Streets of Baghdad

A strange subject in schools

2006-08-20T17:28:00.000+03:00

I have several friends who reported the same fact to me.
At school and at university, they had to study a strange subject: 'Discourses and thoughts of Saddam Hussein'
This course was teaching the students about the great things told by Saddam during speeches, interviews and meetings.
Often, they had to learn by heart part of discourses that had been made, and they had to recognize at which occasion Saddam had said such and such.
The subject was subjected to an examination at the end of the semester.
The subject was studied at school as well as university.

I heard of other strange subjects: the handling of weapons. A girl friend of mine showed me pictures of her dresses as a soldier (blue uniform, heeled shoes and white gloves). Learning how to walk as a solider, she had shooting lessons, learning how to handle small guns and kalachnikovs. Dina was a good student and remembers always shouting in the red circle!

Kidnapping

2006-08-09T12:41:00.000+03:00

The son of Wael, 8 years old, was kidnapped 4 days ago.
He was riding his bycicle in the garden and he disappeared.
Wael received a phone call from the kidnappers the same night: we have your son, you will see him again for 100.000 dollars.
Wael appealed to his extended family and friends. He pledged to the kidnappers that he cant collect such an amount of money, the amount requested was then lowered to 30.000 dollars.
Wael has gathered 22.000 dollars, 8.000 dollars are missing.
8.000 dollards to see the innocent eyes of his boy again.

Burial series

2006-08-06T11:36:00.000+03:00

Last week, Hamad has been out of the office everyday.
Every day, he has been attending a burial.
A friend, a cousin, an uncle ... death hits where it can.
This one has been shot by militias in the street, this one was kidnapped, the other one was found tortured in the middle of the street.

When death hits around you, it can easily hit you.
I remember this story coming straight from the UN Human Rights Office.
A young boy was killed in the street and his brother was sent to the morgue to collect the body.
But as he got to the morgue he got shot and died. The father was later called to collect the bodies of his two sons.

Black List

2006-08-01T10:27:00.000+03:00

Ali is a doctor. Doctors are in danger as they are a favorite target for kidnapping. Doctors often have money to pay in exchange of their freedom.

Ali is scared because he has been put on the black list of the hospital he works in. This means that he is a primary target for kidnapping.

Ali walks in the streets, watching his back, never taking the same path twice, walking in little streets and through back gardens, in order to be as less visible as possible.

In the airport of Baghdad

2006-07-31T11:01:00.000+03:00

It has become very common that flights departing from or going to Baghdad airport are delayed. It is very usual for the Baghdadis to wait hours before taking the plane or even to sleep over at the airport.

Aree has had a difficult week after facing the bombings in Karrada. Fortunately, he has a training in Amman and is flying over to spend 2 weeks here. It is at last an opportunity to relax in a sort of friendly environment.
The trip to Amman is a moment of great tension. The highway going to the airport is a deadly road were a high number of attacks are launched.
Aree reaches the airport without troubles but finds out that the air sky has been closed since this morning. Mrs Condie Rice is arriving to Baghdad to meet with the Prime Minister, no planes are flying until further notice.
The stress is sort of relieved as he has made it to the airport, but the frsutration is great at not being able to depart as soon as possible.
As he already did several times, he will sleep again in the airport tonight. He's not alone, at least there are different people to talk to. Plus the confort of the airport has been improved: sofas have been settled to complete the metal chairs. Too many people must have been complaining while staying overnight!

Baghdad by Taxi

2006-07-30T13:55:00.000+03:00

Baghdad is cut in diverse areas and each area has either a sunnite majority or a shiite majority. Some areas are however still mixed. Sunnis are not really welcome in Shiite areas as Shiites are not welcome in Sunni areas.

Therefore, taxi drivers do not have the ability to go freely in all the areas of Baghdad and often refuse to drive to a particular area because of the type of the community or because of the exposure to risk in this specific zone.

Taking a taxi in Baghdad is not easy. It usually involes drop off in the middle of the way as the driver will refuse to go further.
Taking a taxi is like taking a bus, sometimes 2 or 3 taxis are necessary to reach the final destination.

A safe island in Karrada

2006-07-28T22:18:00.000+03:00

Hussein arrived in my office this afternoon straight from Baghdad. The usual talk starts on the situation in Baghdad.
He works in Karrada and says that the whole building was shaking yesterday when the serie of bombings happened. But Hussein has a different speech: "My area is safe!"

It's strange to be hearing this from an Iraqi. How can your area be safe when you saw the shed of blood yesterday in your zone?

Well the area of my office is now controlled by the Al Badr militia (a shiite militia) and they built concrete walls all around the area. Only two doors give access to the zone and entries are severely controlled and checked.

Hussein is Sunni, how does he deal with the Shiite militia? Well I told them my boss is Shiite (he comes from a very well known sayed shiite family) and since then, they are lovely with us. We also helped them for a few things for their people (company services, nothing else) and now they take care of us.

Hussein has a 5 years old boy. How does he cope with the situation? Well I do not tell him about the reality of the situation to keep him safe. Of course, he hears the noise of the shootings and bombings but I usually tell him is parties, weddings or birthdays. He often asks his dad to go and take him there but his daddy pretends it's a party for another family... it's difficult to attend when we are not invited.

Bombings in Karrada

2006-07-27T20:29:00.000+03:00

Karrada is a commercial shiite area in the centre of Baghdad.
Aree, driving his car, is going to pick up an order from the printing company, leaflets he has to distribute in the frame of a human rights campaign conducted by his non governmental organization.

Suddenly, right in front of him, 3 cars parked on the side of the street explode. People running, smoke and fire. Ambulances are soon on the site while people are shouting, cars horning, police trying to regulate the traffic jams soon formed as everyone is trying to escape from the area. Rockets and mortars landing on site add to the general turmoil. Police is firing and Aree can not escape. Stuck in his car, he watches the everlasting movement of ambulances, while the smell of blood spreads in the air. Medical crews are picking up the dead bodies and piling them in the ambulances, doors can't even be closed. Body parts are hanging everywhere.

Some people are watching the scene, without knowing what to do or where to go. They stay on site, sitting on the pavement on the other side of the street, keeping at a safe distance. But staying in the area is usualy not safe as it was seen before bombings setting off one after the other as people tend to gather around the scene. And this time is no different. Another car sets off on the opposite side of the street. More blood and more shouts. Aree is stuck in the middle and can only wait.

Soon he is able to get his car out of the traffic jam and is off to continue his shopping. To go back home? no, life goes on and there is more work to do. Unable to say a word or to swallow anything, he finishes the day before going back home.

At home, his father is ready to go out for some shopping. It is out of the question to send his sons out of the house as they are the most precious thing he has left. Even though he is getting old, he takes the orders and walks to the nearby supermarket on the main street. As he enters the supermarket, 2 cars stop with screaming tyres in front of a shop. 5 armed men get out of the cars and run into the shop: screaming, gun shooting, soon enough the men are back into the cars and drive off. 2 men just got killed, they were sunnis.