Basra's tears
Once dubbed the Smile of the Gulf, Basra is struggling to regain its erstwhile identity. Nermeen Al-Mufti reports from southern Iraq
The highway of death, which witnessed the demise of tens of thousands of Iraqis in 1991 when Iraqi forces withdrew without air cover, was the road which took me to Basra. This thoroughfare is still scarred from the most recent war, yet this was not the path taken by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who flew to the city to visit his "victorious" troops.
Basra was once known as the "Smile of the Gulf" but today looks just like any other Iraqi city: weary of war and sanctions, not to mention the devastation caused by the bombardments of the last war. The signs of "liberation" are everywhere to be seen with burnt and looted buildings and public offices lining every street.
My first port of call in Basra was the Presidential Palace, which has since been turned into a British forces base. This compound comprises several palaces, all with various names, as well as dozens of small villas. A British soldier told me the largest of the palaces had been dubbed "Saddam's love nest", and which now enjoys the protection of dozens of British tanks.
Outside the compound, on the banks of the Shat Al-Arab river, Mushtaq Ali told me that Saddam did not visit this palace even once, and that it had been the residence of Saddam's cousin, Ali Hassan Al- Majeed, the infamous "chemical Ali", where he stayed several days at the beginning of the war. "These palaces are like all the others he [Saddam] built throughout Iraq but didn't see. The compound was built on a public park, and the special security forces prevented public access to the vicinity; we weren't even allowed to sail our boats along the walls. Tony Blair has Saddam Hussein to thank for providing such a magnificent base for his troops," he said.
At one time there were many statues lining the river. Many years ago Saddam Hussein commissioned images of more than 60 high-ranking officials who were martyred while defending Basra during the eight years of the Iran-Iraq war, but the only statues remaining now are those of Badr Shaker Al-Sayyab, the great Iraqi poet, and Adnan Khairullah, former Iraqi minister of defence and Saddam's brother-in-law. All the other figures were destroyed in the aftermath of the "liberation".
"We will keep the statue of Khairullah," commented Sabah Noor, a young fisherman, adding that Khairullah was a good man and always spoke out against Iraqi involvement in wars. "The main reason for keeping him is that Saddam Hussein killed him." added Noor.
Maan Najm, a former brigadier in the Iraqi navy, said he had been faced with two painful issues on the very day of Tony Blair's arrival. First he had to take his mother to the ta'limi (educational) hospital, but the guards prevented them from entering because the British prime minister was due to pay a visit. After this, Najm joined more than 2,000 of his colleagues, also former officers, to go and receive his last pay cheque. He and more than 300,000 officers were made redundant after the Iraqi defence forces were dissolved by the Americans. Najm said he experienced humiliation at the hands of the British troops, who divided the former officers into groups and wrote numbers on their hands.
"The future remains uncertain," he told me, "but the one thing which brought some satisfaction was the fact that the Americans ordered all ships passing through Shat Al-Arab to bear the Iraqi flag. For years they had been flying the Iranian flag, so there is hope yet," he added.
"Our wish now is for security," said Malik Abbas, a university student. "Nobody thinks about us in Basra or anywhere else. We want to survive, but nobody cares," he continued.
Sana Abid, a teacher, said that her husband, a former officer, was taking care of the children and that she had to work to help the family. She said she hoped the new administration would bring an increase in salary, as promised.
There is still no clean drinking water in Basra. The various organisations providing assistance for the poor are now occupying public buildings and writing slogans everywhere, employing the same words once used by Saddam.
"We don't care who is going to rule us. We simply want our rights back," commented Sana.
"But after nearly two months of 'occupation' or 'liberation' nothing positive has happened for us," she added.
Yet Basra is trying to be the city it once was before the wars. There is no longer a curfew and families can spend evenings on the banks of the river; the restaurant and shops on Jazeer street remain open until midnight.
In the early hours of the morning, fishermen cast their nets into the water; boats start their journeys; the date farmers are getting ready for the harvest. Their eyes retain the hope that tomorrow may be better, and that the highway of death may yet bear witness to the high way of life.
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 5 -11 June 2003 (Issue No. 641)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/641/re10.htm