it is jobs and salaries that will restore security to Iraq, not the emergency laws. Can one dream of an Iraq that matters to its own people as well as to others? Hopefully, this time around the dream will not go up in smoke and the construction will be completed.

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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875