unforgettable days

I remember after the war, people returned to their homes, my friends as well, we met in S's house, each one of us had a story to speak about. It was a hard time, there were no electricity at all, and sometimes no water, so we were storing water to use it in the dry day.

The shopes and markets start to reopen, but with a small number of goods, we thanked Allah for there are farms in the neighborhood, the farmers were selling the vegetable they have.

We were seeing light only during the day, and we were spending our night in a complete darkness, the lande line stopped, there were still no internet and cell phones yet. We were using only the radio to know the news, we were listening to Sawa radio and informations, the station of the alliance forces, They were speaking Arabic in a really funny way remindes me of the Arabic translation of the Russian cartoons. They were giving instructions to Iraqis to cooperate with the "Friendly" US troops and they are here to help us and to free us from the previous regime! like it was really true.

I remember I was busy to do something at home when my uncle came to us saying the US troops are at al-Ferdous squre trying to collapse Saddam's statue, I didn't heared what he was saying exactly, but I was happy as I felt that there will be no more bombings.

I was only afraid of being seriously injured because of a bomb by the US troops, and I live for the rest of my life paralyzed or suffering the lose of my family, I prayed to God all the time, I don't want to suffer, if this is my time to die, let me die, better for me to live and lose my family. I couldn't believe the US collapses Saddam's statue, no one believed it, it was like a shock. Then another stage started, which is the theft, Iraqis, and unknown groups, some say from Kuwait, other said Iranian, start to enter Saddam's palaces and take every thing they can, they opened the huge doors of the palace, Oday's palace as well and let all the animals escape but I don't know what happened to Oday's lion.

The thieves destroyed all the governmental associations, destroyed the streets, the Fine Art center and steal almost all the rare paintings painted by famous Iraqi artists, they steal the National museum, they destroyed the heritages, they were like hungry animals.

Later, they stopped as there is nothing left to be destroyed. Iraqi are patient, after all this distructions, they continue their life, the stores reopened, the schools as well, we were preparing for our final exams, few months later, we had our exams and prepared our selves for the college life.

The bombing started, the killing for money, they were kidnapping girls, children and men, one day I was going on my way to college with the driver, he speaks alot and has all the news of the neighborhood and the areas around it, he told me about the story of the bakery owner in the near neighborhood saying that "He is a rich man, a very good man, they kidnapped his son of about 12 years old, they asked the family to pay a ransom of about 70 thousand dollars, they tried to reduce the number and prepared 50 thousand dollars to pay, the father went to one of the srteets in Baghdad to hand over the money and take his son, as he had been told by the kidnappers, they called him and asked him to put the money on the corner of the street and will receive his son from the other side of the same street. he did what they asked him to do, put the money and went to the other side but in vain, he waited and tryed to call the kidnappers but their cell phone was switched off, he waited there, but he received a phone call from his brother saying they found a black bag on the door contains the chopped body of his son!!!!.

When my grandparent back to their house, they had many stories to tell us when they came to visit. My grand mother was very sad about a girl in their neigborhood, she told me she was a very beautiful younglady, with a long black hair, big eyes, good shpaed body, she is a very good girl from a respected family, when she walk in the street, all the men look at her and wish to speak with her, they were waiting in the street just to see her beauty. But during the bombings that targeted the civilian houses by the US troops, mortar bombs fall down on their house, it was destroyed and burned, the girl was seriously injured and lost members of her family as well, she lost her lef eye, part of her nose and she became paralyzed, she was not able to walk or move normaly, this all the information I have about her, as my grandparents moved from their neighborhood for the security reasons, my grandmother has no news about the girl and the family.
My friend N. (The one I talked about in one of my previous post that lives now in the US), she got married when she was in the second year of college, her sunni husband were subjected to threat while he was visiting his shia father in low's house in Karada, then he decided to go to Lebanon to save his life untill N. finish her study and follow him, but N. suffered a lot during nthe two years she spend away from her husband, her brother in low and his grandfather got killed in clashes between US troops and armed group while they were going to their house in Ameriyah, then she lost 11 member of her familly in a bomb targeted the building where they live, the bomb collapsed all the building. many people killed because of the attack, her sister killed by a bomb in Karada, then she finally went to her husband and both of then moved the US.
and I still remember that day, I was on the highway going to college, when the cars suddenly stopped, we heard fire, I saw children running out of their school buses, as their school was on the side of the highway, they were scared and crying, then I saw a woman crying and shouting and another car just moved rapidly. I was still inside the car praying no one to be injured or killed, the cars then moved and I saw the woman still crying out side a balck car, but the driver was drowned in his blood, they killed him, my be he was her husband or brother or son, I could't see if he was a young or old man. I hated that day of college, I can't forget that day ever.

Bad memories about war

I realy don't like to call it the War of Freedom like other call it, it was a war against Iraqis, against Saddam and now we are paying the price of The American government's big mistake.
I remember the first days of the war, it was about 05:00 to 06:00 am, 20 March 2003, we were sleeping in peace but there was fear inside our heart to here the sounds of bombs any time, as they announced the Zero Hour, which means the time to start the war.
We heard the sounds, we went down stairs and listened carefully, we hugged each other and prayed to God to protect everyone. I was scared to death, my heart was beating very fast, then my father's friend called and they must go to their duty, I didn't want my father to leave, but this is his job and his duty towards the country, he went and we didn't heard any thing about him for several days.
I remember my aunt (Allah yrhamha) the sister of my father, which lives in the south of Iraq, was calling us everyday to check upon us. My grandparents was asking us to go their house untill the situation to be calm, my aunt (the sister of my mother) was asking us the same thing and they were living in Aadhamiyah at that time. during the Gulf War in 1991, all my aunt's (My Mother's sisters, their husbands and kids, we were kids at that time) went all there, we spend the hard days of war togther, but in the war of 2003, my mother refused to leave the house, she said "I will not leave it for I'm waiting for my husband to come in any time, we should wait for him in his house". We refused. Thanks be to Allah that we didn't leave our house, because all of them came to us, and we spent the war days together in our home, because the situation in their neighborhoods was getting worse.
we were about 11 members, my father was still in his duty and my grandfather was in his house, he didn't leave his house to protect it and all the men in their area were there, but he was trying to come to our house, he couldn't because the streets were closed, all the Iraqi tanks were damaged, he was walking all the streets just trying to reach us, all the streets were filled with chopped and burned bodies, he was alone for along time, we couldn't call him, he spent the days alone in the dark nights hearing the bombings every little hour, untill the roads re-opened, he came but he was in a bad situation, he lost weight, and he was depressed for seeing the bloody scenes in the streets, this caused him the Zehimar and died three years later.
After several days, and when the military operation by the US troops decreased, my father came back, Then we heard that the US troops entered Baghdad.
When US troops occupied Baghdad, there were no electricity, no water from time to time, no food, we were making bread at home, I was dreaming to eat a banana or at least a small dish of fresh salad.
We lived in bad situation, we start to hear the Iraqis are being killed for money, cars, revenge, as well as sectarian reasons. The killing is continuing till now. Iraqis were displaced for being Sunni, Shiite, Christian or Kurds, men were killed for doing their hear in a stylish way, women were killed for speaking on the mobile in the street, as it is Haram, (Forbidden) by the Islamists.
During college, my christian friend was living in al-Dora, one of al-Qaeda srtongholds, she was forced to wear Hijab.
She tells me someday, a man came to her house, spoke with her mother "You should make your two girsl wear Hijab, or you will be forced to pay 50 dollar every day for us, and we'll take your girls and marry them!".
They wore Hijab, then they moved to another house in another area later. Me too, I was putting scarf all the way from home to college, for security reasons.
I remeber one day during Ramadan in 2003, which several month after the war, we were invited to have the Iftar in my aunt's house in Adhamiya, then we went back home, on the way, we found a US tank in front of us, the soldier on the top of it was directing the mashine gun of the tank to us, it was a deadly moments, you can't imagine what happened to us, we were scared to death, we prayed that we would not feel pain if we die but later he just waved his hand to us telling move!.
I have more to tell, I heard many things worth to be shared here, but I don't want my post to be very long. Maybe I will speak about it later, maybe not. All I can say that be safe and live in peace.