By Cathy Breen
Amman, Jordan
March 18, 2005

Some six months into the U.S. occupation of Iraq, an Iraqi friend said to me in Baghdad as we were sitting at the kitchen table of the Voices apartment “The United States took the cotton out of our mouths that Saddam Hussein had put there. But they put it in their ears.” Now on the eve of the 2nd anniversary of “Shock and Awe,” I wonder if there is still hope that we might remove the cotton.

Two evenings ago, I found myself once again sitting at a table with 2 Iraqi friends and a woman from Lebanon-all working in human rights. Our conversation, which lasted for over 4 hours, would begin with accounts of current atrocities facing Iraqis, and later turn to stories of past horrors under Saddam’s regime. I returned home exhausted, acutely aware that I’ve never really grasped the extent of the suffering people endured under Saddam. Until that evening.

The following is an attempt to relate parts of that conversation. It is told in great part by one man in particular. As I write, he is one his way by car back to Baghdad, a life-threatening journey. No doubt his wife and four small children are anxiously awaiting his safe return. Don’t be misled if the ideas expressed strike you as simplistic. It was told by friends struggling to express themselves in English, so that this listener might understand. Had they been able to speak in their own language, I assure you that they would have been able to explain the complexities much better. The message however is unmistakable. It is a heart cry born out of years of suffering, asking for our ear.

The stories began. In January of 2005 the manager of a hospital in Kerbala stopped by the human rights center (also in Kerbala). He wept as he related that in a 35-day period 26 babies had died [of the flu I surmised] because they had no medicine. In late February a suicide bomb went off in Hilla as scores of people gathered in front of a clinic, killing 142 people and wounding 211. They were there to get a certificate of health in order to apply for a government job. Day after day the violence and killing continues, and threatens to become commonplace.

But Iraqis feel threatened from without as well as from within. “So many countries surrounding Iraq supported Saddam Hussein….Even the U.S. soldiers are in Iraq to fight terrorism, not to protect the Iraqi people. Their slogan is ‘Fight the war on terrorism in Iraq, so we don’t have to fight it at home!’….Iraq has become a haven for foreign insurgents.”

The question arose “Who can we trust?”

“The parties were founded outside of Iraq. Iraqi people think the parties are dependent on the governments that sponsored them, and that they will follow the policies and execute the plans of those governments, e.g. Britain, Iran, U.S, Turkey, Syria….Some people think that Iraqis who were living outside are coming back not to protect the country, but to rule it. There is a difference between those who came after the war and those inside. People inside say ‘You were not starving for years, or burying your children because there was no food. You were not persecuted from Saddam Hussein like I was.’ Some of those returning view us as backward, not knowing about technology, or that we had to be spies thinking ‘How else could you have lived inside?’ Americans believe they will import something, ‘ready-made’, and impose it on people. The U.S. government is still pressuring us, to impose what they think.”

Our friend continued asking “How to install democracy in such a situation?”

“Two things are necessary” he said. One, dialogue within the country among Iraqis themselves, inside. Every group knows what the other wants. We are able to understand each other. The first step is to listen to others, to make plans for dialogue.

The second thing is ‘Who do we need to help us?

Some Shia think we need the Iranian government to help. Some Sunni think we need the support of Sunni countries. There are Kurds who think they need the support of the U.S. government. We need one association [all-encompassing group] that can agree on one plan, to decide who will support Iraq. For instance, we should ask the Iranian government to put their troops on their side of the border. Let them know that we don’t want to offend them, but that their arms should be on their side. There is a big difference between our asking the Iranian government, and the U.S. imposing their will. With Turkey, to inform them that their concerns with Kurds should be put aside for now; this conflict is not in the interest of Iraq currently….

Then we have to ask the European Union about their experience in building democracy, a dialogue between governments supported by the people. We need to ask the U.S. experts for their advice to help write our constitution. It is important that they don’t come uninvited to impose their ideas about federalism. This can only divide Iraq. We must adopt what we see fit, and this will be the same for other issues. What we want from the U.S. government is the help that we ask for, not for their interference. In our elections, the observation was done by the Iraqi people themselves, and no objections were mentioned with respect to elections except those voiced by Iraqis themselves.

In Lebanon, when Hariri was assassinated, the people knew where the problem was-in the existence of the Syrian government in Lebanon. They know they are capable of managing their own country. They left their homes and protested, demonstrated in the streets. What is wonderful about the Lebanese people is that they cried for Harari for one day, and the next day they were executing his message. Despite their differences, they were condemning the assassination. And no violence occurred. They didn’t let themselves be used or influenced by countries around them.

The Iraqi people are not as aware as the Lebanese people; they have not been able to practice democracy. If a person of Harari’s stature in Iraq were to be assassinated, all Iraqis would take to the streets. But each person would hold two guns instead of one! It is their way of expression-to avenge the death. My question is ‘How to come to the same level of awareness as the Lebanese,’ to reach a good result in a peaceful way? Many countries surrounding us are putting obstacles in our way to protect their own interests, their dictatorships. Millions of Iraqis think the same way as I am thinking, but no one is helping them. We are capable of finding our own solutions.

The Iraqi people were not sure if Saddam Hussein had chemical weapons or not. We were more afraid of his use of chemical weapons than we were of American bombs. All Iraqis feared this and tried to prepare for this possibility [immediately before “Shock and Awe”]. In one room of our homes we put plastic on our windows and sealed them with tape. We wet towels and put them below the door frame. Some of us even dug graves in our gardens for our children, thinking that if they died we could later transfer their bodies to a proper graveyard. Can you imagine how a whole people feared and prepared for this? We knew U.S. missiles would kill many Iraqis, but we feared that Saddam Hussein would kill all of us.

People were happy because the war was over, because Saddam Hussein is not here anymore. We got rid of him. We are still alive. But in fact we did not welcome the U.S. army…. The war was not based on convincing reasons….It was because of political strategy.”

As the evening drew to a close, the human rights worker from Lebanon turned to me and asked anxiously “Is the policy of the U.S. to divide the region, to use religion to divide it? We are afraid, afraid of what will happen next.”

Outskirts of Amman, area of Salt-Shona, Jethro’s tomb (photo: Cathy Breen)

Outskirts of Amman, area of Salt-Shona, Jethro’s tomb (photo: Cathy Breen)

The Arabic reads ‘Taste from Rome’ Amman, Jordon (photo: Cathy Breen)

Cathy Breen, with Voices in the Wilderness, is currently in Amman, Jordan. Cathy has been talking to many Iraqi friends that have made there way to Amman, Jordon. She has also had conversations with Iraqi refugees in Jordon and in Syria.