By Anna Bachmann
Voices in the Wilderness
Baghdad
April 18, 2004

I went to the University to teach today.

After this past week’s violence in Fallujah when so many Iraqis died at the hands of Americans, I had some trepidation about facing the students. I know I am not personally responsible for the actions of the U.S. Military, but I’m still an American. And my government approves of what is going on. I know that American soldiers killed civilians, they fired upon ambulances, they didn’t allow the hospitals to work properly and they refused to let some civilians evacuate. My friends, the people that I live with, were there and I trust their eye-witness accounts.

There is a deep well of anger that has been created in Iraqis over what has happened in Fallujah. Would the students blame me? Do they have friends and relatives who have been hurt in Fallujah? Did they, like many in Baghdad, participate in the huge out welling of aid and support that was offered to the people of Fallujah in the wake of the U.S. offensive against the town? Will they hold me accountable for the actions of my Nation?

But quickly the students assured me that they don’t blame me. They are saddened by what has happened and think it was a terrible mistake by the Americans but they still regard me with great respect and are concerned for my safety. I asked them what they feel now and how their lives have changed since the war. Here are some of their responses (For readability I made just a few spelling corrections and only slightly adjusted grammar! My students are the best!):

“I feel very sorry about the Iraqi people that are dead. And I want all these things to change and I want the American soldiers to go out from my country without any war with them because I don’t want the American soldiers to die and I don’t want the Iraqi people to die.”

“Only we want the war ended and safety.”

“I think the crime (war) is usually happening every day, every hour in my city. Please stop, stop this war … “

“I only want one great wish, which is that I want my country to live in peace like others.”

“I think that many things have changed but it changed for the worse. One of these things is that when I go to the market, I can’t feel safe.”

“We breathe freedom, at the same time the shedding of blood is still in our cities.”

“Many things have changed in my country: everyone can have a mobile phone and satellite channels. I think once everyone understand freedom in the right way, my country will be the best in the future.”

“There is one thing that changed after the war and that is the Saddam regime is gone forever.”

After class I went down to the cafeteria and had lunch with the students (they never allow me to pay!) and one of the boys asked me, “Please, what hope do you see for the future of Iraq?”

“If Iraqis have hope and faith in a good future for Iraq,” I answered, “and they are willing to stay and work for that future, then I have a lot of hope for Iraq.”

I paused, thinking of all the people who had told me that ‘Iraq is finished’ or who had told me that all they wished to do was leave the country. “But if,” I concluded, “the people have no hope or focus on only how difficult their problems are, then I am worried for Iraq’s future. No matter what the Americans do here, the future of this country is in the hands of the Iraqis themselves.”

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You can check out my weblog “Sophia’s Peacework” at: peacework.blogspot.com
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