Thursday, November 30, 2006

28/11/2006

Breakfast at Tiffany’s

The curfew is over. People are sneaking out of their homes after nights of terror. Streets battles are breaking out in smaller and smaller areas . Every single area in Baghdad had been engaged in some sort or another of combat the last couple of days; armed men attacking , mortar missiles falling on houses and car bombs . The new buzz is that; people are seeing in different areas of Baghdad, trucks appearing out of nowhere, unloading armed men, who spread in groups and vanish , they even have a name now; ( Afghan), whether these armed men are actually Afghanis “ which I doubt” or it is just to state that they look strange… , news conflict on that one. May be it is just to make it more spooky , you know it is more terrifying, when you don’t exactly know who is going to kill you!.

Before the curfew was announced and even before Al Sader city massacre, there was something in their air . All schools in Baghdad had received a direct or indirect threatening ordering them to close down , and kids were sent home .
It is a hopeless situation , the stage now is not to philosophise or anything , the stage we reached is; “just try and find ways to save your own life” . No causes needed here, we have already milked that joke enough ; the issue now is consequences and nothing more than consequences.
I too crept this morning to the office quietly . I sat at my desk for about an hour. The Boss was late cause his area was under siege all night long. I waited for a while for the others, who came in one by one.

As I was sitting, Abu S... was in his kitchen chatting to another employee. I was not paying much attention at the beginning, until what they were saying became a bit interesting. Abu S… was saying to the other fellow:
- Do you have a low or a high wall at the back of you house? I mean can you easily jump to your neighbour’s house if necessary ?
- I suppose so.
- Good, that will be the women's escape . As soon as they attack you, get the women to cross over , then you and your brothers and father go upstairs as fast as you can, and shoot down on them from your roof, and remember son ; never ever open the door for them even if they shoot or even if they bombard your garden, don't give them an access .
At that point I sprang out of my chair and went to the kitchen. Abu S... and M … were having their breakfast and drinking tea . Abu S… was standing holding his cup and eating a cheese sandwich , and M… was sitting listening attentively and eating .
Here , I intervened saying :
- Abu S…, my oh my, I've known you long enough , yet this is the first time I see the “General Casey” side of you , what the hell are you teaching the boy !.
- ‘Hello Dear‘ , he said slicing some cheese and wrapping it with a piece of bread , handing it over to me .
– ‘ M ...’s area is being attacked daily’ , Abu S.. explained, ‘And yesterday his next door neighbour was attacked . The bastards stormed in and the poor man was beaten up in front of his children and wife. Everything was stolen and as if that was not enough they took him away somewhere . I tell you they are taking the whole area in turn . A man has to do what a man has to do , one must fight for his house at least..
- ‘Who are these people ? do you have any idea’ I asked M...
- Who cares any more , you see our area has been practically invaded , people driven out , the houses left empty and any one can just break in . My area has been taken over by people who claim to have been driven out from their own houses . And they are forming now the majority and are carrying out raids on the old tenants. It is happening now everywhere .
- ‘And what are you going to do? , I mean besides the D-day plan Abu S... has formulated for you?’ , I said smiling at Abu S…
- What is their to do!, I'll move maybe . The whole country is on the run .

I guess it is a matter of time before it will reach every single one of us .

- Why don't you bring your family to my place . Bring them all and I will “ put you all in my eyes -an Iraqi expression, meaning I'll take good care of you and protect you- . Really I mean it . said Abu S.. sincerely.
- Thank you uncle . but your area is not safer is it ?
- No, but even judgement day with company is a festival, as they say - the Arabic equivalent of the more the merrier-.
- ‘Let's all go to the green zone!’ I jumped between them.
- Oh, yeah, as if they would take the likes of us in . said Abu S… clearing the table.
- You know if they just kick out the government from the green zone, it would all be solved. They will run faster than light speed to England or Iran or wherever and the country will be government- less, which is not so bad don’t you agree? I said picturing a stampede of black turbans , white turbans and suits trying to get on a pick-up truck as fast as they can, before anyone gets to them first, on a background of black smoke , rampaging fires , toppling date palms , and American troops folding the stairs of their giant giant super giant plane just seconds before the pick-up truck reaches there… and me watching from my roof top laughing hysterically and ….. enough of that .
- ‘You bet ‘ they both agreed dreamingly.
After a while I heard Abu S... pals shouting from the street bellow , calling him to come down. I ran to the window next to Abu S… cause I always enjoy these dialogues. I just love it when these old men start .
Abu S… opened the window and looked down at Abu M…. -a shop keeper and a friend of his-, trying to look as serious as possible .
- Why are you shouting, huh ? where do you think you are? at some sort of a market place? , please try to be more civilized.
- Abu S...Habibi = dear, come down and have breakfast with us .
- I said don't yell! people are trying to work here.
- Come on, it will get cold .
- What are you having ?
- Kahi and Kaimar ( a rich traditional Iraqi breakfast, consisting of fried puff pastry , rich cream and honey or syrup , most delicious when warm and fresh) I brought it just now .
- ‘No’ , abu S… said capriciously ‘I just had my breakfast.’
At this point the rest of his battalion came out ; another shop keeper , a carpenter, a photographer and I think a merchant who has an office a block or two away . And they all started to shout to get Abu S… down, a woman smiled as she passed by.
- What did you have? shouted Abu M…
- A cheese sandwich. Replied Abu S… .
- Ah, for the prophet Mohammed’s sake, what are you ?, a sixteen year old school girl or something? . Come down at once and get a man’s breakfast inside you !.
Abu S.. considered the issue for a moment and then said Ok

He went down to his friends , I watched them joke and shove Abu S.. inside a shop below us . Meanwhile, I could hear sporadic bullets sounds and explosions coming from far away .

Abu S.. lost his son not long ago , Abu M… had a brother brutalized and killed, one of the other men’s son was wounded and left invalid for life at the tender age of fourteen , another one of the group lost his old father after a shock related to the kidnap of his niece. All that in less than three years , Yet breakfast must go on, as they say.

22 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

IR, I can't begin to imagine what you and many Iraqi's are going through. I think your blogging style is brilliant. Please keep it up. I really enjoy your sense of humour.

I also appreciate your true point of view as opposed to the daily clap trap we hear over here day in day out.

9:10 AM  
Blogger Jeff said...

Keep up the blogging, the more people here how bad things realy are, the more Bush and Blair will be forced to acknowledge the grave mistakes they have made.

9:11 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Teri,
buster george,

Thanks for reading,
I really appreciate the fact that anyone is even interested anymore . I foresee a grim picture , in which we turn into one of those forgotten countries in the world, where only an elite selection of politically literate folks know “That it is really bad over there !”, but no one actually knows what is going on in the minds and hearts of each and every citizen of the “country of the living dead” , as one of my friends likes to name Iraq now.
Keep on reading friends ;)

2:35 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

But do you have any ideas for solutions?
i would dearly love for the UK troops to be withdrawn.

7:16 AM  
Blogger Jeff said...

about the situation in Iraq.

We are told that there is no civil war and that progress is being made, but there are daily reports of bombs and murders.

If there is so much progress why are there still coalition troops in Iraq?

3:23 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

تبرىء الكلمات في القلوب

ثم همس الرب في قلوبنا...
الكلمات تصل حيث لا يقدر السلاح

سألنا حكيم قريتنا، كيف ينزل الدفء
على النفوس والشيطان
قد ألقى بسمومه المفضلة
خوفاً ويأساً وكراهية
على القلوب البريئة
كما الرماد من محرقة السعادة

كيف تنام عيون الايمان
وسرير الأمل
تفترشه ملاءة القنوط الشاحب
وعيون الحنث الفاسدة
تنتهك حرمة الكلمات المقدسة
وتسعد باغتيال هدايا السماء

وسألنا :كيف يبتسم الخير
ويصفع الكره الفضيلة من وجه الخجل
و أتباعه يشوهون ويحرفون فى نفوس ضحاياهم
حتى يصل الاعتقاد
بأن الإثم فضيلة والقتل عدالة والكره هو الحب

تحدث الحكيم
بصوته الخفيض وقال
أن للشيطان أتباع
يغتسلون في أنهار النبيذ في حادي*
وبعشق السخرية الفارغ
يحصدون نفوساً مغشوشة جنيت بمنجل الانتحار

مستحيل أن يكون الطريق إلى الفردوس مرصوفاً
بجثث الأبرياء - عبر نهرٍ من الدم
اعتنقوا مد الحق وجزره الرائع في قلوبكم
تقبّلوا الشك والعار أينما كانوا
لكي تدركوا أن النفس تسعد بالعطف وليس بالانتقام

سطع صوته كالضوء وقال:
ابحثوا بشجاعة في أعماق قلوبكم
بلا نفاق ولا خداع ولا إجحاف
وحين تلمسوا الايمان هناك
ستنزل الكلمات الالهيه دواءً للقلوب
مثل مطر أبدي يجذبه البحر دائماً
حتى يرتفع ليملأ حرم النفوس
بودٍ عميق هادىء ويغدو سلاماً
على شواطىء العزم الالهي.


[أرض الموتى في الأساطير الاغريقية*

أبريل 2006

4:15 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Billy,
As I said in the last post we are mainly dealing now with consequences . Consequences of grave mistakes committed after the war “ may be deliberately may be no “ . And as we all know, there are some mistakes that just cannot be corrected , you may just as well sit and cry over spilt milk. These mistakes are no secret and nobody is genuinely ashamed of even making them at the first place , and are being discussed and written about in interviews and bestsellers . Unfortunately, average Iraqis are paying the price on daily basis . So, I am afraid Billy your question is one without an answer . You can not solve much here , you just have to deal with the issue individually, since every one else is failing you . So, some Iraqis are fleeing the country “and when I say some I mean millions” , others are just facing death as best as they can .
Thanks for your comments

Through gracepeace
Wise enough for me ;)
Thanks

3:19 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You are my literary hero. Please be careful.

8:11 AM  
Blogger neurotic_wife said...

IR, nice post, I thouroughly enjoyed it...especially the part abt the GZ, that really made me smile. yella ta3aloo so we can all eat kahee oo gaimar, yummmmm. shahaitnee...

10:18 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

IR

The mistakes are made and the results of those mistakes are in place but it doesn't have to stay as it is. I cannot agree that mistakes cannot be corrected. We cannot bring back the dead but we can secure the future for the living.
There is a problem, or a series of problems, and there must be a solution. Some people are saying that Iraq is an artificial nation put together to suit the French and English long ago and that the solution may be a federation. If Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds cannot live together then let them live seperately. It is much easier to be tolerant of your neighbour from a position of strength.
Don't be accepting of things as they are; change them.

11:14 AM  
Blogger Dancewater said...

"She asked how I was and said that she was fine ‘No I did not die, don’t believe that I died’ she said . I woke up not understanding the meaning of the dream, whishing that there was actually a place on earth where Mimi would be holding her phone receiver telling people what they had to do for the next morning."

I just had to comment on this - she did die, but she is not gone. You will see her again. She was trying to tell you that she is not gone.

blessings....

1:34 PM  
Blogger Dancewater said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

1:35 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

At the discretion of the soul
Thanks a million . And I am trying my best to be careful.

Neurotic_wife

I suggest, this weekend send for a large dish of Kahi and kaimar and enjoy on my behalf.
Thanks for reading and thanks for your nice comment.

Billy ,

Sorry for the delay in replying .You see, the electricity has been cut for approx. 48 hours , so until an oil or gas operating Computer is invented , I’ll just have to wait for the power .
Anyway, dividing Iraq will worsen things. The problem is not that “ Shias can’t live with Sunnis “, we have lived for centuries together , It is more than common to have a Sunni and a Shi’i , or a Kurd and an Arab in the same family . Sunni and Shi’i is not a nationality, it is a slight difference in the interpretation of the same laws of Islam , - which I am sure that who ever is making a big deal about , doesn’t even know what the differences actualy are-. The problem is in the groups, that have managed, thanks to the mistakes committed after the war, to make the best of circumstances . The absence of law and order, the total state of chaos the country was hurled in after the war… , enabled groups, that had a problem or a political agenda , to fully establish themselves and launch their war . All that with the steady deterioration of services : no electricity , no clean water , damaged schools and hospitals and lets not forget here the assassinations of professors , doctors , judges, writers or anyone who could make a difference in the country made Iraq what it is now : Hell on earth.

When you say division, the word itself is painful, I just can not imagine a three piece Iraq. I am used to a complete Iraq . I know I may sound emotional weepy and mushy, but I just don’t want such an Iraq . But, I also understand that if this was the plan from the beginning , may be they will get their way after all, and what I or anyone else wants just doesn’t count.
Just try to imagine in such a country , how are you going to secure and insure the rights of minorities in each part? You’ll have three times the same problems .
Take care

Dancewater ,
God bless you . thanks for caring.

11:30 AM  
Blogger rebelBodhi said...

I agree with the others, very interesting, I make it a point to get opinions from the ground where the US gov't's harm is felt. Check out my blog, I cover indy media and my own personal research into US crimes

http://usterrorism.blogspot.com/

If you link to mine I will link to yours.

7:36 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

IR, you are an uncommon writer. It's a rare talent that can make the reader feel as if they were part of the story, and your quiet strength, and sense of humor remain strong in spite of a very tough situation. I do hope the Iraqi people somehow bring sense out of chaos. I continue to have faith that you will. Ps: Thanks for making neurotic wife smile! :-)

5:34 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Solo,

Thanks a million , you really made my day more pleasant with your encouraging words. It is strange, but in spite of everything, I too still have that faith . And you are more that welcome for making NW smile, the pleasure is mine .
Take care

10:49 PM  
Blogger ahmed said...

Hey...
it's amazing i never heard of you before, you're so good and talented, your writing is cinematic and somehow makes me appreciate the mundane aspects of life more. Thanx, keep it up and do visit from time to time.

one question though, you're a she, moo?

Stay safe.
Kiddo

6:08 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

What does it matter, today, the gender of the writer? We can transcend 'she' or 'he.'

6:02 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Write on I.R.

5:00 PM  
Blogger dgfdsgdsgds said...

Are you okay?

6:51 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Konfused Kid
Thank you so much for your words. I really appreciate it .Yet, I know you well and I read your posts . Thanks a lot friend for your support keep on reading.

Zeyad
I am fine . Thanks for asking I hope you are well .

Solo
I will, thanks for reading

at the discretion of the soul
I totally agree ;)

8:07 AM  
Blogger Roger David said...

Roulette

3:36 PM  

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