Mike Ferner
Voices in The Wilderness

BAGHDAD-Iraq’s largest Sunni mosque, dedicated to the revered Imam, Abu Hanifeh, has a new addition. It is not, however, a space to accommodate more worshipping faithful. It’s a space to lay the bodies of civilians killed in the U.S. invasion last April.

Several members of the Christian Peacemaker Team visited the mosque in Baghdad’s Al-AaDamiyha district recently and were met by Mohammed, who described himself as a “servant of the mosque.” He took them to five tidy rows of graves, some quite small. Speaking through a translator, he read some of the tombstones.

“Here this is the tomb of a woman, her name Aqadeth Naji. It says she was killed on 10th April 2003, with her son, a child. His name is Natha Ayab Natha. They were killed from bombing her house…This is the grave for the small girl. Her name is Ala Mohammed Hassan Hatumini. She was killed on 11th of April, 2003, playing in the streets…and this is another child killed …and this man’s name was Ma’mhoud Nasaid Sa’id…and…”

Ewa Jasiewicz
Occupied Umm Qasr
January 27th 2004

It’s a grey blank day and the Highway of Death is sending us to Umm Qasr, Iraq’s most significant trade and passenger port, currently under the operation of Stevedoring Services of America or, in tune with the corporate trend here of spinning new aliases and name-changes - SSA Marine. My friend is recalling what he saw in 1990, after the US Central Command agreed to let their arch foes, the Republican Guard, fly over the strip of returning soldiers from the Kuwait front and massacre them into the asphalt for over 130 kilometers. 130 kilometers, from within Kuwait up to the mouth of Basra, a highway of corpses - The Highway of Death. Clearest in his mind is the sight of officers shooting the injured, lying on the road. Bang after Bang as un-rescueable soldiers were finished off by their comrades, staggering sights of strewn bodies for as far as the eye could see. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, just a computer game killing juggernaught and the only hope Iraq had for an end to 35 years of Baath fascism, swept away in blood. Respective dictators shook hands, closed the deal, and went back to business-with-the-Baath-as-usual, each side sharpening the long-knives for an attack another day, another bloodbath another day.

Inside Umm Qasr it’s “the boss first” always. We met him before, a man on the side of the Iraqi Port Authority’s Abdel Razzaq. Razzaq, a man once admired but now reviled by most of the 18,000 IPA employees in Basra, has withstood a number of attacks against him and his administration by wildcat striking workers. I tried no less than five times to see him to obtain his permission to speak to workers. Why? The end of October saw Razzaq issue a notice to all IPA staff informing them that any unsolicited communication with journalists or NGOs would be punished by dismissal. Not wanting to get anyone sacked, we returned time and time again to get his open-sesame word. But he was never there (despite our friends telling us he was). This time a friend of a friend of a friend has sorted us out. Workers were expecting us. The Manager will let us see the port, see whatever we like, ahlan wa sahlan. Captain Adell is his name and the first thing he wants us to be convinced of is the top-class security at the port, the very first thing. We nod politely, we’ve heard about the smuggling and the complicity of the US military, currently still running customs at the port, controlling everything coming in and out, signing along the dotted line for any contraband coming in. We’ve heard via an off the record well-placed source working within the CPA itself. It’s an old old story, it’s the same old story, post-war chaos, little market regulation, no government. Open borders mean free booty, controlling the borders means controlling the trade, and turning a blind eye or slipping a tip means a pocket full of cash, day in day out. The black market is soaring. And the pressure and intimidation againt Umm Qasr workers is gnawing.