October 3, 2005

Dear Khalid,

As we begin our debate, I want to make it clear that what I hope most to get out of my participation is knowledge. It is not often that Americans get to hear about Iraq from someone who has been there, lived there, or much less, actually is Iraqi. I look forward to being educated by my friend Khalid about the situation in the region, and because of his first hand experience I sincerely believe that I have little chance of making very many convincing arguments, especially on specifics, but I will as always do my best.

Yes, Iraq is better off without Saddam Hussein. I will not shrink from this statement. In fact, I believe that even the liberal media in the United States, as well as most true Muslims, believe this deep down, even if they do not always vocalize it. The plain fact is this: He was a dictator with an awful record and a man who did not care for Islam except for how he could use it to maintain power. Much has been made of his history of murderous treatment of the Iraqi people, especially the Kurds and the Shiite Muslims, and to minimize this is ignorant at best. Even here is Chicago, Illinois I have friends (Kurds and Shiite Iraqis) who thank God that they were able to escape to the United States.

At the same time, the situation in Iraq right now is most grave. We Americans, especially those who have and still support the war, mourn each time that we hear of another Iraqi person dead in the struggle for the implementation of the new government there. Personally, I have been shocked at how the violence has continued and death tolls have seemed to rise. But let me make it clear that I do not equate this violence with the violence that took place in the first few months of the war when those dieing were American and Iraqi soldiers. The people who are dieing now are almost all Iraqi people, people who deserve a chance at a healthy life just as much as anyone created by God. This is most plainly a devastating situation which I believe can still come out positively in the future.

I hope that this is sufficient for a start and will be the beginning of a fruitful dialogue.

October 17, 2005

Dear Evan,

Thank you for beginning the dialogue, and thank you for your first post. It is obvious that it’s coming from a well-educated, open-minded person. I can already see that this is going to be an interesting experience for both of us, and our readers too insha’Allah (God willing).

You said you think It is important  to learn about Iraq from Iraqis, and I agree; to know about Iraq and how it is like, and about Iraqis and how they feel and think, you need to have your information coming from Iraq, not from Iran, not from Fox news, and definitely not from the White House.

Iraqis, as any other population on earth, are naturally peace-loving; they have hopes and dreams; they want to live and let live, raise their children and love them, love and be loved, and live their material and spiritual lives as well as they can.

Iraq is a country with a great history and an unbelievably impressive record of civilizations’ creation. A lot of the most important bases for many sciences were born and written in Iraq; it’s a land where Muslims, Christians, and Jews; Arabs, Kurds, and Turkmen; and many other minorities lived together, leaving deep signs of their creativity and production—scientific, literary, and spiritual—the heritage that today's Iraq was built on.

Iraq, that was built throughout years, is now destroyed, at all levels, and is still being destroyed everyday, by the occupation and the war that the US started—look at the killing and torture of Iraqis; bombing cities and villages; and installing puppet governments.

The fake government that was installed in Iraq, which consists of pro-occupation figures, exists within and only within the boundaries of the Green Zone, which is surrounded by concrete walls, American soldiers, and American tanks—all to protect the government from the anger of people, the Iraqi people, whose voice you never hear in the media anymore. This government that is being attacked everyday at all levels by Iraqis, unable itself, let alone Iraqis, will fall, because it was installed as a result of external pressure and foreign intervention, something that never worked in Iraq throughout history, under many occupations that tried to control it and oppress the will of its people.

I believe in the strength of Iraqis. I believe in the spirit of Iraqis. I believe in God above all, and therefore I know that this occupation, too, will be terminated, and that the occupation will leave against its will and against all its plans and despite the presence of the military bases that were built in Iraq for the occupation to stay (just like the American occupation in other countries around the world, except that in Iraq, occupations never last, and are always forced to leave.)

Saddam was a terrible dictator, a phase that every country goes through till it revolts and achieves its granted democracy, a natural process that results in a democratic state where people rule themselves by electing governments that represent them. Saddam used violence against everyone who dared to criticize him, and so does the occupation. Saddam killed his enemies, or the people who stood against him, while the occupation kills innocent people everyday, people walking the streets, living in their cities. The occupation used cluster bombs against civilians, bombs that still kill innocent people. They were used against a neighbor who lived right next to where I lived. Their remains kept exploding and killing people whenever they stepped over them.

Both Saddam and the occupation kill whoever they think are “bad people” or “insurgents,” except that the occupation does that much more widely. Other than that, Saddam was a good “manager” in terms of providing the basic needs of life—water, security, food. Now we still have the same country of secret police and muhabarat (intelligence) except that we lost the small positive side of Saddam; we don’t have water, security, electricity, or food rations anymore.

The country is about to get divided with this new constitution, which I think will pass no matter how many people vote “No” (just wait and see!), and there are seeds of a civil war between everyone and everyone else.

There will be no future for Iraq except after the occupation leaves, and it will.