BAGHDAD,
March 24 (IslamOnline.net) - Sirens wailed loudly, a clear message of
destruction and death was sent, twining a general state of darkness,
fear and hope… to come out alive again.
Thudding
explosions and large plumes of fire bellowed high in the beleaguered
capital under a fifth day of heavy shelling.
Running
fast to the shelter, leaving everything behind, just accumulated
memories of long years of tight siege and sanctions after the 1991 Gulf
War, hurried along with the Iraqi people.
“In
1991, shells landed a few steps away me, like rains. Today I am here
standing before you” Abu Hader uttered the words with a mixed
expression of resilience and confidence.
Rahim
sent everyone laughing - yes, laughing - when he reminisced his
experience of war.
“One
day, I woke up to find a strange ‘thing’ with beautiful colors on my
way to a public bath”.
He
recounted … all eyes focused on him, all ears - the deafening sound of
explosions seemed irrelevant.
“People
gathered around me and I carried the ‘thing’ on my hands”.
“It
was a bomb,” the Iraqi young man told the attentive audience crowded
in the shelter with a hard-to-notice sense of innocence and naivety.
“Throw
it until the engineer (explosive expert) comes to defuse it, they told
me” Rahim remembered.
“I
put it in the soap box until the engineer comes, as they told me”.
“When
this engineer showed up and went directly into the bath, we heard him
burst into anger.
“Who
put such a thing in here?” The engineer shouted, putting his hand on
nose. With all eyes fixed on the bomb in his hands, he realized the
smelly place was the last thing he should be dealing with now, so, he
smiled, sending everyone in a burst of laughter… and defused the
bomb”.
|
|
An
Iraqi
family
in a shelter
|
Such
stories were told as if they were fairy tales, apparently in a place
where people are hiding from death looming close over their heads.
The
atmosphere down here, in the shelter, combined tension, fear and
confidence in God. However, it was strangely and amazingly cheerful. For
me, the first experience of its kind, I must admit that my fear was
gradually replaced with an unfamiliar sense of belonging and courage.
Two
French journalists who just arrived in Iraq, moved directly to the
shelter, as their stepping down in the area coincided with the U.S.-led
raids.
“Allah,
protect us, lead Iraq to victory, destroy and tear down American and
British soldiers in the air and on the ground.” One Egyptian
Television correspondent raised his hands high in prayers, as several
Iraqis - down here - expressed confidence that “ Allah is great” and
victory could not be far away from them.
The
look on the face of the French reporters was so expressive that I
yearned for the camera I left behind in the hotel room. They both had
that weird look of “disbelief”. It was obvious they expected to see
people crying or even scared.
However,
everyone was laughing, with no care - so to speak - for the possibility
that they may breath their last down here.
The
Iraqis Morale went sky high, with four U.S. forces captured by the Iraqi
forces displayed on the Iraqi television with their faces exposing
frightened eyes.
Suddenly,
all eyes were fixed on the shelter entrance when someone shouted;
“Make way for Mr. Bush”.
Running
inside, a scared dog came in, sending everybody into a fit of loud
laughter.
How
could such people ever trust Washington’s empty words of bombing their
country to grant them freedom?!
