Brigadier General Kevin Bergner:
"Al-Qaeda-Iraq is run by foreigners, not Iraqis"
"...they are without question the main threat to the government of Iraq and to the stability of Iraq because of the role that they play in accelerating and fueling sectarian violence."

Major General Walter Gaskins:
"We owe the lion's share of the progress we've experienced to the hard work, dedication, and in some cases, bravery of the Iraqi forces."
"Most armies train and go to war; what we are asking of the Iraqi forces is to train while they're at war."
"I have more volunteers, more recruits than we have the capacity to train."

Brigadier General John Bednarek:
"...they will not find safe haven in this country.... It is tough, demanding, arduous, dangerous -- pick an acronym, pick an adjective, that's what you're seeing out there against a very tough, demanding, adaptive enemy, but the enemy's not 10-feet tall."

General David Petraeus:
"Our job is not to put lipstick on pigs, or to spin. Our job is, again, to try to convey to the American public, and then the public of all the coalitions, and those who follow the media throughout the world, as accurate a picture as we can of what is going on here."
"On a nightly basis here... ten or twelve serious operations are going down by those forces.....And any one of those is far more significant than we conducted for decades. They are very sophisticated, very complex, very lethal sometimes, and very effective."
"a precipitous withdrawal would have potentially serious implications for important interests that we have in Iraq, in the region."

Major General Rick Lynch:
"...we face Iraq's public enemy number one: al Qaeda and al Qaeda-affiliated Sunni extremists."
"I worry about our families back home. I worry about their morale. We work very hard to tell them the good and the bad; what's happening that's good and where are we struggling so they have an informed opinion. But if all they see is acts of violence, all they see is bombs exploding on TV and the newspapers, then it affects their morale"

Major General Benjamin Mixon:
"what is going on here in Iraq is vitally important to our nation's security and security within the region."
"we can't take the short-term approach. We must take a long-term vision here. Our soldiers understand that. They're proud of what they're doing."

Major Genenral Joseph Fil:
"I see progress, a steady progress, in every neighborhood that we've cleared and then established a full-time presence."
"This is a skilled and determined enemy. He's ruthless. He's got a thirst for blood like I've never seen anywhere in my life, and he's determined to do whatever he can."
"Iraq is still in its infancy. Its early challenges are not unlike those that we experienced"

Brigadier General John Bednarek:
"The Iraqi army soldiers are good. They're holding firm. They are in the fight."
"...no, al Qaeda is not the only enemy. But let me be clear. They are the number-one enemy."

Brigadier Genenral Dana Pittard:
"...it's not that difficult to recruit young soldiers, young jundis or soldiers, as they're called, or young police officers. It doesn't take too long to train young lieutenants, but it takes much longer to train seasoned non-commissioned officers and majors, lieutenant colonels and brigadier generals."
"...we have a stake in this. We have a stake in supporting the Iraqi people as well as the American people in ensuring that Iraq becomes a stable nation that is not an area where terrorism can fester"

Brigadier General Kevin Bergner:
"Iraqi forces are very much in the fight. They are increasingly the first line of defense while taking casualties at rates of two to three times that of the coalition, and they are not deterred in their mission."
"... the progress of the Iraqi people is our progress."

Brigadier General Perry Wiggins:
"...the enemy has, back since 9/11, has been trying to destroy the freedoms here in this country as well as in Europe. That has never stopped being an aim."

Major General Rick Lynch:
"...al Qaeda has worn out its welcome. They've overplayed their hand."
"...those division commanders are competent, capable military professionals who are Iraqis. They're not Shi'a; they're not Sunni. They're Iraqis, and their enemy is anybody that's against Iraq."
"...the enemy only responds to force and we now have that force"
"If those surge forces go away, that capability goes away, and the Iraqi security forces aren't ready yet to do that..... It would be a mess."
"...every day when I'm out and about wearing 60 pounds of body armor in 111 degree temperature, I re-enlist soldiers, and they raise their right hand and say, ‘I'll support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic'."

Brigadier General Kevin Bergner:
"...al Qaeda leaders have declared Iraq their central front.... Their goal continues to be a Taliban-like state"
"Al Qaeda senior leadership does provide direction to al Qaeda in Iraq. They do establish focus. They do establish and provide resourcing and support the network."

Lieutenant General Ray Odierno:
"...the Iraqi people are clearly rejecting al Qaeda and assisting coalition forces and Iraqi force in liberating their towns and villages"
"Iraqis can be proud of their army and their police, but there's still some ways to go, and we all know that."
"I can think of no major population center in Iraq that is in an al Qaeda safe haven today."
"...they would like us to fail here, so they can use Iraq as that base. That, in my mind, is the threat to us in the future, and that's what I see the biggest threat out of al Qaeda in Iraq."

General James Cartwright:
"We are demonstrating success in Baghdad today."
"We have provided the commanders on the ground additional resources and we should provide them the time they need to apply those resources to create the stability and security needed for political progress."

And now the final entry for the topic from The Nation, the intro and the methodology.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070730/hedges

Over the past several months The Nation has interviewed fifty combat veterans of the Iraq War from around the United States in an effort to investigate the effects of the four-year-old occupation on average Iraqi civilians. These combat veterans, some of whom bear deep emotional and physical scars, and many of whom have come to oppose the occupation, gave vivid, on-the-record accounts. They described a brutal side of the war rarely seen on television screens or chronicled in newspaper accounts.

Their stories, recorded and typed into thousands of pages of transcripts, reveal disturbing patterns of behavior by American troops in Iraq. Dozens of those interviewed witnessed Iraqi civilians, including children, dying from American firepower. Some participated in such killings; others treated or investigated civilian casualties after the fact. Many also heard such stories, in detail, from members of their unit. The soldiers, sailors and marines emphasized that not all troops took part in indiscriminate killings. Many said that these acts were perpetrated by a minority. But they nevertheless described such acts as common and said they often go unreported--and almost always go unpunished.

Court cases, such as the ones surrounding the massacre in Haditha and the rape and murder of a 14-year-old in Mahmudiya, and news stories in the Washington Post, Time, the London Independent and elsewhere based on Iraqi accounts have begun to hint at the wide extent of the attacks on civilians. Human rights groups have issued reports, such as Human Rights Watch's Hearts and Minds: Post-war Civilian Deaths in Baghdad Caused by U.S. Forces, packed with detailed incidents that suggest that the killing of Iraqi civilians by occupation forces is more common than has been acknowledged by military authorities.


This Nation investigation marks the first time so many on-the-record, named eyewitnesses from within the US military have been assembled in one place to openly corroborate these assertions.

While some veterans said civilian shootings were routinely investigated by the military, many more said such inquiries were rare. "I mean, you physically could not do an investigation every time a civilian was wounded or killed because it just happens a lot and you'd spend all your time doing that," said Marine Reserve Lieut. Jonathan Morgenstein, 35, of Arlington, Virginia. He served from August 2004 to March 2005 in Ramadi with a Marine Corps civil affairs unit supporting a combat team with the Second Marine Expeditionary Brigade. (All interviewees are identified by the rank they held during the period of service they recount here; some have since been promoted or demoted.)

Veterans said the culture of this counterinsurgency war, in which most Iraqi civilians were assumed to be hostile, made it difficult for soldiers to sympathize with their victims--at least until they returned home and had a chance to reflect.

"I guess while I was there, the general attitude was, A dead Iraqi is just another dead Iraqi," said Spc. Jeff Englehart, 26, of Grand Junction, Colorado. Specialist Englehart served with the Third Brigade, First Infantry Division, in Baquba, about thirty-five miles northeast of Baghdad, for a year beginning in February 2004. "You know, so what?... The soldiers honestly thought we were trying to help the people and they were mad because it was almost like a betrayal. Like here we are trying to help you, here I am, you know, thousands of miles away from home and my family, and I have to be here for a year and work every day on these missions. Well, we're trying to help you and you just turn around and try to kill us."

He said it was only "when they get home, in dealing with veteran issues and meeting other veterans, it seems like the guilt really takes place, takes root, then."

The Iraq War is a vast and complicated enterprise. In this investigation of alleged military misconduct, The Nation focused on a few key elements of the occupation, asking veterans to explain in detail their experiences operating patrols and supply convoys, setting up checkpoints, conducting raids and arresting suspects. From these collected snapshots a common theme emerged. Fighting in densely populated urban areas has led to the indiscriminate use of force and the deaths at the hands of occupation troops of thousands of innocents.

Many of these veterans returned home deeply disturbed by the disparity between the reality of the war and the way it is portrayed by the US government and American media. The war the vets described is a dark and even depraved enterprise, one that bears a powerful resemblance to other misguided and brutal colonial wars and occupations, from the French occupation of Algeria to the American war in Vietnam and the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory.

"I'll tell you the point where I really turned," said Spc. Michael Harmon, 24, a medic from Brooklyn. He served a thirteen-month tour beginning in April 2003 with the 167th Armor Regiment, Fourth Infantry Division, in Al-Rashidiya, a small town near Baghdad. "I go out to the scene and [there was] this little, you know, pudgy little 2-year-old child with the cute little pudgy legs, and I look and she has a bullet through her leg.... An IED [improvised explosive device] went off, the gun-happy soldiers just started shooting anywhere and the baby got hit. And this baby looked at me, wasn't crying, wasn't anything, it just looked at me like--I know she couldn't speak. It might sound crazy, but she was like asking me why. You know, Why do I have a bullet in my leg?... I was just like, This is--this is it. This is ridiculous."

Much of the resentment toward Iraqis described to The Nation by veterans was confirmed in a report released May 4 by the Pentagon. According to the survey, conducted by the Office of the Surgeon General of the US Army Medical Command, just 47 percent of soldiers and 38 percent of marines agreed that civilians should be treated with dignity and respect. Only 55 percent of soldiers and 40 percent of marines said they would report a unit member who had killed or injured "an innocent noncombatant."

These attitudes reflect the limited contact occupation troops said they had with Iraqis. They rarely saw their enemy. They lived bottled up in heavily fortified compounds that often came under mortar attack. They only ventured outside their compounds ready for combat. The mounting frustration of fighting an elusive enemy and the devastating effect of roadside bombs, with their steady toll of American dead and wounded, led many troops to declare an open war on all Iraqis.

Veterans described reckless firing once they left their compounds. Some shot holes into cans of gasoline being sold along the roadside and then tossed grenades into the pools of gas to set them ablaze. Others opened fire on children. These shootings often enraged Iraqi witnesses.

In June 2003 Staff Sgt. Camilo Mejía's unit was pressed by a furious crowd in Ramadi. Sergeant Mejía, 31, a National Guardsman from Miami, served for six months beginning in April 2003 with the 1-124 Infantry Battalion, Fifty-Third Infantry Brigade. His squad opened fire on an Iraqi youth holding a grenade, riddling his body with bullets. Sergeant Mejía checked his clip afterward and calculated that he had personally fired eleven rounds into the young man.

"The frustration that resulted from our inability to get back at those who were attacking us led to tactics that seemed designed simply to punish the local population that was supporting them," Sergeant Mejía said.

We heard a few reports, in one case corroborated by photographs, that some soldiers had so lost their moral compass that they'd mocked or desecrated Iraqi corpses. One photo, among dozens turned over to The Nation during the investigation, shows an American soldier acting as if he is about to eat the spilled brains of a dead Iraqi man with his brown plastic Army-issue spoon.

"Take a picture of me and this motherfucker," a soldier who had been in Sergeant Mejía's squad said as he put his arm around the corpse. Sergeant Mejía recalls that the shroud covering the body fell away, revealing that the young man was wearing only his pants. There was a bullet hole in his chest.

"Damn, they really fucked you up, didn't they?" the soldier laughed.

The scene, Sergeant Mejía said, was witnessed by the dead man's brothers and cousins.

In the sections that follow, snipers, medics, military police, artillerymen, officers and others recount their experiences serving in places as diverse as Mosul in the north, Samarra in the Sunni Triangle, Nasiriya in the south and Baghdad in the center, during 2003, 2004 and 2005. Their stories capture the impact of their units on Iraqi civilians.

A Note on Methodology

The Nation interviewed fifty combat veterans, including forty soldiers, eight marines and two sailors, over a period of seven months beginning in July 2006. To find veterans willing to speak on the record about their experiences in Iraq, we sent queries to organizations dedicated to US troops and their families, including Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, the antiwar groups Military Families Speak Out, Veterans for Peace and Iraq Veterans Against the War and the prowar group Vets for Freedom. The leaders of IVAW and Paul Rieckhoff, the founder of IAVA, were especially helpful in putting us in touch with Iraq War veterans. Finally, we found veterans through word of mouth, as many of those we interviewed referred us to their military friends.

To verify their military service, when possible we obtained a copy of each interviewee's DD Form 214, or the Certificate of Release or Discharge From Active Duty, and in all cases confirmed their service with the branch of the military in which they were enlisted. Nineteen interviews were conducted in person, while the rest were done over the phone; all were tape-recorded and transcribed; all but five interviewees (most of those currently on active duty) were independently contacted by fact checkers to confirm basic facts about their service in Iraq. Of those interviewed, fourteen served in Iraq from 2003 to 2004, twenty from 2004 to 2005 and two from 2005 to 2006. Of the eleven veterans whose tours lasted less than one year, nine served in 2003, while the others served in 2004 and 2005.

The ranks of the veterans we interviewed ranged from private to captain, though only a handful were officers. The veterans served throughout Iraq, but mostly in the country's most volatile areas, such as Baghdad, Tikrit, Mosul, Falluja and Samarra.

During the course of the interview process, five veterans turned over photographs from Iraq, some of them graphic, to corroborate their claims.

################

About the authors:


about
Chris Hedges

Chris Hedges, the author of War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, spent two decades as a foreign correspondent covering conflicts in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and the Balkans. He worked most of that time for the New York Times, where he was one of a team of reporters who won the Pulitzer Prize in 2002 for their coverage of global terrorism. He received the 2002 Amnesty International Global Award for Human Rights Journalism. He is a senior fellow at The Nation Institute and a Lannan Literary Fellow.




about
Laila Al-Arian

Laila Al-Arian is a freelance journalist based in New York City. A graduate of the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, she has interned for USA Today and The Nation and has written for United Press International and the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.

#############


Now if there are equivalent credentials for the posts entered by others on this topic - I would like to see them. Also I have not forgotten my intention to print the letters to the editor in the hard print subsequent issue but they are not provided online so I would need to type it in, don't think scanning would work but will check that out.And if one wishes, you can go online and compose a letter to the online version on this topic. If I am feeling better in a few days I will enter some excerpts from some of the Iraqi bloggers.


lenal

Extended Iraq Rotations to Continue
Associated Press | August 15, 2007
FORT HOOD, Texas - U.S. soldiers deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan will be facing the extended 15-month deployments until at least next June, a top Army commander said Tuesday.

Commanders are assessing the situation on the ground now, but Gen. Richard Cody, the Army Vice Chief of Staff, said it will take until at least June to shrink average deployments back to 12 months while maintaining the 158,000 troops now deployed in the region.

Deployment News and Resources

"It's going to take a while to get off the 15 months," he said in an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday.

He faced questions at every meeting with troops and commanders about the extended deployments and sought to reassure them it was a temporary measure designed to get enough soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan while giving them at least a year to rest and train between deployments.

"It was supposed to be interim and is not and will not be permanent," he said in a meeting with leaders of the 4th Infantry Division, which is preparing to return to Iraq late this year.

Many members of the division are on their second and third deployments to Iraq.

Casey: Longer Tours too Stressful
Associated Press | August 15, 2007
WASHINGTON - The Army's top general said Tuesday that lengthening U.S. tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan beyond the current 15 months would be too stressful and risky for troops. Gen. George Casey, the Army's chief of staff, also said he didn't know when officials would be able to cut the length of Soldiers' tours back to 12 months.

"I don't see going beyond the 15 months," Casey said. "I've been there in Iraq, I've watched the nature of the combat and the stresses and strains that it puts on these Soldiers."

He said the 90-day extension ordered by officials earlier this year can pass quickly, but staying longer would hurt troops.

"Any more than that, it puts our Soldiers at a level of stress and a level of risk that right now I'm not comfortable with," he told reporters in an appearance at the National Press Club. "So it would be very hard for me to recommend going beyond the 15 months and ... we want to get down from 15 months as quickly as we can."

Deployment News and Resources

In an often blunt assessment of the state of the Army, Casey acknowledged that the long and repeated battlefield tours have knocked the Army out of balance, so it can no longer provide ready forces as quickly as it should for other missions.

"We're consumed with meeting the current demands and we're unable to provide ready forces as rapidly as we would like for other contingencies, nor are we able to provide an acceptable tempo of deployments to sustain our Soldiers and families for the long haul," said Casey. Before taking over as chief of the Army earlier this year, Casey was the top U.S. commander in Iraq.

Casey also had words of caution for members of Congress, who have been clamoring for the Pentagon to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq and have proposed requiring the Army to give units returning home from Iraq at least a year or more of a break before another deployment.

"We prefer not to be limited or restricted by any kind of congressional action," he said. "Any external restrictions that are put on just compound the complexity of the task and make it even harder for us to do that."

Casey returned Sunday from a trip to Iraq and Afghanistan, visiting with commanders and troops. And he said he believes the additional U.S. forces are improving security there. In the Nineveh province up north, near Mosul, he said commanders believe they are "about ready" to turn security over to the Iraqis.

But his comments came just as four suicide bombers launched attacks in the north, killing at least 175 people and wounding scores of others. The four bombings about 75 miles west of Mosul set off the deadliest attack since 215 people were killed last November in a coordinated attack in Sadr City.

Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Richard Cody said earlier Tuesday that troops may be facing the longer deployments at least until next June. Cody said officials are assessing the situation, but it would take at least until then to return average deployments to 12 months while maintaining the roughly 160,000 troops in Iraq.

"It's going to take awhile to get off the 15 months," he said in an interview with The Associated Press at Fort Hood, Texas.

Cody faced questions at every meeting with troops and commanders about the extended deployments and sought to reassure them it was a temporary measure designed to get enough Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan while giving them at least a year to rest and train between deployments.

"It ... is not and will not be permanent," he said in a meeting with leaders of the 4th Infantry Division, which is preparing to return to Iraq late this year.

In spite of any rumors my wife might have gotten out, It is not the case that I'd rather be right than get laid. Since my goal for myself and my country is peace, prosperity and wellness, I'll take anything I can get that contributes to that in both the short-term and long-term, even if it were delivered by the Marine Corp.

Thanks for the posts Lenal. I don't discount eye witness accounts. Though it is a small consolation the Iraqi's do submit claims and are compensated for donkey's, dogs, doors and accidental deaths.

As a professional soldier I did what I could to avoid or correct these type of events from occurring on a daily basis while I was in Country.

I'm still not convinced that getting out f*****g now will work any more then staying the course..

Being a professional I'm not one to run from a fight when it gets harry, its a genetic disposition I was born with.

I wasn't a pro, but a few seemed to give me place in mission.
I have no doubt about the ability, the commitment to duty
of GIs...they have always performed far beyond their political
leadership. But, ideology makes me sick. Tactics-sure,
firepower-great, maneuver-neccessary.

I will fight for my sisters', my mother's reputations.
But they deserve it. I want my country to deserve it.

I want every GI who dies to have a mission worthy of death.
Until then...Bush's is still tryin', but I ain't buyin'. He ain't
worth the price...he didn't earn war leadership...he doesn't
have a clear vision...worth one more mother, lover or sister
at another wall...



But that's just me...and I don't mean nothin'.
..........
He shouldn't have brought up Vietnam.

YOU are worth Something "Bro".... --- was that BAMO that said --- "It don't mean nothing".

My country does deserve it... it's the politicans.... and I lum 'em together on purpose because they are ALL cut from the same cloth... that I have to seperate...

PEACE

Then you should read a little history so as to figure out why we live in a prosperous nation, eh? The United States, almost from the beginning of the republic, has stood up and fought for the rights of it's citizens.

http://www.historyguy.com/american_military_history.html

Yeah, right.

Quasi-War with France 1798-1801

With independence won, the last ship of the Continental Navy was sold in 1785, and the Nation soon experienced the consequences of neglecting sea power. The actions of Mediterranean pirates caused Congress in 1794 to provide a Navy for the protection of commerce. Subsequently, depredations by the privateers of Revolutionary France against the expanding merchant shipping of the United States led to an undeclared war fought entirely at sea.


In this quasi-war the new U.S. Navy received its baptism of fire. Captain Thomas Truxtun's insistence on the highest standards of crew training paid handsome dividends as the frigate Constellation won two complete victories over French men-of-war. U.S. naval squadrons, operating principally in West Indian waters, sought out and attacked enemy privateers until France agreed to an honorable settlement.

3 Bronze Stars

1. Constellation-L'Insurgente (9 February 1799)
2. Constellation-La Vengeance (1-2 February 1800)
3. Anti-privateering operations

The Barbary Wars
(1801-1805 & 1815)

The Barbary Wars were a series of (largely) naval conflicts between the young United States of America and several of the Muslim nations on the coast of North Africa in the early 1800's. To the 'Western' point of view, these North African countries on the "Barbary" coast engaged in piracy on the open seas against merchant shipping. The piracy against American shipping continued until the U.S. gained the military and naval strength to protect American-flagged ships. It is significant to note that this was the first conflict in which America fought a war in the "Old World" rather than in her "New World" neighborhood.

The First Barbary War, also known as the Tripolitanian War, lasted from 1801 to 1805, and is considered by many to be America's first "foreign war." This conflict also featured America's first attempt at "regime change" as the Marines attempted to place an ally on the throne in Tripoli.



The Second Barbary War, also known as the Algerine War, was a short conflict in 1815 against the Barbary State of Algiers.


The War of 1812

The War of 1812 is one of the forgotten wars of the United States. The war lasted for over two years, and while it ended much like it started; in stalemate; it was in fact a war that once and for all confirmed American Independence. The offensive actions of the United States failed in every attempt to capture Canada. On the other hand, the British army was successfully stopped when it attempted to capture Baltimore and New Orleans. There were a number of American naval victories in which American vessels proved themselves superior to similarly sized British vessels. These victories coming after victories in the Quasi War (an even more forgotten war) launched American naval traditions.

As I mentioned previously, for months I have read a number of Iraqi blogs and promised to copy and post samples where you can decide yourself if you wish to follow them.

Here's one from Baghdad Burning.

http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com

Thursday, September 06, 2007

Leaving Home...
Two months ago, the suitcases were packed. My lone, large suitcase sat in my bedroom for nearly six weeks, so full of clothes and personal items, that it took me, E. and our six year old neighbor to zip it closed.

Packing that suitcase was one of the more difficult things I’ve had to do. It was Mission Impossible: Your mission, R., should you choose to accept it is to go through the items you’ve accumulated over nearly three decades and decide which ones you cannot do without. The difficulty of your mission, R., is that you must contain these items in a space totaling 1 m by 0.7 m by 0.4 m. This, of course, includes the clothes you will be wearing for the next months, as well as any personal memorabilia- photos, diaries, stuffed animals, CDs and the like.

I packed and unpacked it four times. Each time I unpacked it, I swore I’d eliminate some of the items that were not abso/lutely necessary. Each time I packed it again, I would add more ‘stuff’ than the time before. E. finally came in a month and a half later and insisted we zip up the bag so I wouldn’t be tempted to update its contents constantly.

The decision that we would each take one suitcase was made by my father. He took one look at the box of assorted memories we were beginning to prepare and it was final: Four large identical suitcases were purchased- one for each member of the family and a fifth smaller one was dug out of a closet for the documentation we’d collectively need- graduation certificates, personal identification papers, etc.

We waited… and waited… and waited. It was decided we would leave mid to late June- examinations would be over and as we were planning to leave with my aunt and her two children- that was the time considered most convenient for all involved. The day we finally appointed as THE DAY, we woke up to an explosion not 2 km away and a curfew. The trip was postponed a week. The night before we were scheduled to travel, the driver who owned the GMC that would take us to the border excused himself from the trip- his brother had been killed in a shooting. Once again, it was postponed.

There was one point, during the final days of June, where I simply sat on my packed suitcase and cried. By early July, I was convinced we would never leave. I was sure the Iraqi border was as far away, for me, as the borders of Alaska. It had taken us well over two months to decide to leave by car instead of by plane. It had taken us yet another month to settle on Syria as opposed to Jordan. How long would it take us to reschedule leaving?

It happened almost overnight. My aunt called with the exciting news that one of her neighbors was going to leave for Syria in 48 hours because their son was being threatened and they wanted another family on the road with them in another car- like gazelles in the jungle, it’s safer to travel in groups. It was a flurry of activity for two days. We checked to make sure everything we could possibly need was prepared and packed. We arranged for a distant cousin of my moms who was to stay in our house with his family to come the night before we left (we can’t leave the house empty because someone might take it).

It was a tearful farewell as we left the house. One of my other aunts and an uncle came to say goodbye the morning of the trip. It was a solemn morning and I’d been preparing myself for the last two days not to cry. You won’t cry, I kept saying, because you’re coming back. You won’t cry because it’s just a little trip like the ones you used to take to Mosul or Basrah before the war. In spite of my assurances to myself of a safe and happy return, I spent several hours before leaving with a huge lump lodged firmly in my throat. My eyes burned and my nose ran in spite of me. I told myself it was an allergy.

We didn’t sleep the night before we had to leave because there seemed to be so many little things to do… It helped that there was no electricity at all- the area generator wasn’t working and ‘national electricity’ was hopeless. There just wasn’t time to sleep.

The last few hours in the house were a blur. It was time to go and I went from room to room saying goodbye to everything. I said goodbye to my desk- the one I’d used all through high school and college. I said goodbye to the curtains and the bed and the couch. I said goodbye to the armchair E. and I broke when we were younger. I said goodbye to the big table over which we’d gathered for meals and to do homework. I said goodbye to the ghosts of the framed pictures that once hung on the walls, because the pictures have long since been taken down and stored away- but I knew just what hung where. I said goodbye to the silly board games we inevitably fought over- the Arabic Monopoly with the missing cards and money that no one had the heart to throw away.

I knew then as I know now that these were all just items- people are so much more important. Still, a house is like a museum in that it tells a certain history. You look at a cup or stuffed toy and a chapter of memories opens up before your very eyes. It suddenly hit me that I wanted to leave so much less than I thought I did.

Six AM finally came. The GMC waited outside while we gathered the necessities- a thermos of hot tea, biscuits, juice, olives (olives?!) which my dad insisted we take with us in the car, etc. My aunt and uncle watched us sorrowfully. There’s no other word to describe it. It was the same look I got in my eyes when I watched other relatives and friends prepare to leave. It was a feeling of helplessness and hopelessness, tinged with anger. Why did the good people have to go?

I cried as we left- in spite of promises not to. The aunt cried… the uncle cried. My parents tried to be stoic but there were tears in their voices as they said their goodbyes. The worst part is saying goodbye and wondering if you’re ever going to see these people again. My uncle tightened the shawl I’d thrown over my hair and advised me firmly to ‘keep it on until you get to the border’. The aunt rushed out behind us as the car pulled out of the garage and dumped a bowl of water on the ground, which is a tradition- its to wish the travelers a safe return… eventually.

The trip was long and uneventful, other than two checkpoints being run by masked men. They asked to see identification, took a cursory glance at the passports and asked where we were going. The same was done for the car behind us. Those checkpoints are terrifying but I’ve learned that the best technique is to avoid eye-contact, answer questions politely and pray under your breath. My mother and I had been careful not to wear any apparent jewelry, just in case, and we were both in long skirts and head scarves.

The trip was long and uneventful, other than two checkpoints being run by masked men. They asked to see identification, took a cursory glance at the passports and asked where we were going. The same was done for the car behind us. Those checkpoints are terrifying but I’ve learned that the best technique is to avoid eye-contact, answer questions politely and pray under your breath. My mother and I had been careful not to wear any apparent jewelry, just in case, and we were both in long skirts and head scarves.

Syria is the only country, other than Jordan, that was allowing people in without a visa. The Jordanians are being horrible with refugees. Families risk being turned back at the Jordanian border, or denied entry at Amman Airport. It’s too high a risk for most families.

We waited for hours, in spite of the fact that the driver we were with had ‘connections’, which meant he’d been to Syria and back so many times, he knew all the right people to bribe for a safe passage through the borders. I sat nervously at the border. The tears had stopped about an hour after we’d left Baghdad. Just seeing the dirty streets, the ruins of buildings and houses, the smoke-filled horizon all helped me realize how fortunate I was to have a chance for something safer.

By the time we were out of Baghdad, my heart was no longer aching as it had been while we were still leaving it. The cars around us on the border were making me nervous. I hated being in the middle of so many possibly explosive vehicles. A part of me wanted to study the faces of the people around me, mostly families, and the other part of me, the one that’s been trained to stay out of trouble the last four years, told me to keep my eyes to myself- it was almost over.

It was finally our turn. I sat stiffly in the car and waited as money passed hands; our passports were looked over and finally stamped. We were ushered along and the driver smiled with satisfaction, “It’s been an easy trip, Alhamdulillah,” he said cheerfully.

As we crossed the border and saw the last of the Iraqi flags, the tears began again. The car was silent except for the prattling of the driver who was telling us stories of escapades he had while crossing the border. I sneaked a look at my mother sitting beside me and her tears were flowing as well. There was simply nothing to say as we left Iraq. I wanted to sob, but I didn’t want to seem like a baby. I didn’t want the driver to think I was ungrateful for the chance to leave what had become a hellish place over the last four and a half years.

The Syrian border was almost equally packed, but the environment was more relaxed. People were getting out of their cars and stretching. Some of them recognized each other and waved or shared woeful stories or comments through the windows of the cars. Most importantly, we were all equal. Sunnis and Shia, Arabs and Kurds… we were all equal in front of the Syrian border personnel.

We were all refugees- rich or poor. And refugees all look the same- there’s a unique expression you’ll find on their faces- relief, mixed with sorrow, tinged with apprehension. The faces almost all look the same.

The first minutes after passing the border were overwhelming. Overwhelming relief and overwhelming sadness… How is it that only a stretch of several kilometers and maybe twenty minutes, so firmly segregates life from death?

How is it that a border no one can see or touch stands between car bombs, militias, death squads and… peace, safety? It’s difficult to believe- even now. I sit here and write this and wonder why I can’t hear the explosions.

I wonder at how the windows don’t rattle as the planes pass overhead. I’m trying to rid myself of the expectation that armed people in black will break through the door and into our lives. I’m trying to let my eyes grow accustomed to streets free of road blocks, hummers and pictures of Muqtada and the rest…

How is it that all of this lies a short car ride away?

- posted by river @ 12:06 AM
################

I wish these were widely read here in America by more than just blog addicts like me.


lenal

This blog is written by a college student, female, 19 y.o. and I have been reading hers for quite sometime, before her first year at university.


http://astarfrommosul.blogspot.com/

Now what
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
I've finally found something to occupy myself with. I'm no longer bored or depressed..

The key was to quit chatting; it takes a lot of time and I end up depressed because of the amount of time I waste telling things people do not really need to hear and hearing things I'm really going to forget.

So, I switched to reading.. I started with The Fellowship of The Ring, right from where I've left last year! Read and finished The Alchemist, then to some novel by Agatha Christie, then Hitchhikers' guide to the galaxy.. reached halfway through The Restaurant at The End of The Universe and then found my new passion: 3D design! Well, it looks really interesting, and takes much of my free-would've-been-wasted time.. I'm using Cinema 4D (My laptop is BEGGING me for memory) and will post something of my work as soon as I can manage to do something worth mentioning

I finished [Edit: The Two towers] -an accomplishment I'm very proud of- and have already started with The Return of The King. The key to finishing that one was watching the movie first, it got me motivated to know more, and get into more details.

Moving to another subject.. I have an aunt who used to teach at the communication college in Baghdad, she had plenty of books, and have now moved to Jordan with her family.. Being the good girl I am, she decided to give me the books.. She sent me 23 books that I can use now in my undergraduate studies, and saved much more in a box at grandma's house in Baghdad, for me to use in my postgraduate studies.. It made me really excited, now I can start the new year armed with more books than I've ever dreamed of having.

Okay, now, to a more interesting subject.. More than a week ago, I went to college to help some of my friends study, and so I and my other friend can check about our average of marks (I already knew mine, but she didn't). We paid the associate dean a visit, after checking our marks and some of our classmates', he told us to keep it up and encouraged us to do more of the same next year.. then he turned to me and asked:

-So, how's your site? !??
Me -being programmed to deny it, having run through this scene over and over in my head, with everyone perhaps, except for the associate dean- immediately responded:
-What site??
-YOUR site, or have you stopped writing??
I haven't even told my friend, I was so embarrassed, so surprised, and even more, really confused about how I can deny it further.. so I surrendered..
-How did you know?
It turned out that his brother has called him from Australia, told him about that girl with high grades, fluent English and who writes on a website.. He guessed it was me!
What he said after that isn't really clear to me, I was in total shock, and trying real hard not to show it, and thinking of how badly my friend must be thinking of me now..

I got away with it, my friend didn't really mind me not telling her, not much at least.. I gave her the address and she took a look and that was all I think.. But I'm not sure how many (if any more) of my lecturers know about my blog, and if they've read through it.. I've already been busted by a classmate, and he's told one other though the one other didn't really seem to care.

Am I ready to be an open book? And is the Moslawi society ready to accept the idea that a girl writes about her life online..
Is it really worth risking?
Do I have the courage to move all this to another address where no one can find it..? Can I?
These are questions I keep asking myself, and I wonder if I will HAVE to make a move and do it one day..

posted by Najma at 11:25 PM,

##########

To me, this rather personalizes the conflict. Of course since I made visits to five Muslim countries in the nineties I do not have the propagandized stereotypes of the people from the Middle East that is propagated in order to depict them as enemies and fuel the fires of war.



lenal

I had military history in boot camp. I was always so tired after marching that I couldn't listen
very well. Afterwards, in undergraduate school, I majored in History and minored psychology and in Sociology. That was all a long time ago. I don't mean to seem unappreciative of those persons serving in the military. I just don't like the way the culture has become overly militarized...that
the only good man is a good warrior and the notion that waging war is an acceptable method of
problem solving.

And here is a link to an Iraqi blogger's photo pages:

http://picturesinbaghdad.blogspot.com/


lenal