So much we hear that today’s Iraq is a terrible unstable place and that under Saddam there was not freedom but there was stability. Now, some people say, you never know if you will live or die any given day. Under Saddam, the same people say, if you did not go against the government you could be fine and live your life.
This is not exactly true. Many Iraqis were killed arbitrarily. Plenty of Iraqis lost multiple members of their families for real or imagined opposition to the government. Suspicion was enough for a death sentence, and even having a meeting with friends was enough to be suspicious. One friend of mine was arrested and beaten and, by the way, still doesn’t know why he was spared death, because he got drunk with friends and was suspected of making anti-government statements during the Iran/Iraq war. And he is a Sunni Arab who was from an area in Baghdad with Sunni majority, so do not think that even Sunni Arabs were free of arbitrary arrest and torture and murder. Meanwhile, of course, any attempt to have an identity that was considered opposed to Saddam was reason enough for murder. Any Shi’ite could be executed after being accused of membership in the Islamic Da’wa Party. Plenty of Kurds were executed just because of their ethnicity during Anfal, no other reason.
It is true right now that Baghdad is a hell on earth and if you only know Baghdad from reading news reports then unfortunately you probably don’t know how bad it is. However there are plenty of areas outside of Baghdad which are better than they have ever been, with more prosperity and freedom than they could have under Saddam. So whether you long for the stability under Saddam I guess it depends where you are (and were) living in Iraq or how much you or your family did demand freedom under Saddam.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
13 comments:
Hi, "Shaqawa"
Many in the USA, including myself are pulling for you. To get a free, prosperous and powerful Iraq, you need to convince the public - both Iraqi and American that Iraq is worth the sacrifice. What better way to to this than by telling your story.
Good luck with your blog,
Greg
I would like to add your blog to Iraqi Bloggers Central, but I need to know into which category you should go. Are you or your parents from Iraq? If so, then you'll go into the main blogroll. If from somewhere else, you'll be entered into the appropriate category.
Thanks. I've just glanced through a few of your posts and they look interesting.
*
This entry is well written and you're absolutly right about Sunni's in Iraq (", so do not think that even Sunni Arabs were free of arbitrary arrest and torture and murder.")
Well said !
And good blog.
Halla walla, your blog has been added to the Iraqi Blog Count directory. You are a filthy sectarain pig, but that doesn't mean your voice must not be heard.
Excellent post! My father's best friend was a Sunni Arab and he was killed for criticizing Saddam's regime. His son disappeared a couple of years later. My mother's cousin's entire family was jailed for four years because one of their sons defected from the army.
If you would like to be added to Iraqi Bloggers Central, let me know. I can help you get an audience.
I think I left a message here earlier, but I could be mistaken. Anyway, another voice in the Iraqi blogosphere is a good thing.
*
Welcome aboard the blogging track. Your posts are interesting and I'll check back. Thanks.
Hello everyone,
Thank you for your kind messages and for visiting my new blog website.
You remind me of the case of an Iraqi who was amused by a dream he'd had, and told a friend. It was that he was President, and had appointed a friend Minister of Defense.
He got 15 years, and his friend got 10. Fortunately, SH was deposed after only 3 yrs. or so of the sentences had been served.
Hello Jeffrey and everyone else,
You can link me to your own websites if you want.
Thank you for visiting.
Just reconcile with the Baathists already, Saddam and his sons ruined that party, there's no reason for it to be anti-Shia other than Saddam's own bigotry. Without the secular technocrats involved in governing Iraq, your country is doomed to backward savagery. And foreign DOMINATION... i.e. you will ALL be slaves.
Yes, Syria has a more or less baathist-lite authoritarian government. Apparently unlike Iraqi baathists, Assad tolerates all religions--Christians, Shia, and Sunni.
Hello Anonymous,
Reconciling with the Ba'thists means being a slave just like Saddam time but you don't know what you are talking about. Backwards savagery is Saddam, the illegitimate son of a prostitute who made mass graves, had his eldest son rape hundreds of women, murdered holy men and attacked holy sites, and ruined the beautiful land of Iraq worse than anyone in the history of Iraq, which is the history of civilization. Ba'thism is a thought of death and slavery and racism, death to Ba'thism and Saddam.
Post a Comment