Salaam (Haythem) Al Jobourie
November 6, 2003, Baghdad

Written by Salaam (Haythem) Al Jobourie. He is a university student and journalist in his own right. During my recent stay in Baghdad, Haythem was an integral part of the Voices’ house, an invaluable resource to us as well as a frequent translator. I feel privileged to be his friend. We had the wonderful opportunity to visit his family in a farming area on the outskirts of Baghdad during Ramadan. I asked him to write something from the perspective of a student, and I am happy to pass his piece on to you. It is as follows.

Nobody could believe that Saddam would really go, especially the young people who saw Saddam with their own eyes more than two times a day on TV–in his military uniform during the Iraq-Iran war and during the two Iraqi-American wars. So when Baghdad fell and Saddam escaped from his throne, leaving his palaces to the Americans, people were shocked. Now they saw the American soldier–not on TV– but with their own eyes, but they couldn’t believe that Saddam was no longer the president of Iraq. Even now many people believe that Saddam will come back.

A common opinion among Iraqis is “Americans are no better than Saddam.” Both are fortune hunters; they are not coming to help the Iraqi people, or to defeat terrorism. They are here for the sake of oil–the black dollar.

I am against violence, war and blood. I want peace for all world countries. Love is more important than anything else. To kill someone else is to act like a brutal animal and not like a human being. If some one threatens you with a gun, threaten them with a flower. They will feel guilty and ask for forgiveness.

A lot of Iraqis were/are being killed. Their only sin is that they were/are Iraqis. A lot of American soldiers were/are killed every day. Their only sin is that they are wearing the military uniform. For my part I think the only solution is to replace the U.S. soldiers with International soldiers, to keep security until an election can take place to create a new government elected by the Iraqi people without interference from others.

Every morning when I go to my university, like it or not, I have to be searched, and I have to walk among U.S. soldiers and their vehicles on the campus. And when I get in the class I can hear the sounds of the U.S. engines, or the sounds of explosions or ambulances. The lectures turn then from English literature to political analysis. So students are very angry to see soldiers at their university. At the same time they are happy because Saddam is gone. But they don’t like to see the army.

I hope that everything will be OK. I hope that the Iraqi Dinar will equal $3.00 US as it was before. No blood! No attacks! No violence!

Salaam Haythem Al Jobourie
salaamaljobourie@yahoo.com