Ehab Lotayef
Baghdad

I spent three days out of Baghdad, or maybe I should say, out of Iraq. Kurdistan, which has enjoyed self-rule for over ten years, is very different from the rest of the country, which remained under Saddam’s rule and was affected by the sanctions, embargo, and lately the war. The instability and danger that are felt in Baghdad, Najaf and Karbalaa (I made short, one-day trips to each of the two latter, south-western Shia’a cities), disappeared as soon as we crossed the Karkuk-Sulaimania border.

While the December 13th capture of Saddam Hussein has given the corporate media an opportunity to gorge itself and the architects of the occupation an opportunity to crow, and while it may have improved George Bush’s ratings in popularity polls, it has done nothing to improve either the lives of foreign soldiers in Iraq or the lives of Iraqi people. In responding to news of this US military action, we do not presume to speak for anyone but ourselves, US citizens attempting to act responsibly in the face of the misguided and oftentimes criminal actions of our own government. That Iraq has become an even more miserable place to live –both for the civilian population and the occupying forces– is certainly the central reality of the occupation.