| Dispatches
From the Middle East by Karen Button, insurgent49  [Editor's note: Insurgent49 staff writer Karen Button is currently traveling throughout the Middle East, and will be reporting for us on her experiences there. Bookmark this page to get the latest from Karen's travels.] "A Cocktail of Enemies" (filed Mar. 18, 2006) Iraqi Women Tour US, Speak Against the War (filed Mar. 18, 2006) Building Bridges Remains Most Important To Tortured Sheikh (filed Mar. 5, 2006) Tales of Torture In Iraq's Government Prisons (filed Feb. 28, 2006) Missing For Three Years In Iraq's Prisons (filed Feb. 22, 2006) Who Will Posess Iraq's Oilfields? (filed Feb. 20, 2006) Interview With George Galloway (filed Feb. 15, 2006) World's First Arab Tribunal On the War In Iraq (filed Feb.15, 2006) Humiliation Follows Iraqis (filed Feb.12, 2006) Driving To Baghdad Faster Than Flying (filed Feb.10, 2006) “A Cocktail of Enemies”
(filed March 18, 2006) It was difficult to leave the Middle East, knowing of the uncertain chaos that continues to increase with each day in Iraq. And, of course, knowing I can leave, while my friends, and thousands that I don’t know, can’t. My last days in Jordan were very full with last minute interviews and conversations with friends inside Iraq, which were peppered with the background sounds of gunshots and helicopters flying overhead, despite the curfews. As one friend reported, "the situation here is very, very bad. Every night in Baghdad there's shooting and of course no one can go out and check out what's happening. The day before yesterday a guard in front of a primary school was killed. The children were inside, so it was a terrible day for them. A teenager from a poor family who picks up garbage from the houses nearby the school was also killed. The attackers didn’t have masks on, they’ve become that brave. This boy tried to run away and was shot. Why? Maybe because he saw them. Too many children don't want to go school now because they are so scared.” Another says “Yesterday, there were four suicide bombers in Baghdad alone. This violence, it's become like a sort of habit to us. Like, the director of the [Baghdad] morgue, Dr. Faik. He just ran away to Jordan for fear of his life after he reported the real number and condition of bodies.” She was referring to Faik Bakir who received multiple death threats after reporting that up to three quarters of the 7,000 dead he’s examined in recent months show signs of torture and execution. Many of the bodies have a single bullet shot to the head, their hands tied behind their backs. Others show signs of horrific torture, holes drilled into their bodies and the sides of their heads. I have seen many of these types of pictures, some shown to me by people who desperately want the truth to be told, but are just as desperate to maintain anonymity to ensure the same doesn’t happen to them or their family members. The number of dead in Baghdad’s morgue has been steadily increasing; the facility now receives 700-1,000 people a month. In Iraq it’s widely believed that the Ministry of the Interior is responsible for the majority of these deaths, yet across the Atlantic these reports are just now making headlines. Outgoing chief of the United Nations human rights office in Iraq made international news when he recently told The Independent, "[The killings are] being done by anyone who wishes to wipe out anybody else for various reasons. But the bulk are attributed to the agents of the Ministry of the Interior." Yet, it’s not just the Ministry of the Interior Iraqis fear. Coalition forces, CIA and other foreign intelligence forces, American-hired mercenaries (which have numbers greater than the British military), sectarian armed militias, the Iraqi resistance fighters, common criminals, international mafia, and suicide bombers all combine to make life in Iraq on the third anniversary of America’s war more deadly than ever. “I’ll go back to the West soon to deliver more of the medical supplies to the hospital there,” another friend informs me. When I express my concern and ask if it’s really safe to travel there, he laughs and tells me, “Well, I feel safer there because at least I just need to watch out for the Americans. Here, in Baghdad it's like a cocktail of enemies. You don’t know who you might be killed by.” [back to top] Iraqi Women Tour US, Speak Against the War (filed March 18, 2006) On the eve of the third anniversary of Iraq’s invasion, a small delegation of Iraqi woman are in the US to talk about what life under US occupation of their country looks like. They arrived in time for International Women’s Day when a couple thousand women and a few men marched to the White House protesting the war. Their message was clear. Bearing pink signs in both Arabic and English that read “Leave Iraq Now!” and “No to Occupation,” the Iraqi women led the march organized by Code Pink: Women Say No to War. At a later press conference where debate about what the minutia of American troop withdrawal would entail, delegation member Entisar Mohammad Ariabi, began crying out of frustration. “It is not fair,” she said, “that on Women’s Day we are not talking about women’s lives in Iraq!” Dr. Entisar, pharmaceutical head at Al-Yarmouk Teaching Hospital in Baghdad, has been documenting Iraq’s deteriorating health system. The reality, she said, is that “in Iraq a woman is either looking for her children under the rubble of her [bombed] house or for her husband in the prisons! I would also like to remember the pregnant women who cannot find sufficient care, where there is no hospital or delivery room for her because so many doctors have left, or she cannot take an ambulance because they are shot at. “Many hospitals have been destroyed in Baghdad, Haditha, and al-Qaim during military bombings. Many of the doctors in these places have been beaten, killed or arrested by US troops. “So many of the diseases under control under Saddam are now back, especially for children—meningitis and hepatitis because of no medicines or vaccines. There are also health problems due to bad water and lack of sanitation.” According to UNICEF, said Dr. Entisar, before the invasion Iraq was number 80 on the list of countries ranked according to death of children under the age of five. This was also during sanctions. Iraq now ranks number 36. “We [Iraqi women] are sitting here safe. You cannot imagine how we feel being here because we are very worried about our families. We are calling them every day just to make sure they are still alive. End this occupation! It is the reason for all these things!” Earlier, the delegation had attempted to meet with a number of congressional members to discuss the situation in Iraq, only to be stymied by tight schedules and what some of the women felt was a lack of interest. “Most were too busy to meet with us,” said journalist and human rights worker Eman Ahmed Khammas. “One actually met us in the hallway. Some did not even take notes.” Dr. Entisar said she told them, “I’m talking about the deaths of thousands of Iraqis. If you don’t have even five minutes, I refuse to talk!” “This is the problem,” said Khammas, pointing to a story in The Washington Post about how well things are going in Iraq. “This is the way issues in Iraq are covered in the media unfortunately; [American] people know almost nothing except the ‘happy image’ that really does not exist.” “We want to tell you this story of Iraq because the media is not telling you the real story.” Faiza Al-Araji, a religious Shi’a who’s married to a Sunni, explained that she used to be a civil engineer until the invasion made a blogger out of her. (afamilyinbaghdad.blogspot.com) “This is a kind of documentation about what is happening in Iraq. I can tell you from personal experience, six months after the war started, I had guns put in my face and was robbed. I went to the Iraqi police and to the US troops and they both said, ‘sorry, we can’t do anything.’ “Last August the Ministry of Interior arrested my son. They put a bag over his head and took him for four days. These were the worst four days in my life! And, this is the story of most Iraqi women now.” Fortunately, another prisoner had a cell phone, so Al-Araji’s son was finally able to call her. He told her that the “seniors” within the Ministry told me if his family would pay, he would be released. “We had to pay the seniors in the Ministry $1000 and they released him. This is now the face of the government in Iraq.” Al-Araji’s son was lucky. Most who are arrested by the Ministry are severely tortured ... many end up dead. In fear, Al-Araji’s family fled to Jordan where they now live. Khammas continued, “We hear about horrible stories of torture in the Iraqi prisons, which are unfortunately worse than the American ones. The Iraqi authorities deny their existence,” she says, though too many witnesses have sworn to their presence. “We don’t know the exact number of those detained, but many people are missing in Iraq. “Another big problem are the continuing military operations. Bush said they ended in May 2003, but this is not true. They have taken place in Najaf, Samarra, the west of Iraq. When they make these raids life stops; school stops, everything stops, and people end up as refugees. For example, with Steel Curtain operations [in Al-Qaim] 8,400 families were left homeless. “Nearly 50 percent of those who have died during the war are women and children. Death is the king of the streets in Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq.” As to sectarian divisions and the resulting violence, Al-Araji was clear. “It was Bremer who began dividing us; he is the one who named the Sunni Triangle. He put the principles sectarian division in the constitution of Iraq. We never had this before; this is not Iraq. [The Americans] created this story.” Nadje Al-Ali, a writer and researcher who specializes in women in the Middle East elaborated, “The UK and the US have fueled these differences especially by not securing the borders before now.” She also attributes the violence to frustration. “After three years, basic services haven’t even been rebuilt,” She pointed to destroyed schools, lack of electricity, and sanitation services. With this the current situation, asked Al-Araji, “how could I trust [the Americans] to stay another 3 years in Iraq? If [the Americans] are doing anything good for us, give me facts on the ground that Iraq is better and I will never say another word!!” Instead, Al-Araji charged, “What really exists is a country in absolute chaos! After three years, Iraqis have lost the ‘key.’ We aren’t even the decision-makers in our own country!” The solution, they all concluded, “Pull out troops!” Meanwhile, as these Iraqi women tour the US speaking at rallies commemorating the third anniversary of the war in Iraq, American and Iraqi forces have begun Operation Swarmer. Being conducted north of Baghdad, the American military is calling the operation the "largest air assault" in nearly three years. For information about where the Iraqi women’s delegation are speaking, go to www.womensaynotowar.org [back to top] Building Bridges Remains Most Important to Tortured Sheikh an interview with Sheikh Abdul Kareem (filed March 5, 2006)  A small young boy answers the door
and ushers us shyly into a small study lined with elegant green couches
and chairs. He quietly slips through a side door to let his father know
we’ve arrived. Sheikh Abdul Kareem has been detained and tortured twice, first by the Americans and then by the Iraqis. He fled to Amman, Jordan with his family about eight months ago to receive medical treatment, but is staying for safety reasons. He had, at first, refused the interview, saying he no longer would give interviews to Westerners. He agreed only after a member of his mosque, who is also a friend of mine, persuaded him. Sheik Abdul’s popular mosque, the Omar Al-Mukhtar—named after the famous Libyan mujahadin (fighter) who fought against Italian colonialism in the early 20th century—sits in the in the heart of Baghdad in Al-Yarmouk. The Imam is known widely by Iraqis for his compassion as well as his uncompromising position on the US-led occupation. He is the head of the Omar Al-Mukhtar Association, which assists families regardless of their religious affiliation. (Contrary to what many Westerners may think, there is a significant Christian population in Iraq, particularly in Baghdad.) His Friday khutbah (sermon) regularly drew 3,000 plus, some traveling—says our mutual friend who is with us—from as far away as Baquba to attend. Since Sheikh Abdul’s departure, only 100 or so now attend. The Sheik is dressed in a traditional dishdasha (long robe) and kaffiya (headdress) as he enters. He is a short man with a graying close-cropped beard and a quick smile and watching eyes. Sheikh Abdul is also well read, referring at one point to William James’ ideas about community and later to the US civil war. He refers to “dreamland,” describing it as the community he is always teaching about and reaching for…a place where the values of acceptance are primary. At one point during the interview, Sheikh Abdul excuses himself for a scheduled injection, explaining that it’s part of his ongoing medical treatment. Due to the beatings, he sustained nerve damage in his back and cannot feel his legs at times. Because his story is so powerful and the Sheikh so articulate, his story is best told in his own words, with few interruptions or interpretations. I am Sheikh Abdul Kareem Abdul Razaq Abdul Kadher. I welcome you, and let me just say first that I wish this visit won’t be like two passengers who meet in a station and then each leaves in their own direction. Though you are an American Christian and I am an Iraqi Muslim, I wish, we wish, through our good relationship to be like brothers and sisters in humanity. Even if we are of different color, different religions, let us be like brothers and sisters in humanity, having a place in dreamland. I’m always telling my son to take sandwiches with him to school to share them with whoever sits next to him, no matter if they are Sunni, Shi'a or Christian. I tell him, ‘Call that person your brother.’ When my son came now and told me we have guests, I told him that they are not guests, they are like your aunts and uncles. Just like when you plant seeds in the ground, this is how we plant the seeds of love in our children. You may ask me anything you like. Thank you. You’ve been arrested and detained. When and by whom? I’ve been arrested twice. The first was on 7 Oct 2003 by the Americans. I was kept in the “cell of democracy.” [The name he gave the cell.] I was first taken to one of Saddam’s former palaces, which is nearby the Second Circle. Later I was taken to a place called the 5th Department of the Military Intelligence, in Khadhimiyah neighborhood. This is now under control of the Americans. This is where I was tortured. Maybe you have the question why were you detained and what were the things you asked the people to do through your khutbah on the member (the platform from which a sheikh speaks). Since the beginning, I have called on the people to resist the invasion and the occupation. This is a legal right for us and for all people. The same is for you. Since the beginning, I have been asking the people to resist the occupation in non-violent ways, yet to fight if they were called to do so. In the meantime, I have also told the people to protect anyone who is innocent—for example, journalists and the Iraqi military and police who are protecting the people. My friend (he points to our mutual friend sitting close by) knows very well that the American Humvees surrounded our mosque many times and told me, “Either you shut your mouth or you can cooperate with us and we will make you part of this national association” [the inner circle who later became part of the Parliament]. One day a friend came to me and told me he heard I will be detained that day. A couple hours before I was arrested, the Iraqi translator who was a spy for them came to my house with the Americans in their Humvees. He pointed it out and told them this was where I lived. I was looking at them through the window. That was between 1 and 2pm. The Americans came back at 1am. My wife was praying at that time. They used a sound bomb to enter. I have a problem with my heart—arterial sclerosis—and take nitroglycerin medication for it. It is made worse under stress. I had an appointment in a week for surgery for this heart condition. My wife was screaming that the Americans were attacking us. Because I can speak some English, I went out to talk with them quietly to tell them I would go with them. Instead, they decided to show their ugly side. They started beating me in front of my wife and children. They threw me on the ground and about twenty soldiers piled on top of me. Then they drug me to the curb and made me sit down. They beat me so strongly, my heart trouble began and I needed my medication. An Iraqi female translator came up and began hitting my wife, saying very bad things to her. They hit my son Mohamed while he was sleeping. He sleeps heavily, and he thought it was his sister waking him up. When he woke he saw a tall, dark man with a helmet and gun. He was terrified. He was about 8 years old at the time. Even now, he still has some mental problems. Even after we moved to Amman he still has problems. For example, he has taken the screws that are used in construction and tried to make holes in the walls and told me: Don’t worry, dad, we can run away and escape through these holes. If you were to call him into the room right now and ask him about these things, he would even begin crying now. They threw the holy Koran and other religious books on the ground, they destroyed the furniture, and they stole the money that the people of the mosque have entrusted to me. Baghdadis have a tradition to leave their money with someone they trust. For example, some people save it for the Hajj (a pilgrimage to Mecca which a Muslim should make at least once in their life), others who are wealthy and will give their money to the poor at the end of the year, they will keep it with the sheik as well. They handcuffed me and shackled my feet and took me in one of the Humvees. They took me to the “darkness palace.” I call it this because I heard women and children screaming in this place. I was very careful with my answers when they interrogated me. They beat me and then put me in a 4-wheel drive car with darkened windows and a bag over my head. They accused me of having a bomb in the mosque and when the interrogator asked me who are the people who placed it there, I told them, there is no bomb in the mosque. I told him, “Even if I didn’t care about all the people who are praying there, do you think I wouldn’t care about my four children who always play inside the yard of the mosque?” The Iraqi translator told the Americans I am a liar. He thinks I cannot understand English. Then the Americans said they would leave him with me to force him to answer any question. I still had the bag on my head. The translator started beating me so severely that I was bleeding from my eyes and nose. I was still handcuffed and my feet shackled. Then he began choking me. I told him I couldn’t breathe and I told him that I had a problem with my heart, that four of my five valves were blocked. He told me he would block the fifth. Then he hit me very powerfully on my heart and I passed out. When I woke, I was in an American military hospital. I have to say everything about the Americans, the good and the bad and in this hospital I met the kind Americans. One of the female doctors who helped me with the medical treatment was so kind that it gave me another impression about the Americans. I’ve mentioned this with other journalists who’ve also interviewed me. She even cleaned the pan in which I’ve had to urinate and she gave me my medication. I wish I could meet her someday to return the kind way in which she treated me. When I eventually returned to the mosque, I even mentioned this during my Friday khutbah… They tortured me for seven days. While I would pray and was in the kneeling position, they kicked me very hard in the back. Before we pray, we wash ourselves and while I was doing this they put an electric stick into the water which gave me an electrical shock and I fell again on my back. Other things they did for example, they would bring a knife and cut holes in my dishdasha, threatening me, saying the next time the knife would be on my body. When I would use the toilet, which is a hole in the floor and was very dirty and blocked up, they would push the door open very hard and make us fall into the shit. They would also play loud music every night [to prevent us from sleeping]. Every night I was beaten by a soldier, I would be bloody and bruised and then they would make me stand against a wall and film me, telling me to say, “I love Bush,” and should smile because, “we are the greatest power in the whole world. You are only coolies, you are standing in front of the greatest power in the world.” I told him: I am not a ‘coolie’. I have even read William James who told his son how he should act within his community, ‘when you knock on the door, do it gently so you don’t disturb the neighbors.’ There was a soldier who brought all the other prisoners, telling me, this is your leader, and this is when he would start beating me. I was handcuffed during this time. He would tell me I should cry, but I would not, because I don’t want these people to feel weakened by their sheikh not being strong. Thanks to God, I no longer felt it when he would beat me. He pauses and looks, unwavering, into my eyes, “I just want to ask you if you are going to write all the truth or will you be like the others who are just doing ‘show business?”’ He tells me he’s given a couple of hours to almost a dozen American reporters who then distilled his down to a couple of lines and this is why he, at first, denied our interview. He calls them the “dishonest journalists.” When I assure him that’s not my intention, he continues. For four days, I was hearing a young Iraqi woman screaming continuously. “I am a virgin, I swear that no one has touched me before. I am from a religious family. Please don’t do these things to me.” When I remember this, it makes me feel very sad inside. I couldn’t hear her voice on the fifth day, only a moaning. Her voice still haunts me, it follows me everywhere. My cell was about one and a half meters square. I was nearly dying, so I would just read the holy Koran. Every night a female and male soldier would come to the cell and make sexual moves in front of me. When the woman asked me what I thought about it, my answer was I would cry and cry. Because I speak English a bit, I told her, “Because I have lived my life with honor, I want to meet my God with honor.” On the seventh and eighth days of my detention, 10,000 people protested in many places in Baghdad. They went in front of the military base in Al-Yarmouk and demanded my release. This is the reason I was released after a week. I continued asking the people to resist the occupation and I talked about the Abu Ghraib scandal. I continued to do this until 10 May 2005. This is the day that Al-Karar Brigade from the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior came. One to two weeks before, a friend came over and warned me I should leave the country, that I might be detained by the government. I had this feeling as well. The Americans knew very well they couldn’t arrest me again because of the number of people from the mosque who would be against them. This is not because I am their leader, it is because I love them and they love me very much. They raided the mosque and broke everything inside, the furniture of the mosque and of the orphan’s association. When they raided the mosque, it was the fourth prayer, at sunset [the most populous prayer]. They began beating the old men looking for me. When they asked for the Sheikh, I told them I was him. They raided my house at the same time, stealing things from it. My wife was hiding herself and my daughters, guarding them like a mother hen and her chicks. I feel sad to say this truth because it might be good for the American side to hear something like this, but this Iraqi said to my wife, “The power is for the Shi’a now and soon there won’t be any Sunni alive here.” There were about 300 detainees; 150 in each room, about 6 by 6 meters, sleeping like sardines on top of one another. It was a horrible way of torturing. For every 20 prisoners they gave us a liter and half of water. Were they mostly Baathists? No, they were mostly Sunni; we can recognize that from the family names. They were especially from the well-known families, professors in the university, sheikhs, and pilots in the ex-Iraqi air force, especially those who were bombing Kharej Island.* An officer, Major Mohammed from the Minister of Interior dropped sulfuric acid on my foot and other sensitive areas. They beat me on my back with metal bars. They used different types of tools to beat us, and two young men died in front of me. After they beat me, I felt as if I was in a coma and fell to the ground. I was still blindfolded, but could see a bit. I’ve could see a young man lying on the ground. They had forced him to sit on a broken bottle and his bowels were hanging out of his ass. I could see blood clots from him and some of his nails and his teeth were lying on the ground. I smelled a horrible smell of burned flesh from the electricity they had used on him. He had amnesia at this point. This young boy was about 16 years old. For three to four of the detainees who died, I performed the [death] rites. Most of them were students at the university. One of the stories is of a young man who’s from Al-Dora district, the Al-Sahaq Quarter—his name was Wissam. He was the only son of a family with five daughters and he was a student at the Technology University. He went to a shop next to the university to copy some papers, which was then raided. He was detained, along with all the other students in the copy shop. They beat him a lot, especially in the kidneys. This caused severe bleeding, especially from his rectum and his ears. Wissam told me his mother loved him very much, and he asked me, “What would my mother do if she knew I was this sick?” The poor boy didn’t even know he was going to die. He told me he had a high fever in his chest and in his body. I told him to say, “La ilah ila Allah, Mohammed rassoul, Allah” which means, there is no god, just Allah, and Mohammed is the prophet of Allah. (This is said before someone dies.) I felt happy he said these words because as a Muslim this is a good thing. Unfortunately, as he spoke his breathing began to falter and his eyes began to roll up, and his tongue fell out of his mouth. Just before he died I turned him in the direction of Mecca. When [the guards] knew I did these things for the boy, four of them came and began beating me with a thick cable (like those used on outside electrical lines). Afterwards, they took the body of this boy and dropped him in the garbage, right in front of us. God witness what I’m saying to you, I’ve seen the bloodiest form of torture, worse than anything I’ve ever read of in the past. Of course, this is under the orders of the US military, because they are in a very bad situation in Iraq right now. Instead of them coming for reconstruction for the bridges, they are creating a terrible enemy who will never forget what is being done to the people. This is what makes us sad. We have friends from the United States, from Italy and other places. When we see each other we cry because we care for each other this much. It’s a humanitarian brotherhood we feel between us. Let me tell you, if we test our blood, me, as an Iraqi Muslim, you, as an American Christian, there will be no difference between us. So, why have you [Americans] made this big difference between us? Is your blood mixed with honey? All of us are equal. In fact, I’m against September 11, which happened in the United States, and also the bombings that have happened in London and Madrid. I have condemned these things. I know my position very well. In Baghdad there are two sides of the river, Kurf and Safa. I can move the people on both sides. Yet, the only thing I will say to the people is to make something of peace. If I come, I will come as a guest to your country, not with a bomb. I will ask the Americans to forgive and forget about everything, and I will ask the same of the Islamic world—I was shown on al-Jazeera [meaning that millions have seen it] and I said our problem is with the occupation, not with the innocent people. I told them it’s unacceptable to make bombs against the States; they love their children as we love our children. We have to protect both communities. We have to separate between Bush’s administration and the American people. We should build a new relationship because there are good American people. We should recognize this difference. Excuse me for this, but I want to ask you personally, will you go back to your hotel and turn the switch off or will you remember the woman I told you about who was raped in front of me? Will you remember my little daughter who pulled my hand as the Americans were pulling me away from my house by the other? Will you remember my son who still has emotional problems from these events? Will you remember that twenty years of pictures and a lifetime together with my wife and I was destroyed in one moment? And please don’t forget this young man that I told you about who died in front of me. I wish you would remember Wissam’s mother. She is now crazy and wanders the street, stopping in front of each shop and saying, “Passim will come out of this one.” What are you going to feel if someone is close to your heart and this has happened to him? My door is open to everybody. I will always say in front of everyone that I’ve seen your tears falling down from your eyes as I’ve told these stories. Maybe through your honest way of talking, you will move the emotion of the American people and they will wake up, to save your people and to save your children. This is the first time for me that I’ve seen an American crying, I’ve met with five men and six women and you are the only American journalist who has cried. Are you really an American? My God, my religion, my prophet order me, even if you sit with me here for one minute, there is a type of law that you are under my protection. I should consider you as a sister. I shouldn’t look at you in a bad way like other men. I should be honest even in the way I look at you. I should offer you help if you need it. Any sort of help, financial and so on. Yet, this is the opposite view of how the American military describes Muslims. You will see what will happen in the world because of the United States has broken the peace bridge between countries in the world. We will not be able to live in peace any longer. I would love to make a dreamland. We should, through our relations as brothers and sisters, move far away from the relationships of vampires like Bush and Saddam, and make a city of peace. A man came to Jesus Christ and told him of another that was hurting him. A friend of Jesus Christ’s was sitting close by and said you should ask God for help. Jesus Christ corrected the man and said, “Yes, ask God for help, but you must also work for it.” If we, all of us, me, you, all of us, be honest with each other and don’t lie, our dream [of peace] will be realized. * Kharej Island, which belongs to Iran, sits in the Gulf Coast. It was bombed by the Iraqi Air Force during the eight-year war between the two countries. Others who’ve been assassinated by the Badr Brigade have had written on their homes: This is the end of all those bombed Kharej Island. Tales of Torture In Iraq’s Government Prisons “ ... the Americans know what is going on” (filed February 28, 2006) 
When new photographs emerged from Abu Ghraib last week, the US
administration, in typical fashion, attempted to sidestep the situation
by downplaying their importance. They claim, after all, that there is
nothing new in the photographs (untrue, as some depict
never-before-seen homicides and forms of sexual abuse) and that those
responsible have already been punished. Instead of laying blame on the
actions themselves and with the officials who approved them, they blame
those who’ve released the photos, warning that their release will
only fuel more violence, especially toward Americans.The United States, it seems, is fond of telling other nations what is right or wrong, but refuses to hold itself to the same principles. A case in point is the ongoing allegations that prisons run by the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior are torturing people. This information first came to light about two months ago, and at the prodding of US officials, the Iraqi government has recently announced an investigation into the matter. But, what about the United States? The Bush administration has refused to conduct an investigation that would genuinely examine how far up the chain of command abuse was condoned in Abu Ghraib and other US-run prisons.  Yet, we ought not stop even there. The question should not end with how high the approval goes, but also to ask how broad. It’s no secret that the US is training Iraqi security forces. But, how much knowledge do US officials have about Iraqi-run prisons—especially those run by the Ministry of the Interior—and are they also condoning the torture there? Jamal (not his real name) is an Iraqi journalist from Baquba. I met him while interviewing a friend of his, in part about reports of torture in the secret prisons run by Iraq’s Ministry of Interior; he had heard me ask his friend if he thought American forces were aware of these prisons and the torture being conducted there. After the initial interview, Jamal pulled me aside, “I want to tell you a story. It is the story of my being detained. I don’t want to tell you this because I need you to know in what ways I was also beaten, but because I want to prove to you that the Americans know what is going on in these government prisons.” On the 10th of June last year, Ministry of Interior forces raided Jamal’s house at night. “There were six children sleeping in the house, yet they burst through the door with all their weapons out. They raided my house because I am a journalist and I had written a story about the religious sheikh, Khudhair A-Dulaimy, who was tortured and murdered in their prison in the Diyala Police building. “The sheikh was tortured and beaten very badly each night. Finally, one night he vomited blood. Neither the Iraqi Police nor the American Army took him to the hospital and he died.” Continuing with his own story, he says, “These people who came for me are very ignorant. I am only in the media, but when they saw my computer, they said I was the head of terrorism. They investigated everyone in the house, even my three-year-old boy. They stole all my money and my gold; these are criminals wearing military uniforms.” In Baquba, “there are two police stations run by two brothers. One is the Mafrak Police Station, where I was first taken. Colonel Waleed runs this one. The other is a federal police station run by Major Ali. This man is afraid of no one—he even detained the local judge. In fact the Major stole about $1 billion, it was even published in al-Basaer news.” No one can touch him though, Jamal says, because, “he enjoys close relations with the Americans.” “This federal camp where the sheikh was killed is about one square kilometer big.” Though it is an Iraqi prison, he explains “On each corner is a tower controlled by the Americans, and at the main entrance there is an American tank.” “In this main entrance is a large corridor that is used by both the Iraqis and the Americans,” he explains as he draws a map. “I was thrown in this corridor at 1pm and was there until midnight. I was blindfolded, but it was later removed. I saw the Americans using this entrance.” He points to rooms whose back walls are the common walls of this corridor. “In these rooms is where they torture people. I know because this is where they took me. I ended up in the same cell where sheikh Khudhair had been killed about three months before. Because many of the prisoners had been at least a year, they knew the sheikh and told me of his torture. “Can you believe,” he asks, jabbing at the paper, “that with only one wall between them, the Americans wouldn’t hear the screaming?” Jamal then relates a story that indicates American forces not only know of the torture, but at higher levels are condoning it. “Witnesses have seen prisoners at Mafrak handcuffed behind their back, hung from a crane by their arms, then tortured. The officers do this at night when they are drunk—they call it a party—telling the prisoners to bark like a dog or bray like a donkey. One of these prisoners was called Mustafa. Colonel Waleed took Mustafa to the airport, where the Americans have a prison. From Mafrak, the prisoners can see the airport and the American tanks there. When they arrived, the American officer saw signs of abuse and asked Mustafa if he had been tortured. Colonel Waleed answered no, but Mustafa nodded his head. That same night an American came to Mafrak and found a person from Khalass City (about 10k from Baquba) hanging from a crane and took a picture of him. There was an investigation and the Americans kicked Colonel Waleed out. Yet because of the relationship he has with the Americans, he was back in three days. “I have so many stories I could tell you,” he continues. “A sheikh from Balad Rooz, 40k east of Baquba, whose name I swore I wouldn’t reveal, told me this story. A Sunni man was arrested by the Iraqi Police (IP) and taken to this prison. He was accused of resisting the Americans. They tortured him for two days and couldn’t get any information from him, so they arrested his wife and brought her in. The sheikh was brought into the room and found both of them crying.” At this point Jamal stops. “Please,” he said. “this is very bad. It would be very difficult to say this to you, as a woman. I will write it instead.” He bends over a piece of paper and begins writing furiously. After he finishes the third page, he hands it to my friend to translate and looks away as she begins reading. “The IP told the sheikh to have sex with the woman and left. The couple begged the sheikh, saying, ‘please our honor is in your hands.’ The sheikh answered, ‘Please, I won’t do anything against my belief and my religion.’ At this point, Jamal clarifies later, the couple did not know the man was a sheikh. “The IP returned to the room demanding to know if they’d had sex. When they answered no, he told the sheikh, ‘You have a beautiful wife. We will bring her if you don't have sex with this man’s wife and we will all rape her, in front of you.’ “Waleed then told the sheikh, who is Sunni, that his name should now be Haydir, which is a Shi’a name. ‘Because of this pressure,’ the sheikh told [Jamal], ‘I agreed to go into the next room where I found the wife naked and crying.’ “The sheikh asked the man, ‘is this your real wife?’ ‘Yes,’ the man answered. ‘Then we are in big trouble,’ said the sheikh. ‘They will perform some test to see if we’ve done this. Please, you two have sex and I won’t look. I’ll have sex with myself and in this way we can all save our honor.’ “It worked. Afterwards, the IP made the test and then the soldiers began dancing and singing, ‘Haydir did it, Haydir did it.’ “The next day the IP came and told the man to take his wife home. They still did not know this man was a religious sheikh. But, before he left, they told him, ‘the other man is a sheikh.’ Meaning that they were trying to get these two men to hate one another based on religious difference. “Now I will tell you a Kurdish Peshmerga story from Al-Udhaim, about 90k north from Baquba. There used to be a camp there for the mujahadin group Halak. The Peshmerga captured a man from there; he used to be an officer in the Iraqi Army, but had become a merchant in order to survive after the war started. He was accused of fighting against the Shi’a in 1991, even though he graduated from the military in 1995. “A number of us were together in what we called ‘the coffin room’ because they would come at 1am each night; we were very afraid wondering who would be tortured tonight. One night they brought in a man who was wearing only his underwear. We couldn’t tell the color of his skin due to the level of his torture. We were ordered not to talk with him. But after three days, he told us his story. “The Peshmerga put a water pipe in his ass and then opened it. In this way it filled his body and then his chest. One of the prisoners was a nurse and told us, ‘he won’t live.’ And I don’t know what happened to this man because I left the prison. Again he asks me, “With the Americans just on the other side of these walls, how could they not hear the screams? “As you can see from these stories, the Americans clearly know what is going on in these prisons,” concludes Jamal. “After thirteen days they released me. At the end of detention, if they can’t prove anything, they bring a list of four crimes and you are told to choose one.” “What are the crimes?” I asked. “Attacked an American convoy, these types of things,” he replies. “And what did you choose?” He just smiles sadly at me. Missing for Three Years in Iraq’s Prisons (filed February 22, 2006) 
Assaf Hunaihin Salih al-Jumeili is a well-dressed man with a serious
face and very sad eyes. We met at the Cairo Tribunal on Bush, Blair and
Sharon; he had been looking my way trying to catch my eye, but focused
on the proceedings and assuming he was looking for someone else, at
first I didn’t respond. At a break, he motioned me over as I walked by and, puzzled, I sat down next to him. On his lap were several folded papers sitting atop a Koran. Opening the papers, he shows me a letter to the International Red Cross in Egypt he’d written on behalf of his only son, Aysser Assaf, who disappeared at the beginning of April 2003. Umm Qasr is a port town, which sits on the border of Kuwait in southern Iraq. In the nearby desert, American forces set up the now notorious Bucca Camp where several US soldiers were accused of abusing prisoners as early as May 2003 (long before the Abu Ghraib revelations), and where frustrated US military personnel regularly complained, all the way up to Rumsfeld, about the lack of facilities, training and leadership. Named after a New York firefighter and Army Reservist who died in the World Trade Center, Camp Bucca was originally set up as a temporary prisoner-of-war camp and was closed by December 2003. The military later re-opened it to accommodate overflow from Abu Ghraib. There are no accurate figures on how many are being detained in Iraq, but it is believed to be tens of thousands. Between 7,000 and 8,000 prisoners were once held at the Camp Bucca alone; it is believed the number now stands between 5,000 and 6,000. After his son’s disappearance, Assaf Hunaihin traveled to the closest prison facility, as many families do when a relative disappears, and found his son’s name on a list maintained by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) of Bucca detainees. “That was April 3, 2003 and that’s the last we ever knew. My son can’t be located. I’ve written to everyone I was told to.” Hoping to would find his son in another detention camp, Assaf tirelessly followed every lead he got. “I went to the ICRC offices in Basrah seven times, to Nasriyeh three times and I even visited their offices in Baghdad nine times before it was bombed and closed. I went to the US CMCC [Civil-Military Coordination Center] office in Baghdad and filled out the forms they asked me to, and also to the Baghdad Airport prison and Abu Ghraib. I’ve heard no response from any of them.” Assaf, an attorney, was eventually approached by the families of two other young men who were detained at the same time, Muiah Rashid Resn and Yasser Hamid Ahmed, to represent them as well. “I was told that maybe my son had been taken to one of the secret US prisons in Jordan, Kuwait or United Arab Emirates…that he was probably no longer in Iraq.” Assaf and his wife and moved from Basrah to Baghdad because of the offices located there, which they hoped could help. “Even though I have a number that was assigned to him by the Americans, no one can find him,” Assaf laments. “We don’t know if he’s been charged with anything, we don’t know anything, for three years now!” Unfortunately, it’s an all too common story. Last year the International Red Cross reported that the US holds 70 – 90 percent of Iraqi detainees without cause. This doesn’t even take in to account the numbers who’ve disappeared in Iraqi government prisons. “The families planned a delegation of lawyers to go outside Iraq and raise this issue of prisoners. Of course, we went to the Iraqi Bar Association for official representation; they, in turn, asked the new government for their permission.” Instead, the US-backed Iraqi government dissolved the Bar Association, which had maintained its pre-invasion leadership. When asked if he thinks there was any correlation, Assaf shrugs his shoulders, “We don’t know these things. The Union of International Lawyers is supposed to supervise new elections on March 16th. But of course, the government doesn’t agree with anything that doesn’t speak in their voice.” “Now, I am my own delegation,” he explains. “This is why I came all the way to Cairo when I heard about the trial. “First, I am a father, and if there was one chance in a million that I could meet someone who can help me, it’s worth it. My son’s wife and mother told me, ‘We need to know, is he dead or alive. If he’s dead, we just want to know so that we can at least mourn him!” My eyes fall to the bottom of Assaf’s letter to the International Committee to the Red Cross where he’s written, I, as a father, a very broken-heart I beg you to help me to know my son’s destiny and ask you to allow me to see him according to Geneva Treaty about the captives. Who Will Possess Iraq’s Oilfields? (filed February 20, 2006) A friend wrote recently from Occupied Iraq that, with the December elections over, Iraq had truly been stolen. I thought perhaps they were referring to the stamp of legitimacy elections would give Iraq’s American-approved government, but they were actually talking about the final pieces falling in to place for those who’ve long coveted Iraq’s oilfields. The “how” begins with Iraq’s new constitution; written largely behind closed doors and with tremendous US influence, it was voted into place during October’s referendum. Cleverly, it gives the impression that Iraq’s oil will remain in the hands of its people by guaranteeing “oil and gas is the property of all the Iraqi people”, and that revenues from “current fields” will be fairly distributed across the provinces. The key phrase is “current fields;” in the following section the document then requires all future exploration use “the most modern techniques of market principles and encouraging investment.” The modern investment model being promoted in Iraq during these secret meetings is production sharing agreements, or PSAs. Mostly political in nature, PSAs maintain the technicality—and just as importantly, the appearance—of keeping oil ownership in government hands, yet the majority of profits goes to private companies. These agreements are generally used in countries where oil is either hard to extract and therefore expensive, or where reserves are small enough that companies may be unwilling to invest. PSAs guarantee a high profit margin, providing an enticement to otherwise uninterested oil companies. In Iraq, where extracting oil is not technologically challenging and reserves are huge, PSAs don’t make sense—unless they are intended to benefit someone other than Iraqis. Oil driving Iraq policies While world demand for oil increases, supplies continue to dwindle. In fact, many believe world oil reserves have already reached their peak and are in decline. Numerous citizen groups and non-governmental organizations realize the world must revolutionize its main energy source from fossil fuel to something ecologically sustainable. Yet, with the world’s economic stability deeply linked to oil and the corporations who control it, the fight for possession is fierce. And often deadly…as is the case in Iraq. An oil company’s economic health is based on its reserves, listed as part of its assets. The problem, says James Paul, executive director of the Global Policy Institute, is that due to these dwindling supplies, there are not enough reserves for these corporations to maintain economic health. “Oil companies cannot replace their reserves. They are frantically looking all over the world. The companies know oil is running out in the world, they just don’t say it. Imagine if oil is $100 a barrel and imagine if your company doesn’t control it.” Then, imagine if those same companies know where to find it. Iraq has the planet’s second largest known oil reserves. Its untapped fields account for nearly two-thirds of Iraq’s known reserves, estimated to be at least 115 billion barrels. Its al-Majnoon field—a “super-giant” in geological terms—holds an estimated 20 million barrels alone. And that one field, says Paul, would double the oil giant Exxon’s reserves in one fell swoop. He maintains that the cost to produce oil in Iraq is cheap—about $1/barrel—which adds significantly to the profit margin. “If you figure oil at $50 a barrel and multiply it out,” Paul explains, “it’s a total profit spread of $1 trillion. That’s more than all companies put together since John D. Rockefeller.” As of this writing, oil stands at $61/bbl, though it hit $68/bbl last week and is expected to climb again. Before Saddam Hussein nationalized its fields in 1972, Iraq’s oil was divided according to agreements the British had made during their occupation of Iraq in the early part of the century. The companies, Shell and Anglo-Persian (which later became BP) had about 50 percent, the French company Foflaq (which later became Total) had about 25 percent, and it was intended, says Paul, that the remainder stay in Iraq’s hands. However, “in the 1920s Churchill convinced the British to give some [percentage] to the Americans, or they would always have trouble.” So, Iraq’s portion of their own oil went to a consortium of American companies that included Exxon and Unocal. Now, says Paul, “these companies want back—Shell, BP, Exxon, Chevron—would get the lion’s share.” Iraqis organize against globalization Iraqis though, have no desire to privatize their oilfields. In fact, Iraq’s oil union is quite strong. They reorganized after the US-led invasion by August 2003 into ten state-owned companies in southern Iraq, forming the General Union of Oil Employees (GUOE). In the following months GUOE was instrumental in assisting other labor unions to form. Though GUOE remains independent, other unions have now joined to form the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU). The newly born labor movement is strongest in southern Iraq, but is beginning to gather strength across the country. Now, they are fighting hard for Iraqi jobs—and against globalization. Iraqis know full well that oil is the main reason for the US invasion and remains the central project in globalizing Iraq’s resources. In Crude Designs, a report published by the UK-based non-governmental organization Platform and the US’s Global Policy Institute, oil analyst Greg Muttitt says if current plans are approved, Iraqi’s will “lose control of more than 85 percent of their oil resources to foreign multinationals.” The report, published in November, is well known and hotly debated in Iraq. At the end of November, Al-Jazeera news hosted a debate between Muttitt and Ahmad Chalabi, who, along with other interim-government members, participated in State Department hosted talks about PSAs. According to Crude Designs, production-sharing agreements are “beyond the reach of Iraqi courts, public scrutiny or democratic control.” Because they are “subject to commercial confidentiality provisions, PSAs are effectively immune from public scrutiny and lock governments into economic terms that cannot be altered for decades. “In Iraq’s case, these contracts could be signed while the government is new and weak, the security situation dire, and the country still under military occupation. As such the terms are likely to be highly unfavorable, but could persist for up to 40 years. At an oil price of $40 per barrel, Iraq stands to lose between $74 billion and $194 billion over the lifetime of the proposed contracts.” This is what Iraq’s unions are fighting against. In an excellent article published by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union—the first to call for an end to the US occupation—senior fireman Abdul Faisal Jaleel, from the Basra refinery is quoted. “We reject foreign investment. We want to keep our own oil revenues and use them to develop our country with our own hands.” Last June, at the invitation of US Labor Against the War, six members from GUOE, IFTU, and the Federation of Workers’ Councils and Unions of Iraq toured 25 US cities, educating their union counterparts on the real costs of the occupation. Member unions were hoping to pressure the AFL-CIO into adopting a stance against the occupation. In October, they were successful. For the first time in 50 years, the AFL-CIO spoke against US military action. It called on the US government to bring the troops home “rapidly” and demanded Iraqi “workers be granted internationally recognized labor rights to organize free of interference from government and employers, and to bargain collectively.” Failing economy used to pressure for globalization In December though, Iraq’s interim government claimed its debt too great to rebuild the country and accepted a loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Questions remain. Why would Iraq be forced to rebuild its own country after a foreign invasion and where have all those billions earmarked for reconstruction gone? To summarize—since the issue is far too complex address here—the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) has squandered billions of US taxpayer dollars intended to reconstruct destroyed Iraq and given in no-bid contracts to companies like Halliburton and Bechtel. The companies, under no obligation to account for spent funds, have been caught overcharging and wasting millions. Meanwhile, $6 billion of Iraq’s money leftover from the United Nations Oil for Food Program and about $10 billion from frozen assets and resumed oil exports were transferred into the Federal Reserve Bank in New York, to be spent by the CPA “in a transparent manner…for the benefit of the Iraqi people.” Of that $16 billion, $8.8 disappeared while Paul Bremer was still in charge, and to this day remains unaccounted for. Other funds intended for reconstruction have been diverted to pay for security; contracted by the US government, Blackwater and other private “security” companies are in reality mercenaries-for-hire. Earning up to $5,000/day, they constitute the second-largest force in the so-called Coalition of the Willing. Some of the story has emerged only because Senator Henry Waxman has been dogging the Bush administration with ongoing internal audits. Ed Harriman, in an article in July’s London Review of Books, follows the audit trail of missing, stolen, squandered and unaccounted for money that has left Iraq’s financial situation a shambles. Well-documented, Harriman provides ample evidence that as Iraq is expected to pay for its own reconstruction, the country is simultaneously being driven into impoverishment by the corruption of US officials and their US-installed Iraqi counterparts. Following suit, corruption is also rampant in the American-backed Iraqi government. For example, on February 5th, Iraq’s Public Integrity Commission filed criminal charges against a member of its parliament for allegedly embezzling millions of dollars intended to improve security of a key pipeline. True to IMF policy, the $685 million loan came with a price; Iraq was to end oil subsidies and open its economy to private investment. In response, just after December elections the outgoing government increased fuel prices nine-fold. The move stunned Iraqis. Widespread demonstrations followed across the country; police fired upon a crowd of 3,000 protesters in Nassiryeh and killed four during riots in Kirkuk. Iraqis are long used to both food and fuel subsidies and, one can argue, with 70-80 percent unemployment, are surviving in part because of them. As Iraqis come to realize how IMF policies further squeeze their lives this can only spell additional disaster. As The LA Times notes “Over the summer, gas was selling for about five cents a gallon. Now it’s about 65 cents, and at the end of the price increases, gasoline will cost about…$1 per gallon.” “This is classic,” says Paul, of the Global Policy Institute. “The IMF always insists on the issue of ending subsidizes, even bread which is a more basic need. It almost always happens that riots ensue, governments even fall as a result of these policies.” The US administration, of course, has a different view. US Treasury Secretary John Snow, quoted in The Progressive, stated “This arrangement will underpin economic stability and help lay the foundation for an open and prosperous economy in Iraq.” Though Iraq’s Oil minister, Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloum, quit in protest, he was back within days and the seemingly immortal friend of the US, out-going Deputy Primer Minister, convicted embezzler and falsified-intelligence informant, Ahmad Chalabi is guaranteed a significant role. “There has been a tremendous amount of maneuvering. Al-Uloum was not opposed to PSAs. He participated in the [US] State Department group that recommended them,” Paul reveals. “Chalabi is asking large sums for himself to do deals with the oil companies.” Ironically, says Paul, “one of Iraq’s biggest crises is being brought about by shortages in the oil sector when it has the worlds second or third largest oil reserves.” “Iraq’s debt will [likely] be used to force the government to sign production-sharing agreements with the multi-nationals,” Platform’s Greg Muttitt believes. As Iraq’s standard of living continues to plunge, what remains for the Bush administration and its friends is sealing the deal. Yet, Iraqi’s themselves are loathe to this idea and the strength of their resistance speaks for itself. While the term resistance is used almost exclusively to describe the fighters, Iraqi resistance also includes non-violent protests, boycotts, and, of course, the successful strikes organized by Iraqi labor unions. Many Iraqis I’ve spoken with are quick to point out Iraq’s long commitment to taking care of the social sector. Even under a brutal dictatorship, nationalized oil revenues built hospitals, universities and factories that were some of the best in the Middle East. This, prior to the 1980s when Iraq went to war with Iran and the US-led embargo that defined the 1990s. A return to those prior days is what many Iraqis are working toward. As James Paul sums it up “Oil workers are opposed [to privatization] and are very powerful in these situations; they are very clear that oil should remain in national hands. They can’t just kill them all or fire them all. It’s widely known that these [multinational] companies controlled everything before. The main theme of their history is related to oil. You don’t have to be a wide-eyed radical to understand this; every Iraqi knows that oil is at the center of the war.” Interview With George Galloway (filed February 15, 2006) 
British Parliament member George Galloway was
in Egypt recently to testify about Britain’s involvement in
Iraq’s invasion at a trial organized by the Arab Lawyers Union.
Instead, he spent a sleepless night in a detention room at the Cairo
airport, told he was a security risk. His Respect Party negotiated on
his behalf and he was finally released, but only after the tribunal had
ended.Tired, but gracious, he gave most of his limited time to interviews. We sat in the restaurant of the Shepherd Hotel, an upscale hotel whose lobby is filled with Africans draped in colorful robes and in suits, Asians clustered in small groups, boisterous Arabs sitting around low tables laughing, and a few Americans—mostly businessmen. Ironically, as we talk about American imperialism, Britain’s participation, and the effects on regional politics in the Middle East, the background music swells into a crescendo of the Star-Spangled Banner and continues with other American march tunes. George Galloway is an eloquent and passionate man, whether in Parliament, in the US Senate—where he flew last year to personally confront Republicans charging his misconduct in the Oil-for-Food Program (his pointed questioning celebrated by the Left who’d been longing for this kind of courage from the Democrats)—or in person. His anti-war stance and 30 year support of Arab peoples has ensured his controversy; he is often in conflict with Prime Minister Tony Blair and doesn’t shy away from criticism of George W. Bush. He has been tireless in his support of the Iraqi people during sanctions and after visiting the country, he says, over 200 times. We met just prior to his departure back to the airport, and after he’d given an interview with Iraqi TV. George Galloway, thank you for making this time. You were detained by Egyptian authorities as you entered to testify at a trial being held here. What happened? Well, first I should say that President Mubarak today sent a personal envoy, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Egyptian Parliament to convey his sincere apologies for what happened to me, and that the President was very upset. The envoy was Dr. Mustafa El-Feki. I accepted his apology and I’m grateful for the expression of sympathy from President Mubarak and so I won’t be taking that matter any further. But, you heard me say [last night] what happened to me…it was not a nice experience; it was unprecedented in my 30 years of working in the Arab world and I was very upset about it. But, of course, I accept the apology, which is a gracious one and I will put the matter behind me. Were you given any reason for your detention? They at first said you were a security threat. Do you think it may have been to prevent you from testifying? They say no. They say it was a security service mistake and that the security service must become more political, must know who is who and what is what. This is what they say. You know that the Iraqi and Palestinian witnesses were denied visas? Yes. This is inexcusable. I don’t know why Egypt continues to act like this because all Arabs look to Egypt as their model, if you like, that this is the greatest Arab country—it’s the most populous Arab country, it’s the most historical Arab country. Egypt has a role to play as a part of this Nation; it shouldn’t turn its back on the Arab Nation. This isn’t correct. I think the trial was hampered by the refusal of visas of participants, and of course that was added to by my absence. There have been 20 former tribunals held on Bush and Blair’s invasion and occupation of Iraq. What particular importance do you think this trial had? Well, you won’t really know that until later. The whole story about the straw that broke the camel’s back is that you never really know which is the last straw until it is the last straw. These tribunals are important in themselves, they certainly don’t do the struggle to end the occupation any harm, but their exact weight and importance will vary, but their accumulated weight and strength will only be seen after the event. If I tell you that I’m old enough to remember the Bertrand Russell Tribunal against the Viet Nam war in the 1960s, it didn’t seem like that big of deal at the time, but historically, it has enormous importance and has, indeed, been the model for other such tribunals ever since. A perspective will have to be gained on these events by time. Was there a significance that this was held in an Arab nation? Yes. It has made a big impact, I think. It’s been very widely covered. It’s been good that it took place here. To be fair to Egypt, there are not many Arab countries, if any, that would have allowed the tribunal to take place there at all. About the recent cartoons of Islam. In your viewpoint are there any hidden reasons for this? Why now, in this campaign? You may have heard me say to the Iraqi TV that, first of all, you don’t have to be a Muslim to be on the receiving end of the imperialist lash. People of Cuba, for more than 40 years, have been in that position. The people of Cambodia and Viet Nam lost millions of people, in our lifetime, under the lash of American imperialism. So, you don’t have to be a Muslim. But, in recent years, after the fall of the Soviet Union, unconquered Islam was the only territory free from the globalization of capitalism and its imperialist foreign policy. The only people still resisting in the world, other than the Cubans, are the Muslims. This brings them into conflict with the tyrants, because Islam forbids its believers to accept tyranny and injustice. It commands the believers to stand up against injustice. And as Bush and Blair and Co. speak the very language of injustice and are, themselves, establishing tyranny around the world, inevitably this brings them into conflict with Muslims. Now, the good thing is that there millions of people in non-Muslim countries, millions of non-Muslims, who are equally opposed to globalised capitalism and the imperialist war machine which comes from it. So, the Muslims have allies amongst non-Muslims and this is the phenomenon we have seen over the last few years. The development of a massive anti-war movement around the world where Muslims and non-Muslims were on one hand because they share a rejection of occupation, war, exploitation, despoliation of the earth, its environment. This alliance is potentially world-changing, because the Muslims alone cannot, their allies alone cannot, but together, we might be able to change the world. How can we narrow the gap between the West and Islam, the West and the Arabs? Well, there are many things that can be done. For example, the Cairo Conference, which I’m one the founders of, is an attempt to bridge this gap between the Muslim world and the non-Muslim world between these allies that I talk about. This is one way. By Muslims participating in the anti-war movements around the world. This is a way to do it. To reject the separatism of the Islamist extremists who say that voting is haram (forbidden), that working with non-Muslims is haram, calling people kofar (atheist) and so on. This separatism should be rejected and Muslims should throw themselves whole-heartedly into the broad and mass movement in the world. Of course, we are not helped by some of the negative phenomena of Islamist extremism. If young Muslims are so angry that they blow themselves up on the London Underground, killing innocent people, this is a big setback. This drives people apart when we should be bringing them together. These are things that need to be done, but I want to caution you on this point. The division is not between West and East, certainly not between Christianity and Islam. We believe in the prophets, peace be upon them. George W. Bush believes in the profits and how to get a piece of them! George Bush is no representative of Christianity or of the West. This is a battle between the “bad” people and the others, and there are many bad people in the Muslim world who are ruling some Muslim countries, who are acting as slaves for the bad people in the West. There is not a clear division between Muslims and non-Muslims. There are many good people in the non-Muslim world and good people in the Muslim world and we need to find each other. It seems though in the West, the US and the UK in particular, with their project of globalization, is attempting to use religion as a divide, as a tool to accomplish this. Yes. When George Bush said that it was a “crusade,” even if it was a mistake to say it, it is what he meant. It betrayed the thoughts that were in his mind, because Bush has put himself at the head of an army of Christian fundamentalists and Zionist forces in the United States. This apocalyptic language of Armageddon and so on is what they really believe. I don’t think he really believes it. I think Bush didn’t find God, he just found the Party of God, America’s Hezbollah, the Party of Christian Fundamentalism, and he decided to ride it to power. And it’s been, up to a point, very successful. Many who are working against corporate globalization think that the Iraqi resistance, the real Iraqi resistance, is in some ways, on the front line of resisting that globalization. Do you have a response to that? Well, in the sense that the occupation intends to make Iraq just another pawn in the game, subject to the unalterable and irresistible forces of globalised capitalism and the resistance is opposing that, then yes, the resistance in that sense is an anti-globalization force. If the occupation succeeds in forcing Iraqi farmers to deal with their world-wide conspiracy of patenting of seeds and so on, this will make Iraq just another brick in the wall. The Iraqi resistance does not want to join that wall. The Iraqi resistance wants Iraq to be an independent and sovereign nation, following its own path. Cuba, too, refuses this path to be just another brick in the capitalist wall, so incurs the wrath of the United States likewise. And, as we’re seeing in Venezuela… Yes, Venezuela. Bolivia will shortly follow suit. Any country which breaks from this consensus, Iran also, to a degree. Iran is insisting on its rights, rights which other countries have and is being openly threatened with war as a result. There are many countries now beginning to break from this pre-determined path. We must all support them as well as we can, even if we have disagreements, as we do in Iran, for example. Even where we have disagreements with Iran, if I have to choose between Iran and George Bush, I choose Iran. You mentioned Hezbollah…can we speak about Hariri. Do you think Syria is responsible for the assassination of Hariri and for the current chaos in Lebanon? No, I don’t believe that Syria is responsible for the death of Hariri because Syria is the main loser from this crime. States don’t normally commit acts such as that when they know, as any fool could have predicted, that the world will come down on top of them. So, I don’t believe that Syria is responsible at all for this crime. There may have been some Syrians involved, but I don’t believe that President Bashar Assad took a decision to blow up Hariri. This would be madness! Someone else is acting in Lebanon. Who that someone else is, you don’t have to look far, just a few miles. Down the highway, down the south of Lebanon, you see the very power who has both the interest and the capability of fermenting the type of chaos in Lebanon, which we have seen. It seems there is some type of European-American agreement towards Iran and Syria. What is the interest? Let’s discuss what the goal is first. The goal is to break the regime in Damascus, not because of anything bad that it’s done, and it has done some bad things, but because of the good things that it does. What are they? Syria will not sign a surrender of peace with Sharon, Syria will not kick out the resistance from Damascus, she will not break her strategic alliance with Hezbollah, she will not—the is the most important thing—she will not open her borders for the United States to use Syria as a military base to crush the Iraqi resistance. She will not allow the United States to use her territory to destroy the Iraqi resistance. For all of the reasons, America wants to either destroy the regime in Damascus or to push them to their knees. Iran has some of the same elements, but an additional one, Iran is a mighty country, wealthy, populous, with real historic and religious weight. If such a country becomes a nuclear-armed power, this will change the balance of power in the area very considerably. Not just, by the way, to Israel, but to the detriment of America’s puppet regimes in the Arabian Gulf, which is something often missed by commentators. In fact, Iran’s track record indicates that it would seek to use its political power in its own region rather in Israel. It’s more likely Iran would use its new strength on behalf of its co-religionists in Saudi Arabia, for example, or in Bahrain, than it would attack Israel. I think they have no intention of attacking Israel. Hamid Ajahon’s rhetoric is just that, rhetoric. So these are the goals. Why the Europeans have joined is more problematic? They certainly share the latter fear, but why France, for example, has decided to throw its lot in with America on the Syrian-Lebanese issue is explicable by France’s refusal to accept that it is no longer an imperial force. The reason France is back in Cote de Vor is because it doesn’t accept that it’s no longer an empire and it’s now trying to recover some of its empire in the Levant. If it can increase its influence in Lebanon and Syria, this will be some kind of—you might say small—renaissance in the French imperial power. About Iran, how do you evaluate events there? Well, the Iranian government should insist upon its legal and sovereign rights. No one has the right to bully Iran out of exercising its rights under the Non-proliferation Treaty and its rights as an independent sovereign country; the Iranian regime is to be congratulated for its refusal to bow the knee to these bullies. The West is in a very difficult conundrum with Iran, not least as I have said earlier with Iraqi TV, because Iran is much more powerful than it was before, thanks to Bush and Blair and their invasion of Iraq. If anyone strikes Iran, Iran will answer the strike in Iraq. And who is in Iraq where Iran is strong? Britain. We have 8,000 young men in the south of Iraq at the mercy of 10 million or more Shiite Muslims, many of whom are closely allied with Iran. They want to punish Iran, they want to bully Iran. Iran is standing up to them and Iran now has a card, which it can play in Iraq, which makes it un-invadable. They will never invade Iran because the cost would now be too high, not just because Iran would fight them, but because they would fight them in Iraq and they could make Iraq completely ungovernable for the night if Ayatollah Khomeini were to call for a general uprising in the south of Iraq against the occupation. The occupation would have to leave on the first flight. This is how powerful Iran is now in the south of Iraq. Do you think the US will attempt the Iraq scenario in Syria? Obviously, Syria is weaker than Iran. It doesn’t have the wealth, it doesn’t have the population, it doesn’t have the homogeneity that Iran largely has. It is much more vulnerable geographically. But, the Syrian regime is not as weak as Bush thinks it is. First of all, Bashar Assad is a very smart guy. He proved the exception to my rule, which is that hereditary leadership is a bad idea. In fact, I think he’s a very good leader, Bashar. And I think the Syrian regime is playing its cards well. Secondly, the main problem about invading Syria is that those who will gain will not be pro-American moderates, but hard-line Islamist forces. In other words, the alternative to Bashar in Damascus is not a slave to the West, it will be someone even more difficult to deal with than Bashar Assad. So I believe they will concentrate on the latter course of action, not trying to destroy the regime in Damascus, but to try and weaken it, to try and force it into bowing the knee on some of these questions that I talked about. About the court in Cairo, what is the aim of it especially in America and Britain? Ironically, America and Britain would never have heard of it if I had not been held at the airport and stopped from attending it, so in that sense I should be grateful for what happened to me. I will take the verdict of the trial into the British Parliament next week; I will deliver the sentence to Mr. Blair. It’s political theatre, it has a value which will be seen only in retrospect. It will not necessarily change anything today; it might contribute to changing everything in the longer term. So, I congratulate the Arab Lawyers Union in holding this trial. I’m sorry I didn’t attend, but I’m glad that I was a part of it. Lastly, one thing very different in this trial is that Sharon and Palestine were included; former trials have only been about Iraq. What’s the purpose? Well, it’s quite right that these three war criminals should be on trial together. They are part of the same axis of evil; it’s an axis which begins in Pennsylvania Avenue, it runs through Downing Street and it ends in Occupied Jerusalem in the Capitol Room of Sharon. So, it’s right that these three should be on trial together. They are co-accused of war crimes and they are all enemies of peace in the world, so I’m glad they were all tried together. Throughout this interview flashes went off as photographers would walk up and snap photos of this man who is an obvious hero in the Arab world, one of the few Westerners who has taken an unequivocal stance on their behalf. Yet, his real position is one that focuses on bringing together the world’s burgeoning movements against war and globalised capitalism, summed up in the motto from the World Social Forum: Another World is Possible. World’s First Arab Tribunal on the War in Iraq (filed February 15, 2006) 
Here in Egypt, a nation is mourning the deaths
of more than 1,100 people, when a passenger ferry sank off the
west coast two days ago; it’s also reading headline news about
the detention of George Galloway.Scheduled to testify at a tribunal being held in Cairo, the British MP was denied entry into Egypt after his arrival at midnight. “I was held in a small, dirty room for hours without food or water. I have been a friend of the Arab community for 30 years; I don’t understand this treatment” Galloway said from his hotel after he was eventually released. An event certain to be ignored by Western press, Galloway added that “Egypt has now ensured this will make international news”. And so it has, with Galloway’s Respect party calling the detention “outrageous” after Egypt’s authorities said he was on a list of those to be banned, thereby considered a national security threat. After hours of negotiation, and as he was about to board a place, Galloway was allowed to enter the country, but only after the tribunal was finished.* Other scheduled witnesses were effectively silenced as well; the Palestinians and Iraqis scheduled to testify were all denied visas, some of whom testified in previous tribunals. Iraqis scheduled to take the stand included Sheikh Mothna Harith Al-Dari, spokesperson of the Muslim Scholars Association and Ali Shalal, the black-robed and hooded man behind Abu Ghraib’s most notorious photo and representative of the group Victims of Prisons. Among the others were head of the Iraqi Bar Association, doctors, human rights workers, and former prisoners, “including 20 who have never spoken in public before and were to testify in a closed-court session for the safety of themselves and their families in Iraq,” according to their attorney Hala Al-As’ad. Similar to former tribunals on Iraq, held in Europe, Asia and the US, this one has tried its defendants without their presence, not for lack of invitation, but for lack of response. But what distinguishes this trial from previous ones about Iraq is its organization by Arabs and its location in an Arab nation; Cairo was chosen because it is the headquarters of the Arab Lawyers Union (ALU), who organized the mock trial. Of course, the irony here is Cairo’s tribunal had far less Iraqi witnesses than former events. As a Permanent Bureau member of the ALU, Sabah Al-Muktar represents expatriate Iraqis and is one of the Cairo trial organizers. He’s also on the Advisory Committee of the Brussels Tribunal and has testified in Tokyo and Athens as well. “This is an extension to the Brussels Tribunal, a follow-up,” he said. When asked why organizers chose to include Ariel Sharon and the issue of Occupied Palestine, when others have not, he explained. “The first reason is that this trial is addressing crimes committed in this region. The second is we know there are Israeli/American-coordinated actions in Iraq, which unfortunately we cannot fully address because these witnesses were denied visas.” Hala El-asmar, Director of International Relations, elaborated, “We—the Arab Lawyers Union—believe, in the end, that [Bush, Blair and Sharon] are all serving the same object. We believe that the invasion of Iraq is part of an overall plan of interference in the Middle East for control, especially for its oil. “This ‘new’ imperialism of the US is an extension of earlier British imperialism. There are good relations between Bush and Sharon, and we believe that the multi-nationals are also together in this. Unfortunately, there is also a lack of democracy in this region. Many Gulf leaders and Egypt are part of the project; many leaders work only for their power, as if they are running their own company, instead of a state.” In fact, the issue of Arab disunity and lack of true democracy was a thread throughout the two-day trial. At the end of his testimony, Salah Saldin Hafiz, of the Arab Journalists Association implored, “There is no single Arab country that doesn’t seek to steal the freedom from the people. This requires another special trial, which I hope we have in the future.” Later though, an angry man from the audience shouted…”The US will not allow independent Arab regimes!!” In the courtroom, posters hung from the judges bench, one of them with the photo of an old woman, crying, her arms extended toward the heavens. An Iraqi journalist turned to me, “This photo is famous in Iraq and always makes us cry. There are bombs that have fallen all around, destroying everything, and this old woman is pleading with the occupiers to leave.” The event began when the presiding judge, Mahathir Mohamed, the former prime minister of Malaysia, asked all to stand for a moment of silence for those that have been killed in both conflicts, in which some were moved to tears. A distinguished list formed the judges panel, including the former prime minister of Malta, Karemenu Mifsud Bonnici, and Fouad Abdel-Moneim Riad, a former judge at The Hague. Few westerners were present and I was the only representative of American media, for which I was continually thanked by the hundreds of Arabs present. 
The only other American present was Stanley
Cohen, a human rights attorney from New York, a member of the
mock-trial’s prosecution team who began by saying, “I come
from the US to speak on behalf of religious tolerance; I am a Jew.
There are those who say that if you are anti-Israeli politics, you are
anti-Semitic or a self-hating Jew, yet we have an obligation to
international law.” He continued by making comparisons between what was done to the Jewish people in Hitler’s Germany to the policies of Sharon’s Israel now being applied to the Palestinians, “with mass detentions, forced evacuation, burning of lands, torture, and murder”. “It is impossible that the US can be an independent arbitrator in Israel. It’s like asking Hitler to preside over WWII.” Many Americans don’t understand the links between Israeli and US/UK policies as they are seen, even by Israeli Jews and Arabs, here in the Middle East. This perspective permeated the past two days, and was described to me in an interview with George Galloway as the “real axis of evil”. Even without key witnesses, ample evidence was turned over to the panel of judges, who included the former prime minister of Malta. The Arab Journalists Association handed over two files containing the names and details of journalists killed in Iraq and Palestine charging, “The killing of journalists has been in some cases premeditated; those targeting journalists are also those who are seeking democracy. The killing of journalists has encouraged even greater violence against them.” “The number of journalists killed in Iraq numbers 79. This is more than were killed in two decades in Viet Nam.” Iraq was recently listed for the second year in a row as the most dangerous place in the world for journalists to work. He added that Iraq has been effectively censored by these acts. Monsoor Hussein, an elegant Libyan man and head of the Arab Farmers Federation, called both the occupation of Iraq and that of Palestine “racial wars”. “In both places, there have been the mass cutting of trees essential to cultural identity, land seizures, and the forced removal of people. In Palestine it is the olive trees, in Iraq their dates. Iraq has 500 different kinds of dates; this is their cultural heritage. Iraq was once the world’s number one producer; production has fallen by 66 percent. It used to be a great producer of certain types of rice. No longer! Its soil is now polluted by weapons used in the war.” Spokesperson of the Arab Commission for Human Rights, Dr. Haytham Manna turned over to the court medical accounts and eyewitness testimony from former Guantanamo detainees. A quiet man with a gentle demeanor, the Syrian, who now lives in France, is respected world-wide for his unwavering stance on human rights in all countries. 
Then, an older Iraqi man from Basra, Ahmed
el-Ghanem, took the stand. Wearing a red and white-checked kaffiya and
white dishdasha (a long robe), he stated he is the head of his tribe in
southern Iraq. He gave a detailed account of the roundup of all men in
his family and the inhumane treatment by both British and American
troops, including being kept in a “tent without a roof, where we
had no shade from a sun that would melt anything”. Though, like many Iraqis, he declined to give specifics of the torture he underwent, the story of el-Ghanem’s father was enough. “After my detention for 30 days, US forces entered my house, intimidating my wife and daughters. They broke all the furniture, stole our money and gold (which many Iraqis keep in their home), and then arrested my 74-year-old father, even our servant. They tortured my father and my two brothers badly. Why? To humiliate the head of the tribe. My father had a stroke as a result of the torture. What did they do? They dropped him on the street, where he was found by chance by some neighbors. Forty-five days later he died.” Other witnesses included Carlos Faria, President of the Spanish Anti-war on Iraq Association, Mohasen Khalim, the former Iraqi Ambassador to Egypt, and Bian Al-Hout, who gave accounts of the massacres in the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Chatila by Sharon’s government. In the end, the verdict was predictable. All three men were found guilty in a decree detailing specific violations of the Geneva Conventions and the Nuremburg Charter.
Dr. Riad, who presided in the Hague during the initial Bosnian trials, added, “The great mistake is when people forget history. This is keeping the record. During the [Bosnian Croat Blaskic and Bosnian Serb Krstic] trials, in which some victims traveled to The Hague by foot, they would say, ‘it is enough that the world knows.’ “This kind of documentation is important. These trials can help us go to real trials in the future.” Until then, say organizers, these issues must remain in the public eye. The importance now, they say, is for the anti-war movement in Europe, Asia, the US and, in “the Arab street” to come together. It looks like they will next week when Galloway plans “to personally deliver the Cairo verdict to Mr. Blair when I see him in Parliament”. And “until the occupation ends,” he emphasized, “I have one message to the Iraqi people: Stay as one people, do not allow the enemies to break Iraq!” *In a subsequent interview, Galloway said that the Egyptian government has apologized and he, accepting, considered “the case closed”. Humiliation Follows Iraqis (filed February 12, 2006) Today I will go to Cairo where the Arab Lawyers Union will put Bush, Blair and Sharon on trial. But I will be without the company of my Iraqi friends who also wanted to attend and who both possess press passes. The tribunal is important; it’s the first to be organised by Arabs and to be held in an Arab country that will address the war in Iraq. At the Egyptian Embassy I was told that as an American I can easily obtain a visa in Cairo at the airport. Ahmad and Hana were told Iraqis must apply for a visa that will take at least two weeks; it doesn’t matter that they are Arabs going to an Arab country, nor that they want to attend an event that affects their own country. I watched as my friend Hana argued through a hole in the glass window with the dispassionate man who sat behind it. Where was Arab unity? she wanted to know. Why was it that those from the US and Israel could just fly into Egypt, while an Arab could not? Her anger exposed the double standard that divides the Middle East along a line that grows more complicated—those who are aligned with the West for economic and political reasons and those who fall within the so-called axis of evil, which now must include Syria. Iraqis can cross freely into Syria, while I must apply for a visa (which I have done two weeks ago and have still heard nothing), but it makes sense to me. After all, the US has been threatening Syria since 9/11 and has turned up the rhetoric in recent months. However, the return to Jordan for an Iraq is not so easy. An Iraqi friend who was in Damascus for a conference was turned away at the closest border crossing and told he must cross near Iraq. When he finally arrived there he was told the border was closed and he would have to wait until morning. Fortunately, there was a nearby mosque where he could sleep, though the night was cold and he had only his jacket. He arrived in Amman exhausted. Similarly, a Jordanian friend who wants to go to Iraq cannot. Why? Because he is Arab and the American-aligned government of Iraq has decided foreign Arabs who want to come to Iraq must be part of the mujahadin. Interestingly, Jordan—close friends of the US—has recently decided no American can be tried here. But back to yesterday. After the embassy, our next stop was the police station. All visitors to Jordan must go within two weeks to have their passports stamped, allowing for an extended visa. The trim officer in his crisp uniform took our documents. He looked at mine, entered information into a computer, stamped it and gave it back. The Iraqis, he said, must go to another office first to get a health certificate. Why? “Because the Arabs have money,” was his answer. This was painful to watch. The officer told Hana and Ahmad he was sorry, but was only following orders. Hana was in heated debate with him. Where, she asked, was his dignity as an Arab to be treating other Arabs, under occupation, in such a way. He responded by saying she should take her complaints up with her embassy. At this, she began to cry. “I have no one that represents me. There is no real Iraqi government. We are under occupation!” Tears rolled down my face now too—for her, my friend that I care about; for Iraqis, whose country is being taken away from them more each day; for my shame at being American and the helplessness of seeing what’s being done and not being able to stop it. Shamed also was this Jordanian police officer who softly said, “please, don’t make me cry too,” as he quietly picked up both Iraqi passports and became, for a minute, not an officer but the human underneath his uniform, and stamped them each. Driving To Baghdad Faster Than Flying (filed February 10, 2006) In an impossibly large and affluent shopping mall in the middle of Amman—where security guards with serious faces have just checked our bags and required passage through a metal detector, measures taken since November’s three hotel bombings—I’m sitting with an Iraqi family who are some of Amman’s more recent arrivals. The mall’s cavernous food court is a meeting place during the cold winter months for Iraqis who come to connect with one another and get news from those just out of Iraq. Listening, I think how the stories of these people’s lives under the American occupation are impossible to imagine; there is nothing of normalcy, nothing routine…except those things that are of war… checkpoints, house raids and detainments, daily explosions and aerial bombings, poverty brought by high unemployment; and of course the sporadic electricity and water. But in the midst of this, people continue to live their lives as best they can, going to work if they have it, making meals, and visiting relatives. There is the story a man now tells me about his elderly mother who came from Baghdad to Amman for a visit. Seventy-two years old and not well, the mother goes to the airport at 2pm for a 4pm flight. Normal enough. Except that departure and arrival times are always an estimate to deter those who would from shooting down the aircraft; contractors seen as collaborators of the occupation and despised by the resistance also use these flights. Plus, the ten-mile journey to the airport is quite dangerous and an imposed curfew shuts down the airport and the road at 6pm. The passengers go through security and wait for their flight to Amman, but one of the passengers, the Minister of Electricity, hasn’t shown up, so they wait. And wait. Finally, it is apparent he isn’t coming and it is now too late for the 300 or so people to leave; they must stay the night. There are no restaurants, so they go without food and make do with the chairs and floor to sleep. Fortunately, the mother has a cell phone and is able to call her son and let him know she’s not coming. Ahmed, a nearby passenger, promises the son he will look after her. The next morning, all 300 must stand in line and go back through security to get their passports re-stamped since the date of exit has changed. Today the Minister of Electricity shows up…though in the mix of new arrivals, fortunately for him, no one knows who he is. At last, everyone aboard, they take off for Amman. Turns out though, that the Minister needs to go to Syria, so the plane detours to Damascus first. A two-hour flight from Baghdad to Amman has turned into a 48-hour odyssey. When the mother finally arrives in Amman, she stays in bed for a week to recover. Now, the son tells me, laughing with typical Iraqi humor, that when his mother left, she has returned to Baghdad by car because it is only a 24 hour trip—faster than flying. Karen Button is a freelance journalist and peace activist. She can be reached at kbutton@insurgent49.com |
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Reserved. in-sur-gent (in sur'jent), n. 1. a member of a group which revolts against the policies of its leadership. |
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