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Skriven 2007-04-27 12:21:38 av Janis Kracht (1:261/38)
Ärende: Ghetto-izing Bagdad?
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Baghdad Burning

... I'll meet you 'round the bend my friend, where hearts can heal and souls
can mend...
Thursday, April 26, 2007

The Great Wall of Segregation...
Which is the wall the current Iraqi government is building (with the support
and guidance of the Americans). It's a wall that is intended to separate and
isolate what is now considered the largest 'Sunni' area in Baghdad- let no one
say the Americans are not building anything. According to plans the Iraqi
puppets and Americans cooked up, it will 'protect' A'adhamiya, a
residential/mercantile area that the current Iraqi government and their death
squads couldn't empty of Sunnis.

The wall, of course, will protect no one. I sometimes wonder if this is how the
concentration camps began in Europe. The Nazi government probably said, "Oh
look- we're just going to protect the Jews with this little wall here- it will
be difficult for people to get into their special area to hurt them!" And yet,
it will also be difficult to get out.

The Wall is the latest effort to further break Iraqi society apart. Promoting
and supporting civil war isn't enough, apparently- Iraqis have generally proven
to be more tenacious and tolerant than their mullahs, ayatollahs, and Vichy
leaders. It's time for America to physically divide and conquer- like Berlin
before the wall came down or Palestine today. This way, they can continue
chasing Sunnis out of "Shia areas" and Shia out of "Sunni areas".

I always hear the Iraqi pro-war crowd interviewed on television from foreign
capitals (they can only appear on television from the safety of foreign
capitals because I defy anyone to be publicly pro-war in Iraq). They refuse to
believe that their religiously inclined, sectarian political parties fueled
this whole Sunni/Shia conflict. They refuse to acknowledge that this situation
is a direct result of the war and occupation. They go on and on about Iraq's
history and how Sunnis and Shia were always in conflict and I hate that. I hate
that a handful of expats who haven't been to the country in decades pretend to
know more about it than people actually living there.

I remember Baghdad before the war- one could live anywhere. We didn't know what
our neighbors were- we didn't care. No one asked about religion or sect. No one
bothered with what was considered a trivial topic: are you Sunni or Shia? You
only asked something like that if you were uncouth and backward. Our lives
revolve around it now. Our existence depends on hiding it or highlighting it-
depending on the group of masked men who stop you or raid your home in the
middle of the night.

On a personal note, we've finally decided to leave. I guess I've known we would
be leaving for a while now. We discussed it as a family dozens of times. At
first, someone would suggest it tentatively because, it was just a preposterous
idea- leaving ones home and extended family- leaving ones country- and to what?
To where?

Since last summer, we had been discussing it more and more. It was only a
matter of time before what began as a suggestion- a last case scenario- soon
took on solidity and developed into a plan. For the last couple of months, it
has only been a matter of logistics. Plane or car? Jordan or Syria? Will we all
leave together as a family? Or will it be only my brother and I at first?

After Jordan or Syria- where then? Obviously, either of those countries is
going to be a transit to something else. They are both overflowing with Iraqi
refugees, and every single Iraqi living in either country is complaining of the
fact that work is difficult to come by, and getting a residency is even more
difficult. There is also the little problem of being turned back at the border.
Thousands of Iraqis aren't being let into Syria or Jordan- and there are no
definite criteria for entry, the decision is based on the whim of the border
patrol guard checking your passport.

An airplane isn't necessarily safer, as the trip to Baghdad International
Airport is in itself risky and travelers are just as likely to be refused
permission to enter the country (Syria and Jordan) if they arrive by airplane.
And if you're wondering why Syria or Jordan, because they are the only two
countries that will let Iraqis in without a visa. Following up visa issues with
the few functioning embassies or consulates in Baghdad is next to impossible.

So we've been busy. Busy trying to decide what part of our lives to leave
behind. Which memories are dispensable? We, like many Iraqis, are not the
classic refugees- the ones with only the clothes on their backs and no choice.
We are choosing to leave because the other option is simply a continuation of
what has been one long nightmare- stay and wait and try to survive.

On the one hand, I know that leaving the country and starting a new life
somewhere else- as yet unknown- is such a huge thing that it should dwarf every
trivial concern. The funny thing is that it?s the trivial that seems to occupy
our lives. We discuss whether to take photo albums or leave them behind. Can I
bring along a stuffed animal I've had since the age of four? Is there room for
E.'s guitar? What clothes do we take? Summer clothes? The winter clothes too?
What about my books? What about the CDs, the baby pictures?

The problem is that we don't even know if we'll ever see this stuff again. We
don't know if whatever we leave, including the house, will be available when
and if we come back. There are moments when the injustice of having to leave
your country, simply because an imbecile got it into his head to invade it, is
overwhelming. It is unfair that in order to survive and live normally, we have
to leave our home and what remains of family and friends? And to what?

It's difficult to decide which is more frightening- car bombs and militias, or
having to leave everything you know and love, to some unspecified place for a
future where nothing is certain.

posted by river @ 5:03 PM

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