DEATH ON VERY SHORT NOTICE…
Richard Boegner
February 17, 2006
One night in Samarra last August, four gunmen stormed into Ali Nasir Jabr’s (1) house,
then shot and killed his Shiite father, mother, two brothers, and sister. Only the twelve year- old Ali managed to escape alive by fleeing the scene…
When he returned shortly after, he said, “I checked them, I kissed them, one by one. Maybe somebody was still alive”. But no one was…
Violence in Iraq is pervasive and chilling. In 2005, the troubled nation weathered some 34,000 (2) attacks. And yet, the violence keeps mounting.
In December 2005, there was an average of 75 (3) attacks per day, up from 52 (4)in December 2004.
The number of attacks by Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) nearly doubled during those twelve months, from 5607 to 10,593 (5)…
What statistics alone fail to reveal is the toll the violence is taking on Iraqis themselves…
Though it is difficult to establish how many Iraqis have been killed since 2003 (30,000?) (6), the UN estimates that women and children account for 20% (7) of all civilian deaths in Iraq.
Like many young Iraqis, Ali will have to grow up without parents, brothers, sisters and other family members, hapless casualties of a war in which the innocent and defenceless are the main victims.
The consequences of this pervasive and escalating violence are varied and far-reaching.
Those who are able to flee Iraq do just that. Many professionals, essential to the rebuilding of the country, have moved to Jordan because life in Iraq has become impossible.
Dr Omar Kubasi (8), a cardiologist now in Amman said, “the situation in the last six months has gotten so bad, we couldn’t continue”.
As such, 1,100 (9) Iraqis officially flee to Jordan every single day. There are now some 400,000 (10) Iraqis living there.
According to Amer Hassan Fayed (11), assistant dean of political science at Baghdad University, this exodus of educated Iraqis is “creating a brain drain. We could end up with a society without knowledge. How can such a society make progress?”.
And, of those who remain, many hope to follow Dr Kubasi’s example. “There is no peace, no stability, and no jobs here”, claimed Ihana (12) , a 22 year-old student.
Iraqi society seems to be gradually disintegrating, as the wanton and ceaseless violence and destruction preclude significant economic growth and reconstruction.
The worst thing is knowing that you can no longer delude yourself that things are going to get better. It’s an awful way to exist, living without hope”, declared Nadia al-Hayali (13), a resident of Baghdad.
Even the most mundane and natural experiences can become death-defying ordeals for ordinary Iraqis.
After 11PM, that is to say, after the start of the curfew in Baghdad, ambulances are no longer available. As such, Lamya Kadum (14), 26 and seven months pregnant, planned to have her baby by Caesarean, so as not to run the risk of having to go to the hospital at night on her own.
At night, anything can happen….There are many opportunities to meet a violent death: at checkpoints, at the hands of insurgents or nervous Iraqi and US troops, for instance…
Many women are therefore choosing to have Caesareans, though they are costly, some $200 (15), to ensure they give birth during the day, and thus avoid the treacherous streets at night. That does not mean however, that it is safe to wander about during the day.
Dr Iman Ibrahim (16), who cares for pregnant patients at a private hospital in Karrada, said “At anytime wherever you go, the threat is always there. We’re threatened by explosions and flying bullets”.
Iraqi males face other threats when leaving their homes. They can be simply nabbed off the street during a mass arrest. There are currently 17,000 (17) prisoners languishing in Iraqi jails, some for as long as two years, and who have yet to be charged with any crime. The great majority, being innocent are eventually released.
We call it collective terror”, Ehsan Mohammed (18), a sociologist at Baghdad University explained, referring to the practice of wrongful imprisonment. “Every Iraqi now fears he may be next. And those who have been arrested once, how can they live a normal, smooth life, without the dread of being a victim again ?”.
Children that grow up in such a context are not immune to the effects of violence, death and destruction.
Dr Khaldon Waleed , (19) a Baghdad child psychologist, fears that an entire generation of Iraqi children will develop a condition usually associated with war veterans: post-traumatic stress disorder. “The children of Iraq have lost all sense of humanity. Killing and being killed has become daily routine to them”.
Mustafa Aqueel (20), who is six, seems to have grasped the essence of the new reality in Iraq: “We shoot at each other. If he kills me, I shall lose. But if I kill him, I shall win”…
How does one cope with the stress of living in such an environment ?
Attallah Zeidan (21), co-owner of the Iqra’a bookstore in Baghdad’s old quarter, also feels and deplores the strain now engendered by living in post-Saddam Iraq: “people are worried sick. Death now comes on very, very short notice”.
Some young Iraqis have resorted to Western modes of stress relief. Though heroin and cocaine are still rare due to their cost, the use of tranquillizers and other substances sold in drug stores has increased alarmingly since 2003.
It is a dangerous plague that has to be confronted immediately, before it becomes uncontrollable”, said Adnan Fawzi (22), a Ministry of Health official dealing with drug addiction.
To escape daily life in Baghdad, its violence, despair and unemployment, Ali (23), 18, often makes use of these substances: “the unbearable conditions of daily life, whether in society or in my family pushed me to find an escape”.
Many homeless children in the dangerous Battaween neighborhood resort to alcohol and glue sniffing…
The overthrow of the brutal Saddam regime had engendered great hopes that life in Iraq would now be free of tyranny and persecution.
Unfortunately, the chaos generated by the downfall of the regime has rendered life in Baghdad and elsewhere so dangerous and precarious that many Iraqis wonder when and if conditions will ever improve.
A Baghdadi resident, Nadia al-Hayali (24) mused, “even when things started to go wrong, I thought they would turn around. But now, I feel we have gained nothing except endless death and destruction”.
Iraqis are now free to vote in multiparty elections, something unthinkable under the former regime. Yet, a new tyranny of sorts has replaced Saddam’s, and has perverted the sense of joy and liberation Iraqis experienced when Saddam was forcefully deposed: the tyranny of fear and uncertainty.
Sociology Professor Mohammed (25), of Baghdad University described the situation this way, “Iraqis are under so much mental pressure and yet have so few options for releasing that tension .The Iraqis had no political freedom in the past, but enjoyed personal freedom. Now after the fall, they have political freedom, but lost their personal freedom”.
They have become prisoners in their own homes, often devoid of electricity…
Yet, as young Ali’s tragic story evinces, the home is no longer a sanctuary. Death can come calling, even in the middle of the night.
A reporter living in Baghdad aptly described this uneasiness.
Leila Fadel (26) was at her hotel, the Harma, last November, when it was attacked first by a white van then by a truck, both laden with explosives.
One bystander died in the blast, but the sense of security of many, including Leila’s, was also a casualty of the attack.
This is a place”, she writes, “where people are thankful when only 10 innocent victims die in suicide bombings or gunfights. It’s a place where traffic isn’t a nuisance, it’s frightening. If something explodes, there’s nowhere to go.
It’s a place where you leave your home praying that you’ll make it back, and when you do, you thank God that you lived today. In the back of your mind, you know you still aren’t safe”.
And yet now, even home, the Harma, was no longer safe for a guest in Baghdad.
Upstairs at the Harma, I waited for the feeling of safety to return Friday (day of the blast).
As I write these words, like most Iraqis, I’m still waiting.
Maybe tomorrow I’ll live another day, and that feeling will return”…
Vierzy, February 13, 2006
Richard Boegner , a graduate of the American University of Paris and the Sorbonne, lives and works in northern France.
Other work includes www.informationclearinghouse.info/article6167.htm
richard.boegner@free.fr
Notes
1)Sarbrina Tavernise, “Sectarian Hatred Pulls Apart Iraq’s Mixed Towns”, New York Times, November 20, 2005; see http://fairuse.1accesshost.com/news2/nyt090.html
2)Will Dunham, “Insurgent attacks in Iraq jumped in 2005, US says”, Reuters, January 23, 2006; see www.alertnet.org/printable.htm?URL=/thenews/newsdesk/N23312603.htm
3)Louise Roug and Richard Boudreaux, “Deadly Rift Grows Among Insurgents”, LA Times, January 29, 2006; see www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-insurgency29jan29,0,4558003.story?coll=la-home-headlines
4)ibid
5)See note 2
6)“Fresh report paints dark picture of Iraq”, UPI, November 14, 2005; see www.upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view.php?StoryID=20051114-053337-2456r
7)“UN reports children used as combatants in Iraq”, CNN, January 18, 2006; see http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/01/18/iraq.rights
8)Doug Struck, “Professionals Fleeing Iraq As Violence, Threats Persist”, Washington Post, January 23, 2006; see www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/22/AR2006012201112.html
9)ibid
10)Kim Sengupta, “’It’s an awful way to exist, without hope…’”, The Independent, UK, December 13, 2005; see: http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article332816.ece
11)See note 8
12)See note 8
13)See note 10
14)Leila Fadel, “Pregnant Iraqi women fearful of Baghdad’s dangerous roads”, knight Ridder Newspapers, December 6, 2005; see: www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/world/13342438.htm
15)ibid
16)ibid
17)Zaineb Obeid, “Wrongful incarceration not unusual in Iraq”, Knight Ridder Newspapers, November 3, 2005; see: www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1104-07.htm
18)ibid
19)Zaineb Obeid, “Iraqi children losing their innocence in the violence of the war”, Knight Ridder Newspapers, November 17, 2005; see: www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/13192704.htm
20)ibid
21)Hamza Hendawi,”Darkening mood overtakes Baghdad bookstore”, AP, November 5, 2005; see: www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/11/05/darkening_mood_overtakes_baghdad_bookstore/
22)Salam Faraj, “Iraqis turn to pills to escape their hard reality”, AFP, December 5, 2005; see: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/iraq/?id=15136
23)ibid
24)See note 10
25)Shatha Alawsy, “Iraqis try to preserve some sense of celebration on New Year’s Eve”, Knight Ridder Newspapers, December 30, 2005; see:www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/13518511.htm
26)Leila Fadel, “Reporter survives Baghdad blasts, but they kill her feeling of safety”, Knight Ridder Newspapers, November 18, 2005; see:www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/13204950.htm
then shot and killed his Shiite father, mother, two brothers, and sister. Only the twelve year- old Ali managed to escape alive by fleeing the scene…
When he returned shortly after, he said, “I checked them, I kissed them, one by one. Maybe somebody was still alive”. But no one was…
Violence in Iraq is pervasive and chilling. In 2005, the troubled nation weathered some 34,000 (2) attacks. And yet, the violence keeps mounting.
In December 2005, there was an average of 75 (3) attacks per day, up from 52 (4)in December 2004.
The number of attacks by Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) nearly doubled during those twelve months, from 5607 to 10,593 (5)…
What statistics alone fail to reveal is the toll the violence is taking on Iraqis themselves…
Though it is difficult to establish how many Iraqis have been killed since 2003 (30,000?) (6), the UN estimates that women and children account for 20% (7) of all civilian deaths in Iraq.
Like many young Iraqis, Ali will have to grow up without parents, brothers, sisters and other family members, hapless casualties of a war in which the innocent and defenceless are the main victims.
The consequences of this pervasive and escalating violence are varied and far-reaching.
Those who are able to flee Iraq do just that. Many professionals, essential to the rebuilding of the country, have moved to Jordan because life in Iraq has become impossible.
Dr Omar Kubasi (8), a cardiologist now in Amman said, “the situation in the last six months has gotten so bad, we couldn’t continue”.
As such, 1,100 (9) Iraqis officially flee to Jordan every single day. There are now some 400,000 (10) Iraqis living there.
According to Amer Hassan Fayed (11), assistant dean of political science at Baghdad University, this exodus of educated Iraqis is “creating a brain drain. We could end up with a society without knowledge. How can such a society make progress?”.
And, of those who remain, many hope to follow Dr Kubasi’s example. “There is no peace, no stability, and no jobs here”, claimed Ihana (12) , a 22 year-old student.
Iraqi society seems to be gradually disintegrating, as the wanton and ceaseless violence and destruction preclude significant economic growth and reconstruction.
The worst thing is knowing that you can no longer delude yourself that things are going to get better. It’s an awful way to exist, living without hope”, declared Nadia al-Hayali (13), a resident of Baghdad.
Even the most mundane and natural experiences can become death-defying ordeals for ordinary Iraqis.
After 11PM, that is to say, after the start of the curfew in Baghdad, ambulances are no longer available. As such, Lamya Kadum (14), 26 and seven months pregnant, planned to have her baby by Caesarean, so as not to run the risk of having to go to the hospital at night on her own.
At night, anything can happen….There are many opportunities to meet a violent death: at checkpoints, at the hands of insurgents or nervous Iraqi and US troops, for instance…
Many women are therefore choosing to have Caesareans, though they are costly, some $200 (15), to ensure they give birth during the day, and thus avoid the treacherous streets at night. That does not mean however, that it is safe to wander about during the day.
Dr Iman Ibrahim (16), who cares for pregnant patients at a private hospital in Karrada, said “At anytime wherever you go, the threat is always there. We’re threatened by explosions and flying bullets”.
Iraqi males face other threats when leaving their homes. They can be simply nabbed off the street during a mass arrest. There are currently 17,000 (17) prisoners languishing in Iraqi jails, some for as long as two years, and who have yet to be charged with any crime. The great majority, being innocent are eventually released.
We call it collective terror”, Ehsan Mohammed (18), a sociologist at Baghdad University explained, referring to the practice of wrongful imprisonment. “Every Iraqi now fears he may be next. And those who have been arrested once, how can they live a normal, smooth life, without the dread of being a victim again ?”.
Children that grow up in such a context are not immune to the effects of violence, death and destruction.
Dr Khaldon Waleed , (19) a Baghdad child psychologist, fears that an entire generation of Iraqi children will develop a condition usually associated with war veterans: post-traumatic stress disorder. “The children of Iraq have lost all sense of humanity. Killing and being killed has become daily routine to them”.
Mustafa Aqueel (20), who is six, seems to have grasped the essence of the new reality in Iraq: “We shoot at each other. If he kills me, I shall lose. But if I kill him, I shall win”…
How does one cope with the stress of living in such an environment ?
Attallah Zeidan (21), co-owner of the Iqra’a bookstore in Baghdad’s old quarter, also feels and deplores the strain now engendered by living in post-Saddam Iraq: “people are worried sick. Death now comes on very, very short notice”.
Some young Iraqis have resorted to Western modes of stress relief. Though heroin and cocaine are still rare due to their cost, the use of tranquillizers and other substances sold in drug stores has increased alarmingly since 2003.
It is a dangerous plague that has to be confronted immediately, before it becomes uncontrollable”, said Adnan Fawzi (22), a Ministry of Health official dealing with drug addiction.
To escape daily life in Baghdad, its violence, despair and unemployment, Ali (23), 18, often makes use of these substances: “the unbearable conditions of daily life, whether in society or in my family pushed me to find an escape”.
Many homeless children in the dangerous Battaween neighborhood resort to alcohol and glue sniffing…
The overthrow of the brutal Saddam regime had engendered great hopes that life in Iraq would now be free of tyranny and persecution.
Unfortunately, the chaos generated by the downfall of the regime has rendered life in Baghdad and elsewhere so dangerous and precarious that many Iraqis wonder when and if conditions will ever improve.
A Baghdadi resident, Nadia al-Hayali (24) mused, “even when things started to go wrong, I thought they would turn around. But now, I feel we have gained nothing except endless death and destruction”.
Iraqis are now free to vote in multiparty elections, something unthinkable under the former regime. Yet, a new tyranny of sorts has replaced Saddam’s, and has perverted the sense of joy and liberation Iraqis experienced when Saddam was forcefully deposed: the tyranny of fear and uncertainty.
Sociology Professor Mohammed (25), of Baghdad University described the situation this way, “Iraqis are under so much mental pressure and yet have so few options for releasing that tension .The Iraqis had no political freedom in the past, but enjoyed personal freedom. Now after the fall, they have political freedom, but lost their personal freedom”.
They have become prisoners in their own homes, often devoid of electricity…
Yet, as young Ali’s tragic story evinces, the home is no longer a sanctuary. Death can come calling, even in the middle of the night.
A reporter living in Baghdad aptly described this uneasiness.
Leila Fadel (26) was at her hotel, the Harma, last November, when it was attacked first by a white van then by a truck, both laden with explosives.
One bystander died in the blast, but the sense of security of many, including Leila’s, was also a casualty of the attack.
This is a place”, she writes, “where people are thankful when only 10 innocent victims die in suicide bombings or gunfights. It’s a place where traffic isn’t a nuisance, it’s frightening. If something explodes, there’s nowhere to go.
It’s a place where you leave your home praying that you’ll make it back, and when you do, you thank God that you lived today. In the back of your mind, you know you still aren’t safe”.
And yet now, even home, the Harma, was no longer safe for a guest in Baghdad.
Upstairs at the Harma, I waited for the feeling of safety to return Friday (day of the blast).
As I write these words, like most Iraqis, I’m still waiting.
Maybe tomorrow I’ll live another day, and that feeling will return”…
Vierzy, February 13, 2006
Richard Boegner , a graduate of the American University of Paris and the Sorbonne, lives and works in northern France.
Other work includes www.informationclearinghouse.info/article6167.htm
richard.boegner@free.fr
Notes
1)Sarbrina Tavernise, “Sectarian Hatred Pulls Apart Iraq’s Mixed Towns”, New York Times, November 20, 2005; see http://fairuse.1accesshost.com/news2/nyt090.html
2)Will Dunham, “Insurgent attacks in Iraq jumped in 2005, US says”, Reuters, January 23, 2006; see www.alertnet.org/printable.htm?URL=/thenews/newsdesk/N23312603.htm
3)Louise Roug and Richard Boudreaux, “Deadly Rift Grows Among Insurgents”, LA Times, January 29, 2006; see www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-insurgency29jan29,0,4558003.story?coll=la-home-headlines
4)ibid
5)See note 2
6)“Fresh report paints dark picture of Iraq”, UPI, November 14, 2005; see www.upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view.php?StoryID=20051114-053337-2456r
7)“UN reports children used as combatants in Iraq”, CNN, January 18, 2006; see http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/01/18/iraq.rights
8)Doug Struck, “Professionals Fleeing Iraq As Violence, Threats Persist”, Washington Post, January 23, 2006; see www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/22/AR2006012201112.html
9)ibid
10)Kim Sengupta, “’It’s an awful way to exist, without hope…’”, The Independent, UK, December 13, 2005; see: http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article332816.ece
11)See note 8
12)See note 8
13)See note 10
14)Leila Fadel, “Pregnant Iraqi women fearful of Baghdad’s dangerous roads”, knight Ridder Newspapers, December 6, 2005; see: www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/world/13342438.htm
15)ibid
16)ibid
17)Zaineb Obeid, “Wrongful incarceration not unusual in Iraq”, Knight Ridder Newspapers, November 3, 2005; see: www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1104-07.htm
18)ibid
19)Zaineb Obeid, “Iraqi children losing their innocence in the violence of the war”, Knight Ridder Newspapers, November 17, 2005; see: www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/13192704.htm
20)ibid
21)Hamza Hendawi,”Darkening mood overtakes Baghdad bookstore”, AP, November 5, 2005; see: www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/11/05/darkening_mood_overtakes_baghdad_bookstore/
22)Salam Faraj, “Iraqis turn to pills to escape their hard reality”, AFP, December 5, 2005; see: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/iraq/?id=15136
23)ibid
24)See note 10
25)Shatha Alawsy, “Iraqis try to preserve some sense of celebration on New Year’s Eve”, Knight Ridder Newspapers, December 30, 2005; see:www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/13518511.htm
26)Leila Fadel, “Reporter survives Baghdad blasts, but they kill her feeling of safety”, Knight Ridder Newspapers, November 18, 2005; see:www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/13204950.htm
Print
Email
