Tuesday, 06 April 2004
From the Horse's Mouth
Zayed is an Iraqi living in Baghdad. He's a dentist. He runs a blog called Healing Iraq.
This is what he has to say about what's going on in his country right now:
A coup d'etat is taking place in Iraq a the moment.
Al-Shu'la, Al-Hurria, Thawra (Sadr city), and Kadhimiya (all Shi'ite
neighbourhoods in Baghdad) have been declared liberated from
occupation. Looting has already started at some places downtown, a
friend of mine just returned from Sadun street and he says Al-Mahdi
militiamen are breaking stores and clinics open and also at Tahrir
square just across the river from the Green Zone. News from other
cities in the south indicate that Sadr followers (tens of thousands of
them) have taken over IP stations and governorate buildings in Kufa,
Nassiriya, Ammara, Kut, and Basrah. Al-Jazeera says that policemen in
these cities have sided with the Shia insurgents, which doesn't come as
a surprise to me since a large portion of the police forces in these
areas were recruited from Shi'ite militias and we have talked about
that ages ago. And it looks like this move has been planned a long time
ago.
No one knows what is happening in the capital right now. Power has been
cut off in my neighbourhood since the afternoon, and I can only hear
helicopters, massive explosions, and continuous shooting nearby. The
streets are empty, someone told us half an hour ago that Al-Mahdi are
trying to take over our neighbourhood and are being met by resistance
from Sunni hardliners. Doors are locked, and AK-47's are being loaded
and put close by in case they are needed. The phone keeps ringing
frantically. Baghdadis are horrified and everyone seems to have made up
their mind to stay home tomorrow until the situation is clear.
Al-Shu'la, Al-Hurria, Thawra (Sadr city), and Kadhimiya (all Shi'ite
neighbourhoods in Baghdad) have been declared liberated from
occupation. Looting has already started at some places downtown, a
friend of mine just returned from Sadun street and he says Al-Mahdi
militiamen are breaking stores and clinics open and also at Tahrir
square just across the river from the Green Zone. News from other
cities in the south indicate that Sadr followers (tens of thousands of
them) have taken over IP stations and governorate buildings in Kufa,
Nassiriya, Ammara, Kut, and Basrah. Al-Jazeera says that policemen in
these cities have sided with the Shia insurgents, which doesn't come as
a surprise to me since a large portion of the police forces in these
areas were recruited from Shi'ite militias and we have talked about
that ages ago. And it looks like this move has been planned a long time
ago.
No one knows what is happening in the capital right now. Power has been
cut off in my neighbourhood since the afternoon, and I can only hear
helicopters, massive explosions, and continuous shooting nearby. The
streets are empty, someone told us half an hour ago that Al-Mahdi are
trying to take over our neighbourhood and are being met by resistance
from Sunni hardliners. Doors are locked, and AK-47's are being loaded
and put close by in case they are needed. The phone keeps ringing
frantically. Baghdadis are horrified and everyone seems to have made up
their mind to stay home tomorrow until the situation is clear.
Very scary stuff. I can't imagine living like that. The worst part, though, is what he says in a following paragraph:
I have to admit that until now I have never longed for the days of Saddam, but now I'm not so sure.
If we need a person like Saddam to keep those rabid dogs at bay then be
it. Put Saddam back in power and after he fills a couple hundred more
mass graves with those criminals they can start wailing and crying
again for liberation. What a laugh we will have then. Then they can
shove their filthy Hawza and marji'iya up somewhere else. I am so
dissapointed in Iraqis and I hate myself for thinking this way. We are
not worth your trouble, take back your billions of dollars and give us
Saddam again. We truly 'deserve' leaders like Saddam.
If we need a person like Saddam to keep those rabid dogs at bay then be
it. Put Saddam back in power and after he fills a couple hundred more
mass graves with those criminals they can start wailing and crying
again for liberation. What a laugh we will have then. Then they can
shove their filthy Hawza and marji'iya up somewhere else. I am so
dissapointed in Iraqis and I hate myself for thinking this way. We are
not worth your trouble, take back your billions of dollars and give us
Saddam again. We truly 'deserve' leaders like Saddam.
This is an IRAQI saying this. It's one thing when Hans Blix says Iraq was better off with Saddam, but if regular Iraqis are feeling that way then things are even worse than I thought.
Posted by flow Frazao on April 6, 2004 at 03:03 PM | Permalink
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