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US soldiers search a house in Baghdad
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It
was April 1st and I was on my way to Amman, but my ultimate destination would be
Baghdad. The Iraqi children at the Seasons
Art School were awaiting my visit and I was looking forward
to working with them. I embraced Islam almost 13 years ago and I
had never been to a Muslim country before. Needless to say, I
was thrilled and a bit anxious at the same time. The minute I
walked out the doors of the airport in Amman all my anxieties vanished because I heard something I had never
heard before in public – the Adhan (call to Prayer).
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My
chaperone and I left Amman at 1:00
in the morning so as to reach the Iraqi border by sunrise.
Apparently it is safer to travel through the Iraqi desert in
early daylight so as to reduce the chances of encountering
thieves, also known as “Ali Babas.” The roads in Jordan
were good, so the trip to the Iraqi border was a relatively
quick one. My first encounter with an American soldier was at
the border. He was the only soldier there and he seemed relaxed.
After going through some immigration procedures we were on our
way to Baghdad.
The
desert in Iraq is absolutely beautiful and I found myself mesmerized by it. The
color of the sand is a mix of deep red, brown and orange. The
early morning sunlight only enhanced the richness of the colors.
subhan Allah
(Glory be to Allah), the desert was littered with garbage
and paper though. I do not know why. Perhaps the garbage blew
from the cities.
As
we neared Baghdad, our car came to a sudden halt. I quickly looked up and saw two
American tanks blocking the road. There were soldiers on top of
the tanks and one of the guns mounted on top was facing us. Our
driver waved his hand out the window trying to figure out if we
could pass or not. An American soldier on top of one of the
tanks waved back but it was not clear as to his meaning – even
I as an American could not understand what he meant by his wave.
We didn’t understand whether we could pass or not. I
immediately thought of the numerous Iraqis who have been killed
in their cars while approaching roadblocks such as this one.
There was absolutely no warning in English or Arabic that a
roadblock was ahead. I saw no clear form of communication
between the American soldiers and the local civilian population.
Much to my relief, our driver turned the car around and we drove
off the main highway and on to a very bumpy dirt road. All the
cars and trucks were doing the same.
Even
I as an American could not understand what the US soldier at the roadblock
meant by his wave. |
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As
we went up a hill about 100 kilometers away from the tanks, we
saw five boys who were about eight years old. They were sitting
on the grassy part of the hill watching the two tanks and
soldiers and waiting for something to happen. Our driver stopped
the car briefly to say, “Allah be with you!” The boys
laughed and said, “wa `alaykum as-salam wa rahmatullah.”
I waved at the young boys and they smiled and laughed. I could
hardly believe how close these boys were to the tanks. The boys
reminded me of myself when I was their age. I used to go with my
friends to sit on a hill and watch a fireworks display in the
summer. But of course this was no fireworks display; this was
war.
Our
driver was not familiar with the dirt road we were on, so
invariably he had to stop to ask for directions. While doing
this we heard a bomb go off in the direction of the two tanks.
We departed quickly and were on our way to find the main road
again.
While
in Baghdad I had the honor of staying with a wonderful Iraqi
family. The first night of my stay I experienced something
absolutely horrible that the Iraqi people have been experiencing
the past year of occupation. Almost every night between midnight
and fajr time (dawn) two American helicopters would fly
very fast and extremely low over homes and neighborhoods in
Baghdad and other cities. It was 2:00 in the morning the first
night these two helicopters “buzzed” the home I was staying
in. I thought I was going to have a heart attack because the
sound was incredibly loud; and I honestly thought the
helicopters were going to crash into the house. After catching
my breath I thought of Maryam, a one-and-a-half-year-old little
girl, a member of the family I had the honor of staying with. I
thought she must have been terrified; I then became angry. Why
would the Americans do this? In the morning I asked Iman
(Maryam’s mother) how Maryam handled the helicopters at night.
Iman told me that when the helicopters come Maryam pushes her
hand away from herself as if shooing away a fly and says in a
groggy sleepy voice, “Uhh ‘tiara’ (airplane/helicopter)…”
The
next day I met with Rasha, my colleague and good friend from the
Seasons Art School. I asked her about her helicopter
experiences. She told me of a particularly terrifying one. Last
summer she, along with most of the people in her neighborhood,
was sleeping on the roof because their homes were as hot as
ovens. One night these helicopters “buzzed” her home while
she was on the roof. Everyone was scared and children started to
cry. Rasha explained to me that few people actually sleep
through the night because of these helicopters.
Saif
is 3 years old and he attends the Seasons Art School. He is very
talkative, and one of the unsolicited subjects he talked about
with me was the helicopters coming at night. It was important
for him to discuss this subject. Subhan
Allah,
these horrible helicopter flights at night have become part of
Iraqi children’s daily life. No one knows why the Americans do
this, especially at night.
One
of the unsolicited subjects 3-year-old Saif talked about
with me was the helicopters coming at night. |
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After
one year of occupation the biggest and most pressing problem for
Iraqis is the lack of security, which manifests itself in many
ways: first, the traffic conditions. While getting a ride from
Hilal, a colleague from the Seasons Art School, I was told that there are no rules for driving anymore.
Basically, the main reason for this is that there is no traffic
police and there are no traffic lights. I was in Baghdad for one week and I saw perhaps one or two police officers in
public. The driving experience in Baghdad is rather surreal. Cars can be seen going in the wrong direction
on the road, driving four across when there are only 2 lanes and
driving over cement medians in order to make a turn. I truly
believe that the drivers in Baghdad are some of the best drivers I have ever seen because, in spite
of no enforced rules for the road, they have adapted to the
situation by creating their own rules. For example, they flash
their lights and honk their horn when passing or when a car may
be too close. Amazingly, I did not see one traffic accident –
a testament to the skill of the drivers there.
The
lack of traffic police has created another problem. I saw three
boys no older than 11 years old directing traffic away from a
big crater in the middle of the street. One of the boys nearly
got hit by a car. Traffic police, not children, should have been
directing traffic.
The
second manifestation of the lack of security is kidnapping. Most
of the time kidnappings are done for ransom. I was told of a
12-year-old boy who was kidnapped right in front of his home. A
car came speeding down the street and some men jumped out of the
car and grabbed the boy. They forced him into the car. A ransom
was demanded and his parents paid it. The boy was consequently
freed. Again, I saw Iraqis adapting to this situation by
creating roadblocks on their local streets. People use piles of
bricks or dirt and sometimes barbed wire to create a roadblock,
a small section of which is left open so cars can get through.
The purpose of these roadblocks is to slow down traffic on their
streets. If the traffic is forced to move slowly down a street
then it is less likely that a kidnapping will occur, since
kidnappers rely on a speedy get away.
Criminal
gangs are a third manifestation of the lack of security. These
gangs use Iraqi children to check out a place that is a target
for being robbed. After the children have “cased out a
joint” for robbery, they go back to the gang leaders and tell
them what they saw and if there is anything worth stealing.
Many
Iraqi civilians have had direct contact with American soldiers.
Anecdotally speaking, a large part of these encounters has been
negative. One colleague from the Seasons Art School told me of a rough body search by a soldier at a checkpoint in
the city. He told me that he mentioned in English to the soldier
that he was being a little too rough but the soldier basically
gave him a dirty look and continued on with his body search. A Muslimah
(Muslim woman) also told me of driving to school (college) with
three other classmates last year in June of 2003 and coming to a
checkpoint. Everyone got out of the car and waited for the
American soldiers to search the car. She said there were at
least 7 soldiers there in full gear and carrying their weapons.
When one of the soldiers realized she could speak English he
asked her, “Do you think we are bad guys and came here to hurt
Iraqi people?” Her response was to be quiet because she was
incredibly afraid. How was she supposed to answer that question?
Soldiers
are continuing to search homes. This is usually done at night or
early in the morning around fajr
time, therefore the soldiers enter people’s homes while they
are sleeping. For a Muslim woman who wears hijab this experience
can be particularly stressful. Imagine waking up and finding an
American soldier standing in your bedroom and you frantically
searching for your hijab to put on. Invariably, children start
crying out of fear while the soldiers are conducting their
searches. I was told, however, that some soldiers try to hide
their weapons and/or conduct the search in a manner that is not
so rough in order to try to calm the children down.
There
are many other issues that have not yet been fully addressed one
year since the start of occupation. These issues include
repairing infrastructure that was damaged by the American
bombing campaign, providing access to potable water for all
Iraqis and providing electricity on a round-the-clock,
consistent basis for everyone.
After
one year of occupation by the American military, Iraqis tend to
measure their daily lives on tangible changes for the better.
But most Iraqis haven’t seen any changes at all. It was
explained to me that many Iraqis had some high hopes for the
future when the Americans arrived. They hoped the Americans
would keep their promises to help the people. But that has not
happened, and now, with no change, there is less and less hope.
Overall, I am truly impressed with the incredible patience,
resiliency and determination of the Iraqi people I met. Iraqis
in general have become very good at adapting to chaotic and
unpredictable situations by attempting to create a sense of
normalcy in whatever way they can. Too many Iraqi children,
however, have become desensitized to the situation around them
as a means of coping with the stress of war and occupation. My
experience with children is that they, too, can be incredibly
resilient, but I think the Iraqi children have suffered enough.
Let’s pray that very soon the people of Iraq, especially the children, will get their long-awaited relief
from all these difficulties.
Aisha
Robertson is an American teacher and freelance
writer based in Wisconsin, USA. Holding a BSc in Education from the
University
of Wisconsin, Aisha has worked as a teacher since 1991.
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