Tuesday, March 23, 2004

Days I do not want to forget.

Day 4 the 23rd of March 2003.
The clouds of black smoke that comes from those burned oil-filed holes, still covers most of the skies of Baghdad with its suffocating smell.

The coalition troops keep their advance towards Baghdad, but what really brought joy to me was a scene I’ll never forget; as those troops were advancing fast through the main highway, Iraqis lined on the side of the road to wave for them. Let the whole world watch and know that we wait impatiently for that moment when we finally become free.

On the other hands, what annoyed me was this terrible propaganda by the Arab media as they cheer the regime and talk about 'our just cause'. How much did he pay those pigs? The day that will silence these filthy mouths is near, when they’ll be exposed to the whole world.

I couldn’t keep watching TV, so I looked at the map again. Are they near Najjaf or closer than this? News speaks about battles to the north of Basra and to the north of Nassiryah. No one can tell where they are now; mystery still surrounds the movement of the coalition troops.

Tikrit was targeted today by air raids and I heard, during my usual tour downtown, people whisper to each other about the tyrant being wounded during the 1st strike and that there’s a possibility that a top-ranked command member may be killed at the same attack.

The number of the regime destroyed command centers keeps increasing every day,
It’s 5 p.m. and a heavy bombing is resumed. Series of huge explosions shakes our house and the sound of airplanes never stops.
Omar and I were trying to guess the distance and direction of the explosions and the possible target in the specified area. We went to the roof and saw the smoke caused by the last explosion and I guess it’s the ministry of defense, which is situated exactly in that area. We’ve become pretty good in this, we can now judge from the sound and the direction from which the smoke rose which is the most possible target.

I was shocked as Ali told me to hurry up and watch what the Saddam’s TV was showing. It was a disgusting scene; dead bodies of coalition soldiers. They were piled together in one car to make it uglier. Then they showed them again laid on the ground from all direction and the photographer and the reporter were showing that they are enjoying it. They love death and this is their favorite scene as it was obvious from the memories of the Iraq Iran- war where they used to show us the sight of hundreds and sometimes thousands of dead bodies, many of them burnt or disfigured. We still suffer from those scenes and it’s obviously their plan to make us sick by doing that.

Followed that sickening view, there was a stupid interrogation, which lacks any ethics, done with the help of a terrible interpreter to some prisoners. It seems that they couldn’t bring them to Baghdad and had to make this clip in a hurry in Nassiryah. The regional bath party commander was so elated and those soldiers looked confused and frightened. I don’t think they’ll stay alive, as when things will go tough, Saddam will most probably execute them like he did to the Kuwaiti or maybe he’ll use them as hostages, but their position is very hard. It appeared that they belonged to an engineering battalion and that somehow they lost their way. They were not a fighting unit.

It didn’t take long until GWB threatened Iraqi authorities firmly from any abuse to the prisoners.

The night came and carried with it the severity of the bombing but tonight the focus seems to be on the outskirts of Baghdad where most of the republican guards are placed. It became usual during every night to gather all; me, Omar, Ali, my father and some friends and neighbors to watch the latest development and try to analyze the situation, spending time encouraging each other. Tonight we agreed that our meetings should be arranged to take place in each one of our houses in turn.

In such moments one can’t keep his thoughts, fears and expectations inside him. We all felt this enormous need to talk and talk and talk until we become out of breath. Everyone wants to share what is going in his mind with the rest. Our tension is very big and we depend on each other to keep our spirit high in order to face the huge events we are passing through which is much greater than our psychological capabilities if left alone. It’s not easy to get used to the feel of the battle and one needs to keep balance. We needed each other help.

-By Mohammed.

No comments: