March 19, 2003 The Liberation Of Iraq, Iraq War - Website by Q Madp

Sunday April 20, 2003

Mohammed Alkhereiji, Arab News Staff

BAGHDAD, 20 April 2003 — One of the most distinctive things about the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, is its overwhelming poverty. Wars, economic sanctions, and tyrannical rule have crippled any chance of an economic infrastructure, let alone prosperity. Moreover, the victims of these circumstances are the ordinary people of Iraq. The Sha’lube Family is an example of these ordinary people. Living in the Karamat district of central Baghdad, the head of the family, Yousf, has been missing for several days. A member of Saddam’s National Guard for at least 20 years, he is assumed to be dead by his wife, seven children, and his brother. To them, however, it is just an occupational hazard, which they have seen time and time again under Saddam’s rule. Scars that will not heal any time soon. Yousef’s older brother, Tariq, has been living with the family since 1983 when he lost his arm during the Iran/Iraq war. He, like many others, has no social security or medical benefits for serving in a war which saw over a million people in the two countries lose their lives. How does he feel about the future? “These wars have never helped the poor. The ramifications of these wars always hit us the hardest so I’m not really optimistic,” he told Arab News.

When the subject turns to Saddam Hussein, Tariq becomes uncomfortable; he chooses his words carefully and looks nervous. “He was a military leader.” Did you like him? “Who doesn’t like their leaders?” At this point I assured Tariq that I was just a journalist and that for all practical purposes that Saddam was gone. “I’m just a poor man; you will see poor people everywhere. To us it does not matter who is in charge as long as our conditions improve. Our area was the first to be hit in this war. We should be given priority when it comes to assistance and aid.”

Tariq’s nephew is Magdaar who is 20 and, like his father, a soldier in the Iraqi National Guard. However, two months ago he went absent without leave. “It was not because I was afraid or anything but because of the way they treated us. They gave us two pieces of bread a day, and the weapons they gave us were not always operational. How were we supposed to fight the coalition forces? Only if you were from Saddam’s home town of Tikrit were you treated with some decency. Soldiers from Tikrit sometimes killed other soldiers because of disagreements and you wonder why I left?”

When the subject turns to the fallen Iraqi leader, the generation gap between Magdaar and his uncle is as wide as it gets. “He was a dog and the son of a dog,” Magdaar said angrily. “You see us and most of the people of Iraq living in poverty; yet Saddam and the people around him lived in luxurious palaces and the most beautiful houses. All the money from the country’s oil went to them and nothing from that money came to us.” So the next question was whether Magdaar and his family welcomed the presence of US troops in the country? “Yes. To get rid of Saddam, but I don’t want them to rule us.” Who should rule Iraq? “He must be an Arab and a Muslim. I don’t care if he’s an American lackey as long as it says on his passport that he is Arab and Muslim.”

Magdaar’s younger sister, Norah, is 18 and has completed the equivalent of the ninth grade. A week ago, Saddam’s Fedayeen fighters shot her fiancé in the head. “He died in my arms,” she says sadly, “but I’m used to this sort of thing. I’ve lost family, and friends in the past; you have no choice but to accept it and thank God for what you have.” What does she look forward to in the future? “The freedom and safety I’ve never had.” She says with tears in her eyes, “You couldn’t walk the streets here from fear of being kidnapped and raped. The members of the government drove around looking for girls and they’d say ‘We are from Tikrit. This is our land and we can do what we want.’ This happened to some of my friends and in fact almost happened to me but I managed to escape.” What about the future? “I just want to live in peace. Our lives have been a burden to us, and we just hope for some stability.”