Fallujah and a flashback.

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Like most Iraqis I was shocked to what happened in Fallujah and till now the Iraqi street condemns what happened and reject it. Even the mosques today including the major one in Fallujah condemned the horrible crime. But what I want to do today is an attempt to remind the others of our tragedy. You can now comprehend the extent of the crime that took place in Iraq for the past 35 years. We were ruled by people like those who committed the crime in Fallujah. Every day we were shocked by scenes like these for our beloved ones our children our thinkers and artists; our bodies were mutilated for 35 years.

You have the right to be shocked and we have the right to scream out loud this is the scene we were forced to see again and again for decades; amputation of limbs decapitation, cutting tongues, casting limbs in concrete, mincing human flesh. You probably have heard of Uday’s iron coffin but have you heard of the “the Ba’ath flame”? Which meant that the prisoner would be chained and stripped of his clothes and then he would be splashed with gasoline to be set on fire until he dies. You can imagine what the comrades of such prisoners would feel while the see and hear the screams and feel the smell of the burning human flesh. I wonder if you saw the tape that Al-Jazeera put right after the war where 3 prisoners were wrapped with dynamite to be blasted in a bloody party so that the barbarians can enjoy their revenge.

We will never forget how the hungry dogs and Uday’s tigers and lion were used to be set free to eat the people -who opposed Saddam- alive.
We used to whisper these events to each other and hear from those who escaped death about all kinds of torture that mankind had forgotten or even never thought of.

We used to see brothers and friends disappear after going to work or shopping without knowing what happened to them.
Can you imagine what it would be like when a girl get raped in front of her family or the wife in front of her husband to force a “confession”?
We were terrorized to death and despite that we resisted and all kinds of weapons were used against us including WMDs.
We’re not cowards and we will never allow those people to make a come back.
You must remember very well that we’re fighting together and we face death every day, more than 500 IP members were killed and many Iraqi contractors or labor men and women who worked with the CPA to build a new Iraq but we will never despair and we’re ready to give more sacrifices so that what happened will never recur.
Do not ask for what is beyond our capabilities; we’re passing through exceptional circumstances ands we’re doing our best against terrorism. Every day one of those terrorists get arrested by the CPA the American officials announce that they got help from the people of Iraq who had made up their minds and put their feet on the right track to change without even thinking about taking a look backwards.
My sincere condolences to the families of the victims. Our fight is one and your loss is ours.

By Mohammed.

Days I do not want to forget.

The beginning of the collapse.

-The day, Wednesday, the 2nd. Of April 2003.
The rhythm of the events is getting faster and it seems that the collapse of the regime is so close. The situation changed today after the important achievement of the coalition forces when they crossed the Tigris River north to Al-Kut. Now the troops are 40 Km only from Baghdad, mean while, the 3rd. infantry division succeeds in crossing an important bridge over the Euphrates and now taking positions about 30 Km south west of Baghdad.
These events made us stick to our maps for a long time trying to figure out where the troops have reached but the movement is so fast and we can’t predict what’s going to happen tomorrow.
The prominent victory of the day is entering Najaf. The folks are welcoming the liberators and the religious leaders advise the citizens to stay calm and not to interfere with the troops’ job.
The scene is so exciting; they’ve got their freedom, tears came to my eyes watching the city getting free from horror, at last. Oh Najaf, you’ve suffered enough from the tyrant and now it’s time for you to enjoy freedom.
The wonderful picture was the behavior of the American soldiers when the citizens asked them to stay out of the shrine. We are not familiar with such scenes. It was thought that some of the Fedayeen were hiding inside the shrine; the well-trained and equipped forces respect the unarmed civilian who has nothing but a request and the soldiers lower their guns and retreat from the shrine’s yard.
This is the first time I see force respect an opinion. I’ll never forget this; I’ve learned something new today. I owe you a lot soldiers; you proved how courageous and humane you are; I hope that Baghdad’s day will come soon.
The troops are still moving fast. This day is full of events. There are rumors in Baghdad that the coalition forces crossed the red line (which is supposed to be the limit after which Saddam will use chemical weapons). There also news telling that Baghdad division and Al-Madina division of the republican guard have been destroyed.
The atmosphere in Baghdad is very tense and we started to see troops from the regular army heading south in an attempt to compensate for the losses; the tanks and vehicles are already looking exhausted and I don’t think they’ll make it to the front line.
Saddam appears on TV smiling to his army leaders trying to tell that the situation is still under control! But the opposite is much truer.
The Kurdish militias cross the border line and take control of the sites that were abandoned by the retreating army.

An exceptional operation succeeds to rescue a 19-year-old female POW from the general hospital in Nassiriyah with the help of an Iraqi citizen.
People in Baghdad are expecting anything to happen now and we in the house made a meeting for the family council. The situation is serious and there’s fear that Saddam may use chemical weapons so we have to modify our plans to face the challenge; do we have to stay? Or do we have to leave Baghdad? I suggested that the others should leave and I stay here to protect the house in case things become chaotic in Baghdad. The truth is that I want to stay because I can’t resist the desire to see what I’ve waited for years. Everyone discovered this and my mother refused to leave unless we all leave. The debate was hard and lasted for more than an hour and in the end we agreed to keep the decision suspended and to act according to the coming events. However we prepared a small bag in which we put all the important documents and our Ids with all the cache and jewelry we had so that we can leave fast as soon as we decide to. We also stocked up some extra fuel for the car that will be enough to get us to Mendily city near the borders with Iran where some of our relatives live; the city is far and therefore protected from what may happen.
As a matter of fact, I made up my mind and I’ll never leave even if it cost me my life.

By Mohammed.

::A senior Iraqi cleric condemns the crime in Fallujah.

Crime and punishment.

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What happened in Fallujah yesterday, when foreigner contractors were killed and disfigured, was more than I could take. I felt extremely angry, disgusted frustrated and desperate. What was worse is that it’s not the first time, nor do I feel it will be the last. There was nothing I could say to explain it, and in fact I don’t want to, nor do I expect anyone to understand. However it made me think a lot trying to understand why such things happen and how to respond to them.

If I was living outside Iraq, I probably wouldn’t bother this much and I would settle with saying that evil exists everywhere in the world and that we shouldn’t generalize this, which is true, but since I live with evil next door, I can’t satisfy with just concluding. I find myself forced to look for answers that may help to stop this madness and to put this country on the right track. I’m not stupid enough to think that I can do it alone, of course, but at least I can do my part, joining those who went there before me, and waiting for others to do the same.

Before going further, I’d like to say that we still have to work our minds while we combat evil and should never surrender to anger alone. There are many criminals involved in this terrible crime on different levels. There are those who preformed the attack (the terrorists), there are those who disfigured and cut the bodies of the victims, (the savages) and there are those who cheered the process, (the disgusting potential criminals) and last but not least the Arab media who celebrated that horrible event and kept showing those scenes again and again. All these should be punished according to their crime.
I’m not going to bother myself with the reasons behind the crimes committed by the terrorists and the savages, and I think we all know the motives of the Arab media, which I have deleted from my list forever and will never watch again. They’re serving the terrorists goal by terrorizing both the coalition people and the Iraqis who cooperate with them and they want to create and promote hatred and distrust between the Arab Muslim world and the west, and discourage those who don’t carry such hatred on either part, all in the favor of the dictators who finance them. These should not be dealt with as journalists; they are a disgrace to this honorable profession.
The only people that I think should be punished less severely are those kids and teenagers who were cheering that terrible act. These are just children who never heard a voice other than that of the mullahs and Saddam’s propaganda, which is still working with no less efficiency, thanks to Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabia. They probably haven’t seen any place other than their poor miserable town. Still they should be taught a hard lesson.
The problem with many Iraqis is that they still don’t understand the meaning of freedom, as some of them look at the present situation and the semi absence of punishment as an opportunity to do whatever they want, as was shown by the last riot in Basra lately (which I know that it was carried by a group of professional criminals who claim to be an Islamic She’at group, who are supported and financed from Iran in the obvious hope of starting a civil war or at least a considerable disturbance, and should be dealt with seriously). These people should be lectured about that and when this fails they should be forced to follow the law and respect human life and values. They should know that the absence of a sovereign government does not mean the absence of law.

The CPA should by now have distinguished Iraqis who are cooperative and willing to build a new Iraq, and those who are just not satisfied with them or just have some complains, from those who are (immune to reform) and they have dealt with the second group quite patiently and wisely and gained many allies. Now it’s time to deal with the third group and this should be done firmly. We have the tapes that show the faces of most of those who took part in committing and celebrating that crime and I’ve heard that the CPA is already following them and I hope this will be done soon, but I must add that even those who were just cheering, should be arrested, sentenced to prison for a long period and that this should be shown on the Iraqi TV and all the media, so that the others, especially those who fear the terrorists should learn to fear the law if they can’t respect it.
I for my part have decided, instead of cursing the darkness to light a candle that I know very well it may burn me and my family. I’ll report anyone I even suspect of cooperating or knowing something about the terrorists. And to those who might wonder why this should be a risk, I think the answer is that-despite the great improvement in their performance and ethics- there’s still a considerable number of corrupted members on the IP and even agents for the terrorists and one just wishes to be lucky not to contact the wrong guys, and even the CPA is not a very promising alternative, since they need hard solid evidence, which is quite good in natural circumstances, but unfortunately not available most of the time, and just for the record, this is not the first time I do this. I think they need to be more hard on those who are strongly suspected on committing or helping terrorist attacks, so that the people who turn them in will not fear their revenge once they are released, which happened many times. I’m not calling for violence like that of Saddam’s, I’m calling for enforcement of law and justice and I’m ready to do my part. We are going through a very critical period and strict punishment should be applied to those who try to hinder the development or further disturb an already unstable situation.

Anyhow, my life and my family’s are not more precious than those of all the victims of terror, and I’ve already sent messages to the CPA of all the information I have about people I have strong suspicions about, and who are supposed to be my people and some of them are actually related to me or consider me a friend or a neighbor but simply I don’t consider them so anymore, not until they denounce terrorist activities and stop cheering them as resistance, as my friends and my family are those who help me and the Iraqi people and whish the best for me and for Iraq. In case that will not work I’ll take the risk of going to the IP. The reason is why I’m doing this now and not before is because I don’t have solid evidences and it’s almost impossible to contact the coalition forces directly, but I’m also SICK of living with fear and I’m sick of getting, with all the good Iraqis and Muslims, the blame because of these terrorists and barbarians, because this only serves the terrorists plan, that is to block any way of communication and understanding between Muslims and others, and they use comments made by westerns in such times to show the other Muslims that hatred is eternal between them and all the others.

This is not between Isalmists and the west, not between Saddam loyalists and America this is between good and evil, light and darkness and I can’t sit and watch or explain anymore. You can say, “Nuke Mecca” or “nuke Fallujah” and you can chose the Spanish government’s attitude and submit to terror, or you can join us (Iraqis and coalition) in fighting dictatorship, terrorism and their-no less evil and damaging- propaganda machine. I call for serious measures upon such channels that provoke hatred and celebrate terror and show it as a heroic action. I say, “‘nuke’ Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabia, the terrorists and all dictators in the world. It’s either us or them”. The evil TV channels should be prevented from entering Iraq and spew their poisons into the minds of simple people. They’re more dangerous than the terrorists themselves and no rigid concepts such as ‘freedom of speech’ should stop us here. This is not journalism, its terror propaganda.

I don't think there's a need to change the coalition strategy in Iraq in a radical way, it's a very good one, but needs some fine adjustments. I think what should be done is that we go on with our plans to build a new free and democratic Iraq and show the people the benefits and beauty of freedom, but at the same time we should deal firmly with those who act only in response to hatred and fear and have no respect for any law or human values, in other words people who made it necessary that every country should have an efficient law system supported by a powerful police to make sure that law is respected and to punish, and even eliminate when it’s necessary, those who don’t fit in the society.

We have suffered enough to get our freedom, thanks to our friends who sacrificed much to achieve their peace and ours, and we can’t turn back and we will never accept slavery again. No, better to die free than live as slaves for our fears.

By Ali.

Days I do not want to forget.

-The day, Tuesday, the 1st of April 2003.
The regime’s headquarters and communication centers are still the primary targets for the coalition air forces. Air raids are continuous and we can hear the sound of jet fighters all day and night flying at low altitudes over Baghdad.
Air raids have targeted locations on the borderlines between Kurdstan and Kirkuk and Mosul.
Food aids reach the liberated areas and they’re being distributed to the citizens. I really don’t think that there’s a great need for food and as we never witnessed a famine in Iraq and I don’t think it’s possible now.
The British forces are tightening the circle around Basra and the citizens are still escaping the city with great numbers. Liberating Basra will have a great influence on the war; we need a victory and a victory in Basra will accelerate the fall of the regime.
Today I’ve heard about battles around No’maniyah. I know this area well, it seems that the troops are accomplishing their tasks well in their way to Baghdad but there’s still a lot of mysteriousness covering the movement and direction of these troops.
Today we were talking about Rumsfelds speech in which he refused the idea of doing any negotiations with the regime. He stated also that the only way to stop the operations is unconditioned surrender by the regime. Everyone agrees that Saddam must surrender and we agreed that Saddam -as usual- would not make the right decision.

By Mohammed.

Days I do not want to forget.

The day, Monday the 31st. of March 2003.

It seems that the coalition forces have resumed their activities; today there is news about liberating Abu Al-Khassib by the British troops and that some other sectors of Basra have been secured.

The coalition troops engaged the Fedayeen near Najaf; a 100 of the Fedayeen were killed and the US marines lost one soldier.

The POW’s count is now 8000 and there are rumors telling that Ali Al-Majeed was injured in Nassiriyah. Qussay’s palace in Baghdad was bombed today.
The bombing continues on Baghdad, Kirkuk and Mosul.
GWB confirms once again “we will free Iraq”.

Today I enjoyed seeing the headquarters of the Fedayeen after it was bombed and leveled with the ground, the fragments and ashes covered the adjacent streets. I hate no one as I hate those Fedayeen; mentioning the crimes they committed is enough to make anyone tremble with fear and disgust.

Aircrafts are flying at very low altitudes today even one can easily identify the kind of the aircraft. I was in the garden with a friend of mine who is an ex pilot in the air force; he was fired from the Army in the 90’s because he hesitated once to obey an order. I asked him “can the pilot see me from this altitude?” he said “yes” so I stood in the middle of the garden and took a look at the neighbors’ roofs to see if anyone is watching me then I looked again at the aircraft and started to wave to the pilot. He should know that we’re on his side and we don’t fear him. My friend smiled and asked me to sit back “be sure, he saw you and he got your message” I insisted and asked my friend again “are you sure? Tell me the truth” he said “yes, yes, don’t be afraid. He saw you and he knew what you meant”.

-By Mohammed.

::I'm in the internet cafe' now and just a few minutes ago two groups of hummer vehicles passed the street and the soldiers were playing American songs through loud speakers mounted up the vehicle instead of the heavy machine gun. Everyone in the cafe' laughed, one guy added "wow, a free mobile concert!!. I hope all the patrols do the same" another guy said "that's why I want the occupation to last longer. he he. I wonder If the IP will do the same?!".

Giving peace a chance.

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It felt like one of the shameful moments I’ve witnessed recently, when I saw Tony Blair shaking hands with Gaddafi. It was really a distressing scene. Why was that? Was it for real or just a show to buy time (on either part)?
I’m one of the people who believe firmly that the coalition led by the US and the UK is determined to eliminate terrorism and its originator; dictatorship, and Gaddafi is what I’ve always looked at as the comical version of S.H., still a very criminal and mad man.
So did the British prime minister believe that Gaddafi was sincere in changing his policy? I don’t think so. Does this mean that the strategy that includes getting rid of Gaddafi and his likes will go on? I believe so. Was Tony Blair a hypocrite then by shaking hands with the man he’s going to bring down or help in overthrowing soon? Not at all! There seems to be confusion here, but I believe that in every mess one can find an order.
Tony Blair knows very well that Gaddafi will remain… (Gaddafi), and the fact that he’s been acting nice only after Saddam was pulled out of that stinky whole, should tell us why he had suddenly changed his attitude, and that he will never go further that that without real pressure from outside. He certainly is not ready to give his people even the smallest space of freedom, and will drive them to the edge, where they will find the extremist mullahs waiting impatiently for the precious raw material to wrap an explosive belt around their bodies and send them to “heaven”, not before taking, God only knows where, who and how many innocent lives with them.
Of course Mr. Blair knows that better than me, so why is he ‘rewarding’ the dictator when he already knows that it’s just one step to delay fate and will not be followed by others? Seems like Mr. Blair is a hypocrite after all?! But no, knowing the outcome absolutely doesn’t mean planning it and everyone has the freedom to change once he decides, but will Gaddafi really change??
The problem that the coalition are facing here is that if they take an aggressive step towards Gaddafi, Assad or any other dictator, the madness of the ‘pacifist’ and the ‘antiwar’, anti American, anti Bush, anti everything, will have no limits and they have most of the media and many countries in the free world and some opportunistic politicians to back them as far and hard as they can. I can hear them saying” you are murdering the Libyan children”, and this will take me a little off topic maybe, but how come there are no huge demonstrations to protest against human rights violations in the 3rd world? Why not try to correct it yourself by pressuring the world to take a severe action against those dictators, instead of watching them, raping, torturing and slaughtering their own citizens? And then when the coalition would come to do the job, you are suddenly so keen on these poor people's lives and the human rights in Iraq is suddenly a major concern for you, when you know as we all know that the human rights in Iraq are a million times better than what it was at Saddam’s times.
Some people may take advantage of this scene now or in the future, saying that Mr. Blair launches a war against a ‘nation’ in the name of freeing people from dictatorship while he gives his blessing to another dictator! But that’s not the way it is. The way I see it, is that this witty and honest politician is saying to Gaddafi and to the world that such steps are welcomed, but there are many demands need to be answered before you can fit in the new world. There’s still more to be done, and after that, Gaddafi should be judged for his crimes against his people and the rest of the world. It seems that he doesn’t have a chance anyway and that’s true. He can chose between ending like Milosevic or like Saddam, and there’s absolutely no third choice.
Mr. Blair is giving peace a chance that he knows very well Gaddafi will not appreciate it, yet he has to do it. Of course Gaddafi is now not a real danger to the world peace and there are many other priorities, but he is a burnt out case, and he is a danger and a very serious one to his people. I wish to see the response of the people who opposed the war on Saddam because they 'were not told the real reasons', when they are forced to make a stance towards a war that is based on merely humanitarian causes. Will they support it? I'm afraid I have the answer and I just hope I'm wrong.

By Ali.

:: There was a report on Al-Arabiya news this morning about some rallies in Basra
organized by "Tha'ar Allah" Islamic organization. The news says that the British soldiers used "excessive force" to disperse the demostartors. Later I watched some pictures from Basra showing the event. Do you know what the "excessive force" was?!
Sticks, yes, the demostrators threw stones at the british soldiers who replied using sticks only. Later the soldiers engaged the emostartors and there was a fight with fists and kicks and the outcome of using "excessive force" was (bruises) only.
I wonder what would the outcome be and what would the security men use if demostrators went to the streets and attacked them in a sovereign Arab country?

Days I do not want to forget.

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The day, Monday the 30th. Of March 2003.
Bombing the command centers in Baghdad continued with high intensity day and night and the ministry of information is targeted again today. The coalition troops ensure their determination to continue with the fighting and tighten the siege around Baghdad.
Small, sporadic fights continue around Nasiriyah, Najaf and Basra.
An Apache is said to be shot down in the south and the Iraqi TV broadcasts pictures for the helicopter but it seems to me that it was not shot down but rather landed because of some mechanical problem; the Apache is totally sound with no evidence of fire shot at it, nothing burnt, nothing wrecked and the TV story is very unconvincing “a farmer shot down an Apache with his primitive rifle”.
Today, the regime members added a new crime to their record. They were shooting at the civilians who escaped the city of Basra and there are pictures from the Pentagon showing the event.
In the streets there is news about executing Iraqi soldiers who decided to leave the battlefield and abandoned their positions.
This series of blood, horror, death and executions without trials is coming to an end and each criminal will be punished. Yes, we need the day of justice. Blood boils within our veins and we will not rest until those criminals get what they deserve. I know how their lust for blood increase when they feel endangered and I’m afraid they will commit something disastrous when they feel their end is coming and I’m sure they will try to kill as much people as they can before they get killed; you can’t trust a murderer.
I did my regular tour in the streets and I came up with the feeling that Iraqis are looking cautiously at what’s happening and there are rumors spreading about a long siege around Baghdad. The word (siege) is spreading in an enormous speed today, I’ve heard it everywhere and it was the core of our discussion tonight. How long this siege will last? What are our capabilities to face this serious challenge? We started to think more seriously that we’re endangered once Baghdad is surrounded. Something unusual happened as we were talking; one of my friends said, “OK, enough talking about the war and politics and let’s enjoy hearing a song and seeing a beautiful girl. I miss this so much” everybody agreed and we switched the TV to a melody channel that made discussion take an entirely different course!

By Mohammed.

Days I do not want to forget.

The 29th of March 2003

Today’s news upset me very much. The coalition forces stop their march towards Baghdad for the few coming days, despite that a military American spokesman denies that and speaks about rearrangement and redistribution. The truth is that I don’t feel good about all this because it gives a chance to Saddam and his propaganda in and outside Iraq to speak about their 'bravery and strength' and how they 'forced' the coalition troops to stop.

The coalition forces establish 12 centers for distributing humanitarian aids in the southern of Iraq and Kuwait supplies Basra with fresh water through a newly established pipeline.

News still talk about a bombing to military targets on the line between Mosul and Kurdistan. I think the northern front is about to be opened and this will, surely, strengthen the siege on Saddam, but there’s still very little effort on this front and I don’t know why the coalition don’t allow the Kurdish militia to take part in the operations. There seems to be an American decision that the Iraqi opposition groups should not take part in the liberation, although I’m not sure about that yet.

The good news today is the control of (Ali’s airbase) in Nassireah and the landing of the 1st American airplane there. This will sure aid in the logistic support of the troops and will make it easier for the coalition to use their short ranged attacking airplanes more effectively.

Iraq fires a silkworm-missile on Kuwait and hits a trading center without causalities. China has now to clarify how Saddam got these missiles!

Bombing continues on Baghdad to target again the communication centers and the ministry of culture and information. There were also successful raids on the republican guard division (Al-Madina Al-Monawara)

Tonight the chatting was depressing. The news speaks about a disagreement between the American defense ministry and the central command about the plan to liberate Iraq. Most of the discussion was about this issue. Some said that the Americans didn’t prepare well for this battle and others said that these people know exactly what they are doing and that they earned those stars on their shoulders, and cannot be compared to the illiterate people commanding the Iraqi troops. Here our host, who was really depressed couldn’t stand it anymore and stood up and shouted” where the h*** is Schwartzkov? We need him NOW!!”

We looked at each other and struggled to keep our laughter inside. He stared at each one of us and said “YES, it’s only Shwartzkov who can kick Saddam’s a**” my friend, his son, laughed out loud and said “dad, it’s not a football match to call for (Ammo Baba)”*

* Ammo Baba is a famous Iraqi soccer coach who was hated by Oday, but nevertheless when the Iraqi football team didn’t perform well in any competition, Oday would call for him to fix the trouble.

-By Mohammed.

Days I do not want to forget.

The 28th of March 2003.
The American president says that the justice day will follow the freedom day and that all the war criminals who terrorized the Iraqi people, will be judged.
Rumsfeld says “remember the faces of your oppressors, we will need your testimony”
I really wish that. Our freedom will not be complete without justice being served and the criminals should be judged for every crime and every atrocity, so that what happened will not happen again.

Today a direct strike was launched at the Ba’athists in Basra. One of the raids targeted a place where about 200 members of the Ba’ath party were holding a meeting. It seems that the intelligence of the coalition is doing its job in Basra and it seems that they are getting some help. The important thing is that we got rid of some of the criminals and we will not have to remember their faces Mr. Rumsfeld, they got their share before the justice day.

Another successful raid to the coalition targets a convoy of the republican guards and destroys it entirely.
Today the evil propaganda center was hit also (the ministry of lies and stupidity).
The 1st British ship carrying humanitarian aids reach the port of Om Qasir.
Bombing continues all around the clock in Baghdad.

A friend of mine asked me today to help him in setting up a satellite dish receiver. He said he couldn’t stay away from the events as the local radio channels blind one even more. We agreed to do that after sunset so that we can do that without being noticed by the neighbors. I went with another friend (Ahmed) to my friend’s house soon as it was dark. We asked our friend to bring a TV device to the roof to help us knowing the correct direction and catch the signal. The dish was the fixed type, without a motor to move it and it was easy to direct it towards Arab sat. After about 15 minutes from start, a heavy bombing started. We were looking at the sky and the fires of the anti-aircraft weapons right above our heads lightened it. This usually tells us about the direction of the missiles or airplanes as these weapons follow them and send signals to the other batteries depending on mere vision. Ok, it seems that the missiles are heading in our direction. Suddenly we heard a strong whirr. This was the 1st time I hear a missile passing directly and this low above my head. This should mean that it’s just about to land somewhere very near. All this passed in our minds in a fraction of a second. We threw ourselves to the ground and put our hands above our heads. These were truly scary moments. A bright red light flashed in the sky lightening the whole area and the night turned to what looks like a day light followed immediately by an enormous blast and a shocking wave that we felt through the ground and in the air. The whole house shook violently for a second. We stood up to see the fire that was coming from the area that was hit by the missile. It was the nearby switch. Our eyes were wide open and my friend’s family was screaming at us telling their son to bring us inside the house immediately. Just before deciding to do that, we heard a similar whirr at the same distance. We threw ourselves to the ground again. There was no time to go inside. I closed my eyes waiting for the sound of the explosion. You can never get used to these sounds. Another huge blast and a shock wave, followed by a 3rd missile passing at the same distance. We were confused and didn’t know how to act. We saw the fire and parts of the building that was hit fly in the air before falling as small fireballs. Our host forgot about us and ran as fast as he could to go inside the house, leaving us there, but he was surprised to see that his parents had locked the door that leads to the house!! He stood there knocking at the door, but no one opened, they were paralyzed by fear. Despite all the fear and how scared we were, we laughed from our hearts. “See Ahmed what fear can do? They abandoned their own son!” laughing at ourselves is the only weapon we have at such times to overcome our fears!

The raid was still going on targeting places near to our location. We ran and tried to hide under a window type air conditioner that was extending outside for about 30-cm. We glued ourselves to the wall beside it and pushed our heads beneath it. With all our bodies, except our heads exposed, our host turned to us after losing hope in his parents, and now it was his turn to burst out laughing at our position.
The raid finally stopped and we finished our job, still laughing at each other and at ourselves. Fear made us act like children.

-By Mohammed.

Days I do not want to forget.

Day 8 the 27th of March 2003.

The coalition forces announce that they are going to expand on their operation soon after the whether improves.

It seems that I was very optimistic about how long this will take. The speed in which the troops moved inside Iraq in the 1st few days was astonishing that it made me think that the battle will take no more than one week, and here we are finishing the 1st week and it looks like it’s been more than a month.
The events that took place during this week have been more than what I’ve seen in years. There could be weeks in our lives that pass without even feeling them, but a week like this cannot be easily forgotten.

Why does the whether have to be this bad and at theses times! This is exactly what we’ve been missing, that the nature works with Saddam!
An American-British assembly to discuss the future of Iraq after the war.
The future can never be worse than the past, that’s for sure, but I think the assembly comes to ascertain the others the determination of the coalition to make the change and that the issue is settled and the others should think about the future of Iraq.

I for myself cannot think about the future because I can’t leave the moment that I’m living, but I’ll sneak a look into the future and smile, imagining how it will be without Saddam and the Ba’ath.

Today, some friends from the western part half of Baghdad came to visit us. I was very happy to see them and we didn’t stop talking and congratulating each other for being safe (so far). Everyone has something to say about what he has seen and everyone saw so many unusual scenes. One of my friends was very impressed with the accuracy of the bombing. Mistakes are actually none so far, but everyone knows that most of these targets were not used by the regime, because they are now using alternative positions like mosques and schools and abandoned civilian buildings. My father, who came by to say hello, shared with us his opinion on this subject as a former military officer. He said, “These alternative position cannot offer more than 50% of what the original positions do, therefore the purpose of such strikes is to deprive the authority from half of its capabilities, as the alternative position were made in haste and soon these also will be exposed, and then they’ll have to change them, and the capabilities get less and less with each change” everyone saw that the idea was convincing but there is still the desire to see Saddam get killed by a direct attack.

Bombing still targets the outskirts of Baghdad where the major military facilities and the republican guards are located.
Today the communication facilities were bombed, to cut the phone lines between Baghdad and the other governerates and many switches stopped functioning inside Baghdad.

-By Mohammed.

Inheriting freedom and deserving it.

On many occasions, Iraqis were accused of being not able to understand or practice democracy and that they’ll need decades to fully absorb the concept. I myself had similar doubts. While when the argument goes about other nations (especially Europe) the Europeans are supposed to be very much ahead of Iraqis in this field and Europe is usually considered as a “sun of democracy”.
So, what is democracy?

In my opinion, a nation is called democratic when the citizens of this nation practice their right to decide their future and to choose the proper policy to build that future.
On the other hand, a nation cannot be considered democratic when the citizens of that nation are forced to adopt a certain attitude or to obey orders under the influence or the threat of an intrinsic or extrinsic overwhelming power.

If we assume that these distinctions between democracy and any other form of ruling a country; tyranny, theocracy, dictatorship…etc. are acceptable we’ll end up with horrifying predictions about Europe and at the same time optimistic ones about Iraq!

Iraqis were many times blamed by some of the free world citizens for being cowards and failing to stick together to topple Saddam, which seemed to those free people (who were born free) as the most natural reaction to tyranny!! Well I couldn’t agree more. However they forgot that they themselves had never practiced that and that they owe their freedom to the previous generations and they had only to enjoy it, a very hard task I suppose!

But truly, they do have a hard task and that is to maintain and defend their freedom, which their nations had to do whenever confronted with a serious threat and they were successful so far. Some very kind people say that they’re a shamed of taking their freedom for granted, and I have all the faith that these same people will be the best defenders of what they inherited through the sacrifices of their fathers.
On the other hand we have those who inherited freedom without even being aware of that, they just practice it and bash anyone for not fighting for it, which is so right as everyone should fight for his freedom, but the question is will they fight to defend their freedom?

The frightening thing about the Europeans is that their “sun of democracy” seems to be fading away and more frightening is that they’re not realizing in which direction they’re moving. From their point of view, they’re enjoying the achievements of the democracy and freedom they earned after decades of struggle. From my point of view, I think they’re on their way to loose what they have or more correctly, had. They (and of course I’m talking about some European countries, not the whole continent) are obeying direct orders from an evil power and taking the attitudes that that power desires to see after they were terrorized when confronted with real, mad and meaningless terrorism.

Let’s take a look back at Iraqis. They were saved from what seemed an endless torture, oppression and bloody crimes under the past regime and till now they’re suffering a lot more from terrorism than any other nation.

So what did they decide to do about it, and how do they feel about this situation?
They decided to walk the way to the end. They feel angry with terrorists doing all this damage to their lives and most important, they know who’s to blame and who’s behind the hardships they fight.

Iraqis made up their minds without any pressure from any power and they leading their country forward and they’re cooperating with the coalition and the GC not because they’re forced to do so. Iraqis now have the freedom of speech for the first time since decades and after they tasted freedom they will never accept to be slaves to anyone again, not for terrorists for sure and even not for the US or any coming government if they felt that the US or the present or future Iraqi administration is working against Iraqis’ interests. I’m sure that if Iraqis felt that the US or the GC are not respecting their rights they will go out to the streets in millions not thousands to voice their complain.

They’re ruling their country by their patience, courage and hope.
Although Iraqis didn’t have the chance to vote in elections yet but they’re showing that they’re willing to do everything to make that happen and once it happens they’ll defend it with their souls and blood because they earned it through the sacrifices they made and still making.


-By Omar.

Days I do not want to forget.

Day 7 the 26th of march 2003.

Bombing resumed since dawn and continued for hours with almost no stop at all. The skies were so red which made the lights that shined from the houses look blue. It seems that the bad whether is going to hinder the operations for a while which made me depressed today. It’s going to take longer than we hope. This forced me and my father to re-check our stores of food, water and fuel. We replaced the stored water which we had used every container we had to store it in, for cleaning purposes, taking advantage of the water supply that hasn’t been affected yet, since we don’t know how long it’ll last. We started reconsidering some of our plans of how to deal with the worse.

This delay is making rumors spread again about how serious the Americans are. People seem to be so desperate, which I think why they are discouraged with this unfortunate delay in operations. We are even hearing about a secret deal between Saddam and the US in which he gives up the southern oil wells in return for keeping his power and control over the central areas of Iraq. This idea shocks me with its naivety and I didn’t even bother to explain to the guy who told me about it, except giving him one hint. I told him that this is much more than the oil fields and I disagree with him on what he says. The man said” Saddam lost the battle and he’s giving what they want from him” and I replied “you said it yourself; Saddam has lost the battle, so why do you think a super power, the only superpower, will negotiate with a defeated dictator and accept his terms when she can have whatever she want?” he shook his head and said “I don’t know! But Saddam doesn’t give up this easy and he’s ready to offer anything in return for staying in power” I told him that the issue had been settled before (the 1st bullet was fired) and negotiation was possible only before the war has begun. He said, “Then what is this deal that people talk about?” I told him that it’s most probably that the regime is behind it, to show us that the issue is not settled yet, so they are trying to tell us, “don’t start anything foolish”

Today the major media focused on the battle that took near Najjaf and showed some pictures from the scene. I think it’s the first time the Fedayeen and the Ba’athists try to take an aggressive move, only to be slaughtered by the coalition forces and nearly a thousand of the attackers or at least hundreds got killed according to the news so far. This shows how stupid they are. They went to fight the American army with buses and cars carrying light arms!! I heard that the commander of the southern area ordered this attack and that he was killed too. He was trying to please his master!

Another good news is that American forces has landed in the northern area in considerable numbers, and I think this should mean that another front is about to be opened.

Another battle took place near Nassireah and this time the coalition forces faced regular army soldiers. The battle also led to the death and surrender of hundreds of the regime army. However it’s not the major war the media are trying to show it to the world; so far it’s just a few hundreds fighting sporadically without order and without a previously made plan. Till now the battlefield has shown no real activity by the army Saddam was boasting about.

The bombing was also heavy today and one of the targets was the center of the Iraqi satellite TV channel that is located so near to our neighborhood. The explosion was the worst I heard since the beginning of the war. The blast was huge and the sky was lightened almost entirely for a few moments. There were 3 missiles, but one of them was different. We knew that because the explosion didn’t shake the doors and windows as usual, but instead it was the ground that shook beneath our feet in a strange way. I think this is one of what they named (bunker buster) those missiles designed to penetrate the ground and explode below the target or inside it if it was a shelter. The explosion was very strange and not familiar at all; a thrill that comes from the ground to go through your body via your feet.

Ali called me and said laughing "come on and watch this!” the picture of the TV reporter “Nihad Najeeb” had frozen in a funny deviated way. It didn’t disappear or move, he just stood there for hours and every time we turn the TV to the Iraqi channel, and see that it’s still the same, we burst out laughing. Their filthy mouth was silenced forever in a disgracing manner.

Tonight we talked in our regular meeting about what we had heard in the morning. Can it really be a limited operation!? We all agreed that it was a stupid question and that it’s all over (yet we asked it!! I think the reason is that we are so edgy and anxious to see the end).

-By Mohammed.

Days I do not want to forget.

I'm sorry for not posting yesterday, but that was for (good) reasons.

Day 6 the 25th of March 2003.

Today carried big headlinlies.
-Basra is a military target. This is what the British forces announced, together with full control of Om-Qasr and Basra international airport. News about an uprising in some areas of Basra.

-The coalition forces reach about 80 km. To the south of Baghdad and news about combating Al-Madina Al- Munawarar republican guard division. It seems that Baghdad battle is about to begin despite the continuing bad whether.

We still have water and power supply and phone lines are still working. There are no fuel crises its control on the. There’s still a large doubt among people concerning the final objectives of the operation behind this battle. “Are they serious this time” it’s not easy to imagine the possible consequences of the regime fall. It’s been here for 35 years. How would it look like without it? This is more than a dream and it’s more than we can imagine.

Today a friend of my father visited us. He works in a high position in the air defence command. My father started saying” you have to be more careful with those SAM missiles, they’re falling without any guidance and killing people ” the man said ” we do not run the system fully, we can’t let the radars work for a long time, because they’ll be targeted immediately! We just shoot these rockets without radar guidance to prove to Saddam that we are not traitors. He had put execution squads from the 'Fedayeen' in every missiles battery to watch the officers once the raids start. That’s why we fire those missiles and we know they may well cause serious damage and deaths, but we can’t disobey Saddam”
That officer was sure that this battle will bring with it the end of Saddam, and when we told him that most of the south is now under the control of the coalition forces from what we see on TV, and how the people are destroying Saddam’s pictures in Om-Qasr, we felt that he was afraid and wanted someone to tell him what would probably be the result because he was in a very sensitive position. He trusted my father’s judgment, so he came with many questions. I left them together so that he can feel free to ask without getting embarrassed.

The bombing continued all day and I was able this time to see the airplanes in the sky. They were flying relatively at a low altitude. They were their all the time.
-The raids today resulted in the destruction of the local TV station, which led to sudden stop of the broadcast. This is very important. They decided to carry on by broadcasting only through radio stations. People also depended on Al-Alam Iranian TV that we could easily get in Baghdad. This channel has become the favorite for many Iraqis since it shows news rather than stupid poetry and slogans like those of the Iraqi leadership. It seems Saddam thinks that he can win this battle by words, not to mention the 'patriotic songs' which we became famous in, as we, as people put it, the land of the million patriotic song, and of course all of those were devoted to glorify Saddam rather than Iraq.

Some of our daily routines started to change. We, now, sleep few hours at night and try to compensate by sleeping few hours in the afternoon. We prepare every day for a long gathering and discussion that never ends and crosses all the lines.
The night has become very long.

-By Mohammed.

Days I do not want to forget.

Day 5 the 24th of March 2003.

I woke up at dawn after the sound of a massive explosion rocked our house to hear short after that, the voice of the sheikh in the mosque saying the prayers he was ordered to say. He sounded sleepy, tired and exhausted. What happened? He used to say those prayers loud and clear with the start of every raid and now raids continue all around the clock. The man's voice got hoarse but it seems that he has chose to say his prayers only following close explosion near his mosque. I guess he's praying for himself rather than his leader.

With light I saw a strange scene that I don't think I ever saw nor do I think it will happen again. Several colors mixed in the skies to give an odd color that made it a very depressive view. A red sandy storm that I've never seen like before mixed with the black color of the smoke coming from the burned oil-filled ditches, and the smoke that results from explosions and jet fighters. Nature and battle combined their efforts to make a painting that was very gloomy.

We went shopping despite the sandy whether. I warned my friends not to buy any milk products or meat from now on because I don't think they have been producing anything new for probably a week, and that from now on we should depend mainly on the stored food. No one listened to my advice which seems to be not appropriate at the time!! There are more serious hazards.

We heard today that the fire in the one of the oil-wells was extinguished and that humanitarian aid are flowing to the southern of Iraq, but the really exciting news was that the coalition forces are now about 100 km to the south of Baghdad. We couldn't define on the map which spot they were talking about, but I think the troops are close now to the republican guards' forces that encircles Baghdad and by this average, it seems we are only few days away before the coalition reaches Baghdad.

One of the rumors I heard today on the streets was that America is preparing for printing the new bank notes for the after-Saddam period. People on the streets are now balder in their discussions and it seems that the sounds of the air planes above our heads that rarely stop make us them feel how close the end is. We are still afraid of the regime dogs that still search for some reward on our account. We are hearing about executions to some Iraqis who work for the coalition forces inside Baghdad by providing information about certain targets.

The bombing continued during the day despite the bad weather.
The night meeting with the friends was in my friend's house. We are missing the extensive bombing in the 1st 4 days. We need extreme force and that would be the only thing that would end this soon. Saddam will not surrender easily. He doesn't speak nor does he understand any language other than violence. He seized power by violence, ruled by violence and will not be removed by anything other than extreme force.

-By Mohammed.

Mourning our slayers.

I couldn’t mourn you and I couldn’t feel sorry for you. You’re an old crippled man, you’re an Arab like me, a ‘Muslim’ like me, and you fought most of your life for what you believed in. You were imprisoned for a long time and you were murdered; yet I couldn’t mourn you!
You know why? I’ll tell you why:

I’ve always took the side of the weak, poor and oppressed people if for no other reason, then simply because I’ve lived most of my life like them and I can’t argue that the Palestinian people have rights that are still missing. Some people will say that it’s because of their doing, but I don’t want to get into the huge complications of this conflict. I just want to point why and when did I loose sympathy with people like Ahmad Yassin.

Whatever we think about this conflict and whatever side we take, none of us can deny that there is a problem and it’s far from easy to determine how to solve it and who has the right in this or that. People have different opinions that spread through a spectrum where you can find millions who consider a man like Scheckh Yassin a saint and you can find millions who consider him a Satan as well as a small portion with less extreme opinions.

Palestinians had chosen different ways of pursuing what they considered their legitimate rights before the birth of Israel. Some of them chose to fight, others chose political struggle and the negotiation table and some joined the new state and pursued their rights taking advantage of the democratic nature of Israel and made it as high as can be expected, still supporting the rights of their people as well as the rights of their ‘new’ country.

I don’t want to go into the details of this intricate conflict, but I want to say that those- who chose to fight by convincing people (mostly teenagers and young men) in suicide, in the hope that during this they can murder the largest possible number of civilians; men, women elderly and children- deserve no mourning and no sympathy.

These people (Yassin alike) argue that civilians-usually Israeli and Americans- are partners in what they consider crimes against their people (Arab or Muslims), because they elected their governments and they support their actions. I say; I’ll go with you this far and suppose that you are victims to Israel and America and thus you have the right to fight and kill the American and Israeli men and women. But, what about their CHILDREN?? What about YOUR children who you send to death while they kill Israeli children? What about that 15 year old girl you convinced her of committing suicide in order to kill other people, including children?

You claim that all children are born Muslims and that their parents raise them to be Christians or Jews. If we follow your rules and believe your words, you’ll be killing Muslim children!! How can you explain that to yourself before trying to explain it to the others? I’ve asked this question to all those who support the suicidal attacks and NONE could have an answer. The best they could come up with is that these suicidal bombers do not intend to kill children and that it happens accidentally!! Don’t they have eyes that can recognize a child? And why do they pick buses when they know that it’s very likely that some children will be there?

You have not only disgraced yourselves and betrayed Gods words; you have hurt your people, the Muslims, more than anyone else. You made every Muslim a suspect in the eyes of the world and I will never feel sorry for you.

What will you tell God when he asks you about all the children you have killed? And you expect to go to heaven!?!? And that should be the same heaven those children, your victims, will go to?! Why do I find this hard to believe!??

I know what some of you will say and I know that some will probably like to ‘make their way to heaven’ by killing me and people like me, but I’m not afraid of you and this needed to be said. Your beards and your headscarf don not make you closer to God than anybody else, that’s if you still remember God and if he still remembers you. God had abandoned you a long time ago; at least since the moment you started killing his purest creatures. I’m still a Muslim (in my own way probably) and I know Islam better than be deceived by your lies and join you in your hatred for all who are non-Muslim. This is not Islam, not the way I know it and not the way God wanted it to be. You are Islam’s worst enemies and your screams, your prayers and even giving your own lives (and especially this) don’t impress anyone, and I’m still the Muslim and you are the…no, 'infidels' are MUCH better than you. Infidels or non-believers don’t take children’s lives and claim that they do it to please God. In fact most of whom you call infidels proved to be very human and very merciful!

For the Muslims who support such people out of sympathy or better say religious fanaticism, I’ll speak in your logic and say that everyone who support, cheer, sympathize or mourn people like Bin laden and Yassin are their partners in their crimes and that can make the people who marched to mourn Yassin, murderers and terrorists.

When you marched yesterday, you reminded me of the scene of the masses who marched in Abdul Nassir funeral. For how long are we going to cheer our slayers and weep them when God rid us of them!? Stop this stupidity and have some brains or at least listen to your hearts and ask yourselves what child deserves to be murdered?? People like Bin Laden, Yassin and Zagrawi have crossed the line that separates fighters from murderers a long time ago and if you followed them when they were fighting, then there’s absolutely nothing that should make you follow them blindly as they cross ALL the lines, not being stopped by any human value.

When you support an action this means that you are ready, willing or at least accepting that you can do it. Are you ready, willing or do you accept to murder a child? If no, then reconsider your attitude, because that’s what you are showing the rest of the world.

No, I’ll never mourn you, Yassin, and I’ll never feel sorry for you even if you were my own blood and flesh. I’ll not mourn you, but I mourn the people who mourned you. I don’t feel sorry for you but I feel sorry for them.

I feel sad, but not for you. I feel sad for those who marched yesterday to mourn you (at least many of them). I want to say, “You’re not my enemies, not yet. I still believe that you may regain your consciousness and look at the truth, even if it shows you how wrong you were. You are not the victims of America or Israel, you are the victims of your tyrants and your mullahs and I hope you realize this before it’s too late, before you turn from victims into criminals.” Yes, I don’t know why, but I still have hope in this.

-By Ali.

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.

Days I do not want to forget.

Day 3 the 22nd of March 2003.

A strange-looking morning in Baghdad. I went out to our garden where I usually have my tea as an important daily routine, to see the skies dark and the light blocked by ugly looking and poisonous smelling black clouds. I looked around and saw that these clouds were everywhere. They were not the smoke that usually results from explosions, but one of the tyrant’s stupid plans. He had set fire in the previously prepared and filled with oil trenches that were situated all around Baghdad without the slightest concern about people’s health. It didn’t occur to him what such poisoned air may do to a man with asthma, for instance.

The criminal wants to poison everything in an attempt to blind the missiles that followed him and his deputies everywhere. It was a disgusting scene and a suffocating atmosphere. I couldn’t stay at home so I went out despite that the air attacks were still going all around the day, but what is noticeable today is that the alarm siren started to be terribly late and many times went a long time after the raid would start and sometimes never even responded. It seems that they are really shocked and are in total imbalance.

The streets were almost normal and people were shopping and cars were still passing, carrying people to their works. This was accompanied by an abundant presence of all kinds of security forces. I was with a friend when we decided to see the effects of last night’s strikes. We passed beside some of the targets that were hit in the last night. Light smoke was still coming out of some of them. 1st we went to take a look at the military intelligence main headquarters that lays at the western bank of the Tigress river. The damage was not clear from that distance where we stood but as we drove nearer we saw one of its buildings had totally collapsed. We went to see the general security headquarters. We could hardly hide our smiles of triumph. Ok, it seems that the main national Ba’ath party headquarters was hit directly. This is the 3rd time this building get bombed in the past ten years. We passed near one of those oil-filled holes, which were burning near the highway, and we felt its heat strongly on our skin.

A black sign caught my attention; it was mourning the death of “Naief Shintaf” a senior Baathist who was killed in Najjaf. It seems that the missiles know their way pretty well and this is your share” Naief”. I don’t know how many innocent people you killed to get Saddam’s trust and to get your high position, palaces and all other privileges, but now it’s payback time.

I went back home to follow the news and the top story is that the American troops in turkey had to change their plans and head for the red sea. I didn’t find it strange from the Turkish government, they had special care from Saddam in trading and it seems they want enough compensation. I call it blackmail and I’m sure they’ll regret it. I’ll never forgive the governments of the neighboring countries that built their fortune by sucking our blood. God, I despise them.

The American air force bombs the strongholds of “Ansar Al-Islam” in the Kurdish areas and kills many of them. The Kurds declare their readiness and willingness to fight with the coalition. The good news is that the coalition forces are now controlling most of the oil wells in the south and start their efforts to extinguish 7 of these who are still burning. All right, one of the “hostages” is free now. One of Saddam’s hostages was our fortune; he was willing to burn it. How many crimes do you have to commit, Saddam, so that the whole world could be convinced that you are the devil himself!?

The coalition forces control the Basra international airport and intermittent fighting in Om Qasir. I remember this small town where we lived for few months. What’s the meaning of their fighting? I don’t believe it’s the Iraqi army, but most probably the local ba’athists and Oday’s fydaeen. It’s a small isolated town and living far away from ANY civilization. I remember a joke in Basra that says when a traffic lights were placed for the first time in this town, the local people used to take their dinner and go for a trip to sit near that single traffic light watching it for a long time and it was such an amusement for them to see how the lights change on their own regularly!!! Now this town is famous all over the world and the regime is betting on her resistance!!!

Now the planes were dropping innumerable small posters promising humanitarian aids and warn the army commanders from obeying Saddam’s orders once he decides to use chemical weapons.

One of the Ba’athists in our neighborhood rang my neighbor’s bell and my friend went out and looked at him saying “what do you want?” and the Ba’athist said” there are some enemy posters over that tree in your house, let me go inside and pick them to burn them” my friend laughed and said “don’t worry, I’ll pick them myself” it was a funny scene to see them running in the streets trying to gather these posters in order to burn them! However I managed to keep some of them for memories.
The night came bringing again the sounds of fear and horror; dozens of missiles falling all over Baghdad. We were shacking with each explosion. The bombing was heavy and I wonder where “the leaders” spend their night? I don’t think the last night bombing left them any proper place to sleep in. they couldn’t stay even in the schools and houses they moved into as a substitute position. Whenever a wave of bombing starts almost everyone take shelter in their houses except those wretches, they couldn’t feel safe inside and you could see them running as fast as they can outside their temporary position with each start of a wave of bombing, they couldn’t feel safe anywhere.

Another night full of tension, different feelings crowd inside us; fear, hope and anticipation. My head has no place for anything more.

-By Mohammed.