Here Comes "The Freedom"
By Dahr Jamail
During the Anglo-American invasion of his country back in the spring of 2003, when refugees from Baghdad sought shelter from the falling bombs, many of the families inundated his city. After his house was filled with refugees, he let others use his tents, for free of course.
Refugees from Fallujah are using them now.
At least 35 U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq today. 31 of them died when a Chinook went down near the Jordanian border. At least four others died in clashes in the al-Anbar province. A patrol on the airport road was bombed, destroying at least one military vehicle. The military hasn't released any casualty figures on that one yet.
"Bring 'em on," said George Bush quite some time ago, when the Iraqi resistance had begun to pick up the pace.
Today, during a press conference he spoke about the upcoming elections in Iraq.
"Clearly there are some who are intimidated," he said, "I urge alls (not a typo) people to vote."
Let me describe the scene on the ground here in "liberated" Iraq.
With the "elections" just three days away, people are terrified. Families are fleeing Baghdad much as they did prior to the invasion of the country. Seeking refuge from what everyone fears to be a massive onslaught of violence in the capital city, huge lines of cars are stacked up at checkpoints on the outer edges of the city.
Policemen and Iraqi soldiers are trying to convince people to stay in the city and vote.
Nobody is listening to them.
Whereas Baghdad is filled with Fallujah refugees, now villages and smaller cities on the outskirts of Baghdad are filling up with election refugees.
Yet these places aren't safe either. In Baquba attacks on polling stations are a near daily occurrence. Mortar attacks are common on polling stations even as far south as Basra. A truck bomb struck a Kurdish political party headquarters in a small town near Mosul, killing 15 people, wounding twice that many. A string of car bombs detonated at polling stations in Kirkuk, which was already under an 8pm-5am curfew, killing 10 Iraqis.
Here in Baghdad, although the High Commission for Elections in Iraq has yet to announce their locations, schools which are being converted into polling stations are already being attacked.
Iraqis who live near these schools are terrorized at the prospect.
"They can block the whole city and people cannot move," says a man speaking to me on condition of anonymity, "The city is dead, the people are dead. For what? For these forced elections!"
He is angry and frustrated because his street is now blocked as he lives near a small yellow middle school that is going to be used as a polling station.
Nearby some U.S. soldiers are occupying a police station, as usual. One of them saw me taking photos and tried to confiscate my camera.
It didn't matter that I showed him my press badge. After some talking he let me delete the photos and move on, camera in hand.
Sand barriers block the end of a street, the school where the insides are already in disrepair sits just behind them.
At least 90 streets in Baghdad are now closed down by huge sand and/or concrete barriers and razor wire. The number is growing daily.
"Now I'm afraid mortars will hit my home if the polling station is attacked," he adds. He'll be moving across town to stay at a relative's house, which is not near one of the dreaded polling stations.
An owner of a small grocery shop nearby is just as concerned. He had to negotiate with soldiers to have them leave an opening on the end of the barrier so people could access his place of business.
"I'm already living off my food ration, and have little business," he says while pointing at the deserted street, "Now who wants to come near my shop? All of us are afraid, and all of us are suffering now."
A tired looking guard standing nearby named Salman chimes in on the conversation. "I would be crazy to vote, it's so dangerous now," he says with a cigarette dangling from his hand, "Besides, why vote? Of course Allawi will stay in. The Americans will make it so."
A contact of mine just returned from spending a week in Fallujah. We shared some of the food brought from my friend in Baquba.
"I'd been in Fallujah for a week and all I'd seen was tough military tactics," he tells me, "They are arresting people and putting them in these trucks, blindfolded and tied up. Everywhere I looked all I saw was utter devastation."
He spoke with many families who told him one horror story after another, death after death after death.
"Then today, the military brings in a dozen Humvees and ground troops to basically seal off a small area near a market," he continues, "In the middle of them is a CNN camera crew filming troops throwing candy to kids and these guys in orange vests start cleaning the streets around them."
He laughs while holding up his arms and says, "I'd never seen those guys anywhere in the city before. I don't know where they came from."
After a pause to take a drink of soda he adds, "I'd never seen any boots on the ground at all, and all of the sudden there are all these marines standing around like everything was ok. It was the first time I'd seen any soldier not in a Humvee or a Bradley. I was really surprised."
"All of it was 100% staged. Good PR before the election," he says. Then in a reference to mainstream America he adds, "Fallujah is fine, now go back to sleep."
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Some See Hope, Others Civil War
By Dahr Jamail
Inter Press Service
Thursday 27 January 2005
Baghdad - Some Iraqis are hoping for a new unity following elections Jan. 30, but others seem convinced that existing divisions will increase, leading possibly to civil war.
While hundreds of thousands of Kurdish people are traveling from northern Iraq to Kirkuk to vote, many families in Baghdad are leaving the city in fear of a huge wave of violence.
Violence continues to escalate throughout Iraq in the run-up to the elections. Clashes flared Thursday again between occupation forces and the Iraqi resistance in Baghdad, Tikrit and Samarra.
One U.S. soldier was killed in an attack on a U.S. patrol in the Diyala province north- east of Baghdad Thursday, and three soldiers were killed in Baquba town in the area, about 60km north-east of Baghdad.
Iraqis are running into difficult days. The gasoline shortage continues to worsen. Many residents in Baghdad are struggling to pay the rising prices of heating gas, cooking gas and petrol.
Whether they intend to vote or not, many hope that elections will lead to better days, and that they will lead to more stability and unity. Others are skeptical.
"We hope these elections will bring unity between Shias, Sunnis and the Kurds," said Abdel Aziz who works at a money exchange booth in Baghdad.
He said he did not know which list of political parties he will vote for because he found them confusing, but said the elections will not divide Iraq. "Only the radicals have brought this divisive thinking," he said.
Many Iraqis are hopeful that despite the chaotic atmosphere around the electoral process, stability and unity will follow.
"I pray the elections will bring us unity," said Ahmed Aziz, 25-year-old owner of a small grocery stall in central Baghdad. "If it is a legitimate election, we hope they will bring peace." He paused before adding, "I hope it will be legitimate, but don't know how we will be able to tell for sure."
Hamoudi Abdulla, 35-year-old owner of a garments store out shopping for food with a friend in Karrada district because he feared violence on polling day, sounded optimistic. "The elections will unite us," he said. Asked if he was Shia or Sunni, he replied, "I am Iraqi."
His friend Hussam Hammad nodded in agreement. "There is no difference amongst us," he added. "We are all Iraqi and we are all Muslims. An election cannot change this fact."
But other Iraqis fear the elections will only bring division between them, by forcing them to make choices based on ethnicity such as a Kurdish identity, and on the basis of Sunni and Shia sects.
"No way these elections will bring more unity between Iraqis," said 36-year-old hotel owner Khassem Mohammed. "The differences between Sunnis and Shia are over 1,400 years old. So how can this rushed election help bring more unity?"
The hotel owner from Jadriya district of Baghdad said Shia political parties will gain power and Sunni parties will disappear after the elections.
"Saddam led us into to all of our previous wars, but this time Iraqis are going to battle themselves because they are now choosing sides," he added. "I fear civil war now." That is a view several Iraqis seem to hold.
Jassim Khalid who operates a street-side tea stall on Arasat Street in Baghdad has decided to boycott the elections because he feels, like Mohammed, that they will bring division.
"I'm not voting because I don't think the elections will bring unity to Iraq," he said "In fact, they already appear to be doing the opposite."
A hotel guard said Iraqis have never been divided between Shia and Sunni. "But these elections will cause a split because of the damned politicians and the influence of the Americans."
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