Thursday, September 2, 2010

Iraqi-born 7DAYS reporter visits his nation’s capital for the first time in three years and witnesses how the city is picking up the pieces after years of conflict

A few years ago my name could have got me killed.

Before I left Iraq to come to Dubai I used to have to avoid dangerous districts where crazy extremists could attack me just because my name was Ali.

It wasn’t unusual to see a headless body lying on the streets of Baghdad and the sounds of Kalashnikovs and gunfire was an everyday occurrence.

I left the country at the beginning of the civil war but friends of mine told me how they spent the last few years in fear, facing death regularly.

“The government vanished in that period of time and only the militias were controlling the city for both sides, Sunni and Shia.

We were afraid to visit our relatives and friends in different areas in Baghdad because of that,” Sarmad Safi, a friend of mine who works in the Trade Ministry, said.

“We were facing death at the hands of the Mahdi army and Al Qaeda fighters and also the Americans who were suspicious of civilians. It was a nightmare.”

It’s three years since I was in Bagh-dad and it’s a strange mix of feelings as I walk the streets again. I’m happy to be back, but also a little afraid.

When I left the city garbage filled the streets and dead bodies lined the pavements. There is still rubbish on the roads, but much less, and there isn’t a dead body in sight.

“Civil war has finished my son,” my father told me when I reached my home. I looked into his weary eyes - exhausted from what he had seen over the past few years - and saw a glimmer of hope as I asked him more about how things had changed since I left.

“You will see the city again and will decide for yourself my son,” he said.

From the first look anybody can see that Baghdad is recovering. People travel freely without fear, fancy cars can be seen winding around roads, women can be seen walking the streets without scarves or fear and youngsters fill play areas.

However, the Iraqi Army and police are still everywhere, with check-points about every 200m.

Police carry small guns and pass me on the lookout for bombs.

Long queues of cars back up at the checkpoints, causing huge traffic jams all around the city, which actually made me miss the roads of Sharjah and Dubai as they seem a lot less jammed in comparison.

At first Iraqis got very frustrated by the traffic caused at the checkpoints but they accept it now as a part of everyday life that is helping to crack down on violence in the country.

“I don’t mind waiting for two or three hours or even more in this traffic if the violence would disapp-ear for good,” Mohammad Hussain, an Iraqi carpenter, tells me.

Electricity supplies are improving but sometimes there is a shortage of water for three hours or more.

“We can manage living without electricity.

What we really want is security and a safe place to spend our lives,” Salwa Uday, a 35-year-old mother of two, said.

But people are starting to enjoy themselves again, nightclubs and liquor shops have re-opened - a sight I’m not used to seeing.

Teacher Adnan Fathi tells me: “Whenever I reached a district which has a liquor shop then I feel fearless because it’s a sign that peace has returned to the area.”

There are also posters of female dancers and singers in front of clubs and people can be seen freely enjoy-ing the music, drink and dancing.

“If someone told me three years ago that I would see a nightclub in Baghdad again, I would have mocked them and called them crazy, but things have changed and people want to enjoy life now after suffering from death for three years,” Adnan added.

Me and my family headed to a restaurant on the Euphrates River. All around us people are relaxing, smoking shisha and enjoying themselves - a far cry from life there before I left.

We smile when we see a couple with three kids celebrating their wedding day - it’s a scene we thought would vanish forever, as all you used to hear was guns being fired.

I sit clutching my one-and-a-half-year-old son as I look at the family. His laugh gives me new hope that one day my country will completely recover and show the world that we are a nation with a long history and civilization.

My father said to me: “Life is a circle which must go on and nothing stays the same.

We will keep living and rebuild the country again because this is our destiny.” I’ve seen the city for myself and I know he is right.

Violence eases
November was the least bloody month in Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion, official figures showed yesterday, despite grim predictions of a rise in violence ahead of elections next year.

Official data compiled by the ministries of defence, interior and health showed that a total of 122 people were killed last month, comprising 88 civilians, 22 policemen and 12 soldiers.

The figures are markedly lower than those for October, when violence killed a total of 410 people across Iraq, most notably in twin suicide vehicle bombings near government offices in Baghdad that left more than 150 people dead.

They are in stark contrast to the rampant sectarian bloodshed that engulfed Iraq in 2006 and 2007 - more than 2,000 people were killed in January 2007 alone, according to the government’s figures.

“We are delighted with the decrease in the number of victims of terrorism but we will only be happy when we eliminate all threats,” Ali Mussawi, an advisor to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, said.

“We call on the security services and all citizens to remain vigilant because the enemy is waiting and acts on the principle, ‘I kill, there-fore I exist’.”
The previous lowest monthly death toll was in May, when 155 people were killed, including 124 civilians.