Iraq: News from Bagdad
Helen Williams | 15.01.2005 12:06
Some friends have recently arrived in Amman from Bagdad with news of the rapidly deteriorating situation there.
Election poster - Iraq style!
Hi Amman 12 January 2005
Some friends have recently arrived in Amman from Bagdad with news of the rapidly deteriorating situation there.
I have talked of 'Wissam' before.
Wissam, 32, is from Adhimaya, Bagdad, a predominantly Sunni area which has seen more unwarranted American attacks than many other area of the city. He is married with 2 small children.
I first met Wissam during Ramadan, November 2003. He was not well as he was not sleeping. The Americans had been flying low level helicopters over the neighbourhood night after night until 4 am keeping him awake. Then it was time for him to get up for food and prayers before the daily fast began. He has had his house raided and been imprisoned and beaten by the Americans.
Wissam is an exceptionally brave man dedicated to freeing Iraq of the hated occupation. He takes films of anything he can to help tell the truth about what is going on, to show what is really happening. He is also a guard at Abu Hanifa Mosque, a huge and important mosque in Adhimaya which was damaged in the war.
He told us about the current situation in Bagdad. Electricity is down to half - one hour in the morning in his area. Sometimes there is no electricity for two days at a time. Wissam hates the noise from the generator and does not want to disturb his neighbour, so hardly ever puts it on, preferring peace and quiet, but this is hard to come by in Bagdad, a city full of generators.
He says hardly anyone he has spoken to intends to vote - they do not see the point (they do not know anything about the candidates) or they are too scared.
Wissam is angry about all the talk of civil war, saying that, on the whole, there are no problems at all between Sunni and Shia - just the problems Allawi and the Americans want to create and told us of an incident that took place a few months ago:
Some Shia people were walking through Adhimaya to Khadimaya to the Shrine of Imam Khadim to commemmorate his death. It is traditional for people to walk to shrines/mosques on certain holy days in an act of pilgrimage. Some of our neighbours had taken part on this particular night.
When the Shia people passed through Adhimaya they saw Iraqi National Guardsmen (ING) who they, like the majority of the population, hate. They began hitting them with shoes (one of the highest insults an Arab can pay another) to send them away. As a result of this non-deadly action. the ING opened fire, murdering 7 of the Shia. The Sunni men in the neighbourhood came to assisstance of the Shia, telling them to move aside. They then unleashed an attack on the ING, killing around 20.
When the annihilation of Fallujah began, Friday prayers in Abu Hanifa Mosque were full of encouragement to join the Resistance and fight.
One day the American base nearby was attacked during roll call by a mortar/rocket fired from near, but not from, the mosque. Many US soldiers were killed or injured.
An Iraqi Policeman (IP) approached the mosque while Wissam was on guard duty. The IP said it was believed that the Mujahadeen were attacking the police and American soldiers from inside the mosque. The police wanted to check the mosque and use it as a position for themselves to fight from. Obviously Wissam did not let him enter the mosque, informing the policeman truthfully that the mosque was not being used to launch attacks and that weapons are NEVER allowed in the mosque. The policeman then threatened to tell the Americans that the mosque was full of Mujahadeen and weapons.
Following this, an ING came along with US soldiers asking to go in and check the mosque, after the policeman had made his report. Wissam again refused them entry for the same reason. The ING seemed to be understanding, explained the situation to the Americans and they all went away.
Then the following Friday, the Americans and ING unleashed a lethal attack on the mosque during Friday prayers.In an attempt to arrest the sheikh who was leading Friday prayers and telling people to fight, the Americans murdered 5 people. (Because of this the attack made world news.) Many more were injured or arrested.
The sheikh changed his robe and imama for a dishdasha and yeshmack and was hurried away form the mosque amid the turmoil.
The soldiers were throwing sound bombs, there was smoke everywhere and the women started panicking. Wissam tried to keep them calm and away from danger. Then he went to his car to fetch his camera to video what was happening. An American soldier took his camera, although later an ING returned it - minus film. Wissam hid it under a carpet in the mosque. (Later he found 4 video tapes missing from the boot of his car, where he hides them for safe keeping in case his house is raided again. The boot had been shot open and his precious, vital, eye witness work had been taken.)
At the end of the raid and onslaught the Americans lined all the men up, deciding who to arrest. When they came to Wissam they could not decide what to do. They were saying "Yes/No" as if they were playing a game. then a soldier recognised him as having been arrested before, so Wissam was arrested and detained for several days.
Wissam told us that when someone is arrested they are asked is they are Sunni or Shia. He says, quite rightly, that everyone should say "Iraqi and Muslim". This is what he always does and did so on this occasion 3 times, in spite of an ING burning his hand with a cigarette. In the end, Wissam said, if someone does not say, they write down "Sunni - bad" next to your name.
I asked him about foreign kidnappings. Wissam said that he had heard that the media were being prevented from reporting kidnappings of foreigners by the Americans. Of course, the up to 7 kidnappings a week of wealthier Iraqis in Bagdad alone for ransom money is not even newsworthy.
Another thing he had heard was that all communications within Iraq and between Iraq and the outside world would be cut in the run up to and during the election. This includes all telephone and internet communication. This is in an attempt to stop the Resistance co-ordinating and organising at this time.
On a much happier note, Wissam had news of Junis and his brothers, imprisoned after their home was raided and they were beaten up on 23 Septmeber 2003. The story of this long suffering family has been told in previous reports. Held on a trumped up and ridiculous charge of 'planning the assassination of Tony Blair', these men were finally released 4 months ago from the notorious Abu Gharib Prison. Junis has since married and is working. During the raid on the house, the American soldiers had stolen all his wedding money.
****************************
Our friend, Raid, has recently spent about two months in Bagdad and has now returned safely to Amman. He said things are so much worse in Bagdad now. The city, the people are more worried and tense and he feels that over 70% of the population will not vote, although more in the south might.
There are more bombings and shootings now and one day he heard gunshots very close to his house near Palestine Street. Later he saw a man lying in the street, dead, about 3 doors away from his own house.
In his area they are getting about one hour of electricity in the morning and evening. (We were used to 3 hrs on/3 hrs off, sometimes dipping to 2 hrs on/4 hrs off and when we left it was up to 4 hrs on/2 hrs off.)
Petrol queues have gone up from 7 - 10 hours to two days long. Men actually have to sleep in their cars for one or two nights to fill up, so they do not lose their place in the queue. (I guess the Americans figure if men are queuing they cannot be resisting, not realising that in these queues men have plenty of time to talk, plan and become more angry and resentful.)
And even more alarming is the price of gas bottles. When we last bought on 3 months ago the cost was 2000 dinar (80p). Now the price is 10000 dinar (4 pounds) a bottle - still cheap by UK standards - but imagine what this price hike does to the average poor Iraqi familly struggling to get by in ever worsening conditions.
Raid also visited Fallujah refugees in great need living in a school building on Haifa Street, a Mujahadeen stronghold. many of these refugees are saying that they will not return to their home while the Americans are still in their town. Indeed all homes there, if not completely flattened, are uninhabitable due to damage caused by the American bombardment.
Raid believes that the kidnappings are not the work of the likes of the Mujahadeen or the Mahdi Army - true Resistance against the occupation. These real Muslim men would never harm or touch a woman and most speak out against such deeds. He feels that it is criminal ganags or other elements at work that murder their hostages and claim it in hte name of Resistance. So it really depends on who one is kidnapped by as to their fate.
I also asked Raid about the American presence in Bagdad now. He said the soldiers are scared, jumpy and nervous. And also that not so many humvees are seen out and about now. Will this mean less roadside bombs in the city centre now?
He also said that the highway from Bagdad to the border was closed near Fallujah and they had needed to detour around back roads to leave Iraq.
*********************************
Some Internationals who have recently returned from Bagdad kept a very low profile while there. Covering up/dressing appropriately was essential at all times and going out on the streets was not an option. Going out at all had to be meticulously planned, only going with a trusted driver (not taxis), and knowing where you were going and at what time, and only being out for a few hours was vital to keep safe. Indeed going out could only be undertaken with extreme risk and caution and then only every 2 or 3 days and at different times from the last trip out.
A man I spoke to, recently returned from Bagdad, reported always being careful and on the lookout when outdoors. And always going by car and feeling very tense and paranoid if another car pulled up alongside, slowed down, seemed to be following etc.
*********************************
It has been greeted with surprise the news that Eyad Allawi is to stand for election in the upcoming Iraqi poll. Many Iraqis here cannot imagine who would vote for him, seeing him as no better than Saddam himself. But then we must consider all the so-called Iraqi exiles, those living abroad. They are being strongly encouraged to vote and many will possibly vote for Allawi - the West leaning man of big business - like many of the rich exiles. He is America's man and choice.
Posters are up everywhere in Amman, indeed all over Jordan. Our favorite Iraqi restaurant has one (and smaller versions as leaflets on the counter), so does every other Iraqi and Iraqi run establishment - the Iraqi Airlines offices, Barber shops run by Iraqis and hotels.
There are even billboard signs showing an Iraqi man going to vote, a backdrop of Amman behind him and another showing 5 Iraqis from all different sections fo the community wearing from traditional clothing (dishdasha and yeshmack) to 'modern' Western attire.
These posters and leaflets tell Iraqis living abroad that they have a voice in Iraq's future. But the people they are reaching out to may have been away from Iraq for years and have no idea of the true current situation on the ground there. How then are these people in a real position to make any decision about the future of Iraq when they do not know what is really going on there?
*************************************
As I have mentioned before, there are many Iraqis living here in Amman. many young Iraqi men live in our neighbourhood sharing spartan digs and cooking food comunally on one gas burner. They work hard and live cheaply in order to send as much money home to their fmailies as possible. Often they are overstayers on their 3 monthe visas here and end up needing to cross the border to get a new 3 month stamp in their passport (a risky business as they can always be refused re-entry) or they are faced with a one and a half JD (1.20 pounds) fine per day of overstay and imprisonment if they do not pay, until they pay. They can try to get up to a 3 month extension on their visa but unlike me, being British, they have to go to the Ministry of Interior. Here they fill in forms and hand them in with a copy of their passport and are then given a two week appointment to return - and that is only the ones with a 'good enough reason to stay'. In these two weeks the Jordanian intelligence services scrutinise the passport and look into the person before allowing them to stay - so, you see, the 3 month extension is virtually impossible to come by. I, however, almost automatically received a 3 month extension to my visa, no questions asked.
To this end we often see big cars of GMCs loaded up with groups of men returning to Iraq. We saw one yesterday. A battered old GMC was piled about one and a half metres high on the roof with frigde, cupboards, mattresses etc and looked like it was all about to tumble off. 5 men were preparing to return home and the rest of the neighbourhood had come out to see them off.
As I watched them leave, I wonder what they will face on their return home, what the future holds and whether they are excited or scared.
Hasan, our friend, cannot return and he longs to. I have you about him before. One night we were in his appartment watching the news. The Governor of Bagdad had been assassinated. Hasan suddenly got up and started pointing at the TV shouting "Look, look at this street. I used to walk along there to school for 6 years." he sat down sadly - here was a street he had walked along safely as a child day after day in a city and country he cannot now return to.
All for now
Helen Williams
Amman Jordan
Some friends have recently arrived in Amman from Bagdad with news of the rapidly deteriorating situation there.
I have talked of 'Wissam' before.
Wissam, 32, is from Adhimaya, Bagdad, a predominantly Sunni area which has seen more unwarranted American attacks than many other area of the city. He is married with 2 small children.
I first met Wissam during Ramadan, November 2003. He was not well as he was not sleeping. The Americans had been flying low level helicopters over the neighbourhood night after night until 4 am keeping him awake. Then it was time for him to get up for food and prayers before the daily fast began. He has had his house raided and been imprisoned and beaten by the Americans.
Wissam is an exceptionally brave man dedicated to freeing Iraq of the hated occupation. He takes films of anything he can to help tell the truth about what is going on, to show what is really happening. He is also a guard at Abu Hanifa Mosque, a huge and important mosque in Adhimaya which was damaged in the war.
He told us about the current situation in Bagdad. Electricity is down to half - one hour in the morning in his area. Sometimes there is no electricity for two days at a time. Wissam hates the noise from the generator and does not want to disturb his neighbour, so hardly ever puts it on, preferring peace and quiet, but this is hard to come by in Bagdad, a city full of generators.
He says hardly anyone he has spoken to intends to vote - they do not see the point (they do not know anything about the candidates) or they are too scared.
Wissam is angry about all the talk of civil war, saying that, on the whole, there are no problems at all between Sunni and Shia - just the problems Allawi and the Americans want to create and told us of an incident that took place a few months ago:
Some Shia people were walking through Adhimaya to Khadimaya to the Shrine of Imam Khadim to commemmorate his death. It is traditional for people to walk to shrines/mosques on certain holy days in an act of pilgrimage. Some of our neighbours had taken part on this particular night.
When the Shia people passed through Adhimaya they saw Iraqi National Guardsmen (ING) who they, like the majority of the population, hate. They began hitting them with shoes (one of the highest insults an Arab can pay another) to send them away. As a result of this non-deadly action. the ING opened fire, murdering 7 of the Shia. The Sunni men in the neighbourhood came to assisstance of the Shia, telling them to move aside. They then unleashed an attack on the ING, killing around 20.
When the annihilation of Fallujah began, Friday prayers in Abu Hanifa Mosque were full of encouragement to join the Resistance and fight.
One day the American base nearby was attacked during roll call by a mortar/rocket fired from near, but not from, the mosque. Many US soldiers were killed or injured.
An Iraqi Policeman (IP) approached the mosque while Wissam was on guard duty. The IP said it was believed that the Mujahadeen were attacking the police and American soldiers from inside the mosque. The police wanted to check the mosque and use it as a position for themselves to fight from. Obviously Wissam did not let him enter the mosque, informing the policeman truthfully that the mosque was not being used to launch attacks and that weapons are NEVER allowed in the mosque. The policeman then threatened to tell the Americans that the mosque was full of Mujahadeen and weapons.
Following this, an ING came along with US soldiers asking to go in and check the mosque, after the policeman had made his report. Wissam again refused them entry for the same reason. The ING seemed to be understanding, explained the situation to the Americans and they all went away.
Then the following Friday, the Americans and ING unleashed a lethal attack on the mosque during Friday prayers.In an attempt to arrest the sheikh who was leading Friday prayers and telling people to fight, the Americans murdered 5 people. (Because of this the attack made world news.) Many more were injured or arrested.
The sheikh changed his robe and imama for a dishdasha and yeshmack and was hurried away form the mosque amid the turmoil.
The soldiers were throwing sound bombs, there was smoke everywhere and the women started panicking. Wissam tried to keep them calm and away from danger. Then he went to his car to fetch his camera to video what was happening. An American soldier took his camera, although later an ING returned it - minus film. Wissam hid it under a carpet in the mosque. (Later he found 4 video tapes missing from the boot of his car, where he hides them for safe keeping in case his house is raided again. The boot had been shot open and his precious, vital, eye witness work had been taken.)
At the end of the raid and onslaught the Americans lined all the men up, deciding who to arrest. When they came to Wissam they could not decide what to do. They were saying "Yes/No" as if they were playing a game. then a soldier recognised him as having been arrested before, so Wissam was arrested and detained for several days.
Wissam told us that when someone is arrested they are asked is they are Sunni or Shia. He says, quite rightly, that everyone should say "Iraqi and Muslim". This is what he always does and did so on this occasion 3 times, in spite of an ING burning his hand with a cigarette. In the end, Wissam said, if someone does not say, they write down "Sunni - bad" next to your name.
I asked him about foreign kidnappings. Wissam said that he had heard that the media were being prevented from reporting kidnappings of foreigners by the Americans. Of course, the up to 7 kidnappings a week of wealthier Iraqis in Bagdad alone for ransom money is not even newsworthy.
Another thing he had heard was that all communications within Iraq and between Iraq and the outside world would be cut in the run up to and during the election. This includes all telephone and internet communication. This is in an attempt to stop the Resistance co-ordinating and organising at this time.
On a much happier note, Wissam had news of Junis and his brothers, imprisoned after their home was raided and they were beaten up on 23 Septmeber 2003. The story of this long suffering family has been told in previous reports. Held on a trumped up and ridiculous charge of 'planning the assassination of Tony Blair', these men were finally released 4 months ago from the notorious Abu Gharib Prison. Junis has since married and is working. During the raid on the house, the American soldiers had stolen all his wedding money.
****************************
Our friend, Raid, has recently spent about two months in Bagdad and has now returned safely to Amman. He said things are so much worse in Bagdad now. The city, the people are more worried and tense and he feels that over 70% of the population will not vote, although more in the south might.
There are more bombings and shootings now and one day he heard gunshots very close to his house near Palestine Street. Later he saw a man lying in the street, dead, about 3 doors away from his own house.
In his area they are getting about one hour of electricity in the morning and evening. (We were used to 3 hrs on/3 hrs off, sometimes dipping to 2 hrs on/4 hrs off and when we left it was up to 4 hrs on/2 hrs off.)
Petrol queues have gone up from 7 - 10 hours to two days long. Men actually have to sleep in their cars for one or two nights to fill up, so they do not lose their place in the queue. (I guess the Americans figure if men are queuing they cannot be resisting, not realising that in these queues men have plenty of time to talk, plan and become more angry and resentful.)
And even more alarming is the price of gas bottles. When we last bought on 3 months ago the cost was 2000 dinar (80p). Now the price is 10000 dinar (4 pounds) a bottle - still cheap by UK standards - but imagine what this price hike does to the average poor Iraqi familly struggling to get by in ever worsening conditions.
Raid also visited Fallujah refugees in great need living in a school building on Haifa Street, a Mujahadeen stronghold. many of these refugees are saying that they will not return to their home while the Americans are still in their town. Indeed all homes there, if not completely flattened, are uninhabitable due to damage caused by the American bombardment.
Raid believes that the kidnappings are not the work of the likes of the Mujahadeen or the Mahdi Army - true Resistance against the occupation. These real Muslim men would never harm or touch a woman and most speak out against such deeds. He feels that it is criminal ganags or other elements at work that murder their hostages and claim it in hte name of Resistance. So it really depends on who one is kidnapped by as to their fate.
I also asked Raid about the American presence in Bagdad now. He said the soldiers are scared, jumpy and nervous. And also that not so many humvees are seen out and about now. Will this mean less roadside bombs in the city centre now?
He also said that the highway from Bagdad to the border was closed near Fallujah and they had needed to detour around back roads to leave Iraq.
*********************************
Some Internationals who have recently returned from Bagdad kept a very low profile while there. Covering up/dressing appropriately was essential at all times and going out on the streets was not an option. Going out at all had to be meticulously planned, only going with a trusted driver (not taxis), and knowing where you were going and at what time, and only being out for a few hours was vital to keep safe. Indeed going out could only be undertaken with extreme risk and caution and then only every 2 or 3 days and at different times from the last trip out.
A man I spoke to, recently returned from Bagdad, reported always being careful and on the lookout when outdoors. And always going by car and feeling very tense and paranoid if another car pulled up alongside, slowed down, seemed to be following etc.
*********************************
It has been greeted with surprise the news that Eyad Allawi is to stand for election in the upcoming Iraqi poll. Many Iraqis here cannot imagine who would vote for him, seeing him as no better than Saddam himself. But then we must consider all the so-called Iraqi exiles, those living abroad. They are being strongly encouraged to vote and many will possibly vote for Allawi - the West leaning man of big business - like many of the rich exiles. He is America's man and choice.
Posters are up everywhere in Amman, indeed all over Jordan. Our favorite Iraqi restaurant has one (and smaller versions as leaflets on the counter), so does every other Iraqi and Iraqi run establishment - the Iraqi Airlines offices, Barber shops run by Iraqis and hotels.
There are even billboard signs showing an Iraqi man going to vote, a backdrop of Amman behind him and another showing 5 Iraqis from all different sections fo the community wearing from traditional clothing (dishdasha and yeshmack) to 'modern' Western attire.
These posters and leaflets tell Iraqis living abroad that they have a voice in Iraq's future. But the people they are reaching out to may have been away from Iraq for years and have no idea of the true current situation on the ground there. How then are these people in a real position to make any decision about the future of Iraq when they do not know what is really going on there?
*************************************
As I have mentioned before, there are many Iraqis living here in Amman. many young Iraqi men live in our neighbourhood sharing spartan digs and cooking food comunally on one gas burner. They work hard and live cheaply in order to send as much money home to their fmailies as possible. Often they are overstayers on their 3 monthe visas here and end up needing to cross the border to get a new 3 month stamp in their passport (a risky business as they can always be refused re-entry) or they are faced with a one and a half JD (1.20 pounds) fine per day of overstay and imprisonment if they do not pay, until they pay. They can try to get up to a 3 month extension on their visa but unlike me, being British, they have to go to the Ministry of Interior. Here they fill in forms and hand them in with a copy of their passport and are then given a two week appointment to return - and that is only the ones with a 'good enough reason to stay'. In these two weeks the Jordanian intelligence services scrutinise the passport and look into the person before allowing them to stay - so, you see, the 3 month extension is virtually impossible to come by. I, however, almost automatically received a 3 month extension to my visa, no questions asked.
To this end we often see big cars of GMCs loaded up with groups of men returning to Iraq. We saw one yesterday. A battered old GMC was piled about one and a half metres high on the roof with frigde, cupboards, mattresses etc and looked like it was all about to tumble off. 5 men were preparing to return home and the rest of the neighbourhood had come out to see them off.
As I watched them leave, I wonder what they will face on their return home, what the future holds and whether they are excited or scared.
Hasan, our friend, cannot return and he longs to. I have you about him before. One night we were in his appartment watching the news. The Governor of Bagdad had been assassinated. Hasan suddenly got up and started pointing at the TV shouting "Look, look at this street. I used to walk along there to school for 6 years." he sat down sadly - here was a street he had walked along safely as a child day after day in a city and country he cannot now return to.
All for now
Helen Williams
Amman Jordan
Helen Williams
Comments
Hide the following 8 comments
Propaganda
15.01.2005 13:07
Iraq will shortly be having it elections and the final death of the B'ath will be seen for all.
Long live a free Iraq !
Not fooled for a moment
Re : Propaganda
15.01.2005 13:27
Observer
Agreed
15.01.2005 17:06
The religious extremists who are seeking political power need to sell a story of anti-Islamic US and UK troops to gain support in the wider Muslim world (most of which is uneducated and ignorant of the wider world and receives its information via the Mosque)
Where are the stories of success and benefit ? The hundreds of men and women who have returned to Iraq from other countries and have applied to join the Police and Army because they want to be part of the new Iraq.
Iraq is now divided. divided into those who see the future - a democratic secular future, free of the Bath party and the religious nutters and those who represent the past - the last remainders of the old regime, foreign Islamic extremists seeking a hardline state run of Sharia law.
The Leftist media and those who read it must come to terms with that.
Media Watcher
Open your eyes
15.01.2005 18:15
But I can understand your mentality. It's like wanting to believe in fairies. Maybe if you clap your hands enough, the illegal and immoral invasion of Iraq will lead to peace and prosperity.
Below is some information by someone who actually knows what Iraq is like, because he's there, and not just trapped in his hotel room.
Fear stalks city where the police hide behind masks
By Robert Fisk in Baghdad
The Independent
12 January 2005
Journalism yields a world of clichés but here, for once, the first cliché that comes to mind is true. Baghdad is a city of fear. Fearful Iraqis, fearful militiamen, fearful American soldiers, fearful journalists.
That day upon which the blessings of democracy will shower upon us, 30 January, is approaching with all the certainty and speed of doomsday. The latest Zarqawi video shows the killing of six Iraqi policemen. Each is shot in the back of the head, one by one. A survivor plays dead. Then a gunman walks up behind him and blows his head apart with bullets. These images haunt everyone. At the al-Hurriya intersection yesterday morning, four truckloads of Iraqi national guardsmen - the future saviours of Iraq, according to George Bush - are passing my car. Their rifles are porcupine quills, pointing at every motorist, every Iraqi on the pavement, the Iraqi army pointing their weapons at their own people. And they are all wearing masks - black hoods or ski-masks or keffiyahs that leave only slits for frightened eyes. Just before it collapsed finally into the hands of the insurgents last summer, I saw exactly the same scene in the streets of Mahmoudiya, south of Baghdad. Now I am watching them in the capital.
At Kamal Jumblatt Square beside the Tigris, two American Humvees approach the roundabout. Their machine-gunners are shouting at drivers to keep away from them. A big sign in Arabic on the rear of each vehicle says: "Forbidden. Do not overtake this convoy. Stay 50 metres away from it."
The drivers behind obey; they know the meaning of the "deadly force" which the Americans have written on to their checkpoint signs. But the two Humvees drive into a massive traffic jam, the gunners now screaming at us to move back.
When a taxi which does not notice the US troops blocks their path, the American in the lead vehicle hurls a plastic bottle full of water on to its roof and the driver mounts the grass traffic circle. A truck receives the same treatment from the lead Humvee. "Go back," shouts the rear gunner, staring at us through shades. We try desperately to turn into the jam.
Yes, the Russians would probably have chucked hand grenades in Kabul. But here were the terrified "liberators" of Baghdad throwing bottles of water at the Iraqis who are supposed to enjoy an American-imposed democracy on 30 January.
The rear Humvee has "Specialist Carrol" written on the windscreen. Specialist Carrol, I am sure, regards every damn one of us as a potential suicide bomber - and I can't blame him. One such bomber had just driven up to the police station in Tikrit, north of Baghdad, and destroyed himself and the lives of at least six policemen.
Round the corner, I discover the reason for the jam: Iraqi cops are fighting off hundreds of motorists desperate for petrol, the drivers refusing to queue any longer for the one thing which Iraq possesses in Croesus-like amounts - petrol.
I drop by the Ramaya restaurant for lunch. Closed. They are building a 20-floor security wall around the premises. So I drive to the Rif for a pizza, occasionally tinkling the restaurant's piano while I watch the entrance for people I don't want to see. The waiters are nervous. They are happy to bring my pizza in 10 minutes. There is no one else in the restaurant, you see, and they watch the road outside like friendly rabbits. They are waiting for The Car.
I call on an old Iraqi friend who used to publish a literary magazine during Saddam's reign. "They want me to vote, but they can't protect me," he says. "Maybe there will be no suicide bomber at the polling station. But I will be watched. And what if I get a hand-grenade in my home three days' later? The Americans will say they did their best, Allawi's people will say I am a 'martyr for democracy'. So, do you think I'm going to vote?"
At Mustansiriya university - one of Iraq's best - students of English literature are to face their end-of-term exam. January marks the end of the Iraqi semester. But one of the students tells me that his fellow students had told their teacher that - so fraught are the times - they were not yet prepared for the examination. Rather than giving them all zeros, the teacher meekly postpones the exam.
I drive back through the al-Hurriya intersection beside the "Green Zone" and suddenly there is a big black 4x4, filled with ski-masked gunmen. "Get back!" they scream at every motorist as they try to cut across the median. I roll the window down. The rear door of the 4x4 whacks open. A ski-masked Westerner - blond hair, blue eyes - is pointing a Kalashnikov at my car. "Get back!" he shrieks in ghastly Arabic. Then he clears the median, followed by three armoured pick-ups, windows blacked, tyres skidding on the road surface, carrying the sacred Westerners inside to the dubious safety of the "Green Zone", the hermetically-sealed compound from which Iraq is supposedly governed. I glance at the Iraqi press. Colin Powell is warning of "civil war" in Iraq. Why do we Westerners keep threatening civil war in a country whose society is tribal rather than sectarian? Of all papers, it is the Kurdish Al Takhri, loyal to Mustafa Barzani, which asks the same question. "There has never been a civil war in Iraq," the editorial thunders. And it is right.
So, "full ahead both" for the dreaded 30 January elections and democracy. The American generals - with a unique mixture of mendacity and hope amid the insurgency - are now saying that only four of Iraq's 18 provinces may not be able to "fully" participate in the elections.
Good news. Until you sit down with the population statistics and realise - as the generals all know - that those four provinces contain more than half of the population of Iraq.
Djinn
Liar
15.01.2005 20:43
Praise be to Allah
MS
MS why do you get paid by the CIA
15.01.2005 23:26
A free Iraq? You went to see your brothers? Praise be to Allah?
Oh please get a life and ask your CIA friends to atleast get another story because this one is getting as boring as the one about Saddam throwing babies out of windows in the Kuwait invasion.
Iraq is so free that people are being kidnapped, shot, blown up - Iraq cannot even hold an election without the troops being present, which really does beg the question - do people want your democracy?
And if Iraq is so free, why are you still here and not back in Iraq with your brothers?
an Iraqi
I'm sorry
16.01.2005 19:12
Of course, I don't actually know this...I'm just repeating what my CIA handlers told me to say. But it sounds plausible, I think...
Djinn
The CIA ????
16.01.2005 19:24
I know it makes the Indymedia cabal a warm feeling to think the combined security services of the world are out to get them but let's be realistic they are not.
The security services do not post on Indymedia, they don't read it, they don't care about it. The focus of the Security services of both the UK and the US are those individuals who pose a clear danger to the State and let's be blunt nobody on Indymedia has the slightest chance of endangering the Establishment in any way.
Indymedia is read by and contributed to by a few hundred like minded individuals plus the occasional troll.
George