Iraq Rapidly
Disintegrating
By Dahr Jamail
31 May, 2004
The New Standard
Late
night writing due to the sweat alarm that has gone off, shortly after
the electricity has cut out yet again. The electricity seems to have
gotten worse lately, which is not surprising, in that this coincides
with the gas shortage -- also growing more severe by the day.
So many things leave
imprints on me as I go through the day here, it has grown nearly impossible
to jot them all down. One of the reasons Ive written fewer blogs
this trip has been because it has been overwhelming. The situation is
so much worse now than when I was here in December and January. And
it was bad then, to be sure.
During an interview
earlier today with a young Sheikh who is very much a Sadr supporter,
I asked him what he would do if Muqtada Al-Sadr was captured or killed
by the US military. I wondered if the seemingly unorganized followers
and ill-trained militia would disintegrate and fade away.
He pulled his 6
year-old daughter forward, her cute smiling face proudly beaming from
under her small hijab, and asked her my question in Arabic. Her reply:
We will always follow Muqtada Al-Sadr.
It reminded me of
another occurrence that left an impression on me my very first day in
the field here this trip, at the beginning of April.
I was in Sadr City
the day after some heavy fighting between the Mehdi Army and US forces,
and was talking with an American tank crew. Two of the men were sweeping
debris off the top of their tank, which had the few portals of its glass
smashed. What other loose pieces on the tank had been torn off and were
laying on the ground. Rocks were everywhere.
One of the soldiers
told me a group of around 200 kids had surrounded them and pelted them
with stones. All they could do was sit inside and ride it out.
He went on to tell
me that he was a bit shaken up by it saying, They are just kids,
and we are a tank! So the kids were attacking them during the
day, and the men from the area attacked them at night with Kalashnikovs
and RPGs.
My friend Aziz came
by this afternoon... shaken. He told me that there had been an assassination
attempt on Ismail Zayer, the editor of the New Sabah, a newspaper Mr.
Zayer founded after breaking ranks with the CPA controlled Sabah newspaper.
According to the story, a group of men in four cars, one of them an
Iraqi Police vehicle, showed up at Zayers office and told him
the Minister of the Interior had requested that he accompany them to
his office.
Zayer told them
he needed to change and went inside to call the Minister to verify this,
as he knew the Minister personally. The Minister told him he did not
order this, and did not know what it was about.
Meanwhile, Mr. Zayers
driver and body guard were taken away by the men, later to be found
shot in the head.
Id seen Zayers
body guard: a large man with a pony tail-not many Iraqis have pony tails.
He was very friendly when Id gone there to interview Mr. Zayer
a few weeks ago. Even though he wasnt a friend, just someone Id
met, it is always difficult to reconcile that someone I know is gone
now. And not just gone, but shot in the head.
So its happened
to me now. That which has happened to every Iraqi friend of mine. Everyone
here knows someone personally who has died an untimely death.
Ater telling me
about this horrible story, Aziz said, It is getting worse by the
day here.
How is life possibly
going to get better in Iraq? Kids are being raised to fight against
the most powerful military the Earth has ever known. Every U.S. soldier
who comes here knows they will be in-country for at least one full year.
More troops are on the way. More soldiers have been killed near Ramadi
and Fallujah recently. The truce in Najaf and Kufa came and went. A
man has been selected by the IGC as the president whom every single
Iraqi I know thinks is an absolute bastard.
One man I know,
when asked what he thought about Alawi, said frankly, He will
be killed, inshallah. Another Iraqi friend said, If
he lasts a month, hell be very lucky.
So as the Bush and
Blair camps race about trying to paint a picture of stability and structure
in Iraq, with June 30 is now just a month away -- this place is coming
apart at the seams. For each step forward the coalition makes, two disasters
occur... whether they take the form of deadly attacks on the occupying
forces, more mortars blasting into the CPA, sabotage of a pipeline or
powerplant, a murder, another SUV of secret service or security mercenaries
taken out by an RPG, or something less obvious...
A child being raised
to fight. A woman dying of breast cancer from depleted uranium exposure.
A highly trained engineer, without work, sweating in his car, which
he drives as a taxi, which means waiting for hours in a fuel line. A
family home raided in the middle of the night by the military. Women
not being able to leave their homes in safety. Nor men, for that matter.
A soldier who has lost his legs in an IED blast goes home to his country.
He and his family having to learn to live with his disability. An Iraqi
war veteran begging on the street -- has no family.
Iraq has been shattered.
And now, today, over a year since the horrible regime of Saddam Hussein
was overthrown, what is left of the country seems to be unraveling more
and more with each passing day.
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Dahr Jamail is Baghdad
correspondent for The NewStandard. He is an Alaskan devoted to covering
the untold stories from occupied Iraq. You can help Dahr continue his
crucial work in Iraq by making donations. For more information or to
donate to Dahr, visit The NewStandard.
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