Iraq Update from spywitness

March 2006
I'm sure most of you know by now that we've been back in Wales for some time and, although we have kept in touch with friends in Bagdad, we haven't written about their news or lives because our communications have been sporadic and of a personal nature. Many of our friends are uncontactable - some don't have email addresses (or if they do, they do not get to see their emails that often), others have no 'phone. What follows are a few bits of recent news from several of our friends in Bagdad - we felt an update at this time is important in light of recent horrific events to try to show a brief glimpse of how the Iraqi people are feeling and coping with this worsening situation. Getting in touch with people by 'phone in Iraq is extremely difficult. Often the 'phone does not even ring, or there is an engaged tone and even when we get through the line can be bad or cut suddenly.

Last week, just before the Al Askari Shrine bombing, we were able to speak to two of our good friends, Yahya and Abdul Azziz.

Yahya, 30, Shia, lives in Sadr City in Bagdad. Sadr City (Al Thawra to the locals meaning 'revolution') was called Saddam City until the war, but the name was changed to honour the father of Moqtada Al Sadr, Mohammed Al Sadr who was killed by Saddam's men in a shooting in his car in Kefil near Hilla in April 1999. 3.5 million people live in this crowded and impoverished mainly Shia area. The Mahdi Army are strong in this neighbourhood and I have often talked of it in previous reports. Yahya was a drama student and now works in the National Theatre in Bagdad and has been busy writing his own plays. He has always aired on the side of optimism about the 'situation' in Iraq, hoping things will get better. But now he says Iraq is so much worse now - more bombings and kidnappings and the Americans sometimes make incursions into his neighbourhood causing trouble and mayhem. Nobody wants them there. Prices have gone up - gas bottles for cooking that used to cost 750 dinar (30p) in Sadr City now cost 12,000 dinar (£4.80). Petrol now costs 50 dinar (2p) a litre where it used to cost 20 dinar (0.8p) a litre. Fruit and vegetable prices have risen, along with all other essential items. Hours of electric a day have risen from 1 hour a day in the summer to 6 hours a day in Yahya's area. Water, when it's on, is always dirty. Yahya voted in the elections and really enjoyed doing so - he is so hopeful about the future of his country and would do anything to help bring about positive change.

Abdul Azziz, 27, Sunni, lives in Adhimaya in Bagdad. Adhimaya is a mainly Sunni area in the north of Bagdad which has seen lots of Resistance activity and suffered a great deal under the occupation. He was an excellent footballer, even earning the nickname 'Ryan Giggs' before the Americans shot his leg off for no reason in December 2003. (I have written about Abdul Azziz and his wonderful family in previous reports). Even through all his pain and suffering he had managed to open a little computer games and music shop in his neighbourhood. He told us, that because prices have gone up so much for basics, people do not have money for luxuries like games and CDs, so he had to close his shop. Now he is working for someone else instead of being self-employed. His job is programming and selling mobile 'phones - a more essential item in Bagdad these days. His knee at the site of the amputation is causing him much more pain and problems. The agony caused by remaining bullet pieces means he is constantly on painkillers just to get through the day. An operation to sort this out is possible, but not in Bagdad as the capability/equipment is not available and even if it were, Abdul Azziz could not afford the operation. He told us how kidnappings, shootings and bombings are occurring every minute in his neighbourhood - these are not events any more - they are the norm. Then his mum came to the phone - she said when we were there it was Heaven - now they are living in Hell.

Two days after the Al Askari Shrine Bomb we spoke to our friend, Mohammed. Mohammed, 24, Shia, lives in the Abu Gharib district near the notorious prison, some 20 kilometres from Bagdad. Mohammed thinks a lot and works things out in a considered way. When a student, he was the Students' Union leader (set up after the fall of Saddam) in Mustansyria University in Bagdad. He has suffered under the Ba'athists and the Allawi regime. I have often relied on Mohammed's help and opinions when putting together some of my bulletins/reports from Bagdad and he features in many of them. He said he had not bothered to vote - he did not see the point, but more importantly to him, he had completed his studies and passed his final exams in Literature. then he had saved up and bought a car and is now working as a taxi driver. His work brings him into contact with everyone - all faiths, genders, age groups and political persuasions and, of course, being a taxi driver he chats to them all. Mohammed told us that even though things are terrible in Iraq right now, people are still holding onto several basic beliefs/opinions:

1 They do not want a civil war, they only want peace and security. 2 There is no difference or problem between Sunni or Shia, before the occupation there was no divide, this divide is being created by the occupying powers - it was never mentioned before. 3 The Americans are responsible for all the bombings of civilian areas in order to cause chaos, disruption and civil war. 4 They want the occupation to end - the troops to leave now and give them back their country.

Of course, since the Shrine bombing, Mohammed had not been out as there was a full 24 hour curfew - he was happy with this idea because it would keep people safe. So he had not been able to speak to many people. But he had seen lots of local Iraqi news reports and told us what had been said: The Shrine bombers had been required to pass 2 US Army checkpoints on the approach to the Shrine. The Shrine was being guarded by 35 Iraqi policemen/soldiers - 30 of these had been told to go home just before the bomb was planted - it was not a suicide bomb. From people he had spoken to on the 'phone, neighbours, family and indeed Mohammed's own opinion, it was clear that the Americans were being held responsible for this atrocity. And why not? This is an obvious and easy way to increase tensions amongst the people and ferment a civil war. The Al Askari Shrine is the burial place of Hasan Al Askari. He was the 11th Imam, father of the 12th Imam, Imam Mohammed Al Mahdi who disappeared, first of all when he was 12 years old, returning at the age of 30 and then again disappeared 2 years later - no one know where he went, his body has never been found. The Shia believe he will return when things are really bad - the skies will be black, there will be thunder and lightning, rain and famine. Imam Mahdi will return to save all the good people from the bad. This Imam and this belief are particular to the Shia and believed strongly throughout the Shia world, not just in Iraq. Moqtada Al Sadr's Al Mahdi Army are named after him. when I spent time with members of the Al Mahdi Army in Najaf and Kufa during the Americans bombardment of those holy cities, I was constantly asked if I knew about Imam Mahdi - he is so important.

Why are the Imams so important to the Shia? The Prophet Mohammed died leaving no clear successor. Abu Bakr, his best friend and son-in-law became the leader or Calipha of the Muslim world. Many Muslims felt that Ali, Mohammed's cousin and another son-in-law should be the rightful successor. But Ali did not become Calipha until several others had come and gone. After Ali's caliphate, which ended with his murder in Kufa (near Najaf) in 661 AD, his son Hussein was next in line. The Ommayad Dynasty based in Damascus had other ideas, declaring themselves caliphas and waging war on Hussein and his brother at Kerbala (central Iraq), murdering them and their whole families on the banks of the River Euphrates in 680AD. Hasan, Hussein's older brother, had been poisoned before this - he became the 2nd Imam of the Shias, Hussein the 3rd and his younger brother, Abbas, the 4th - of course, their father, Ali, was the 1st. It is this battle and Hussein and Abbas' deaths at Kerbala that are commemmorated every year during the holy month of Moharram - these important and emotional commemmorations have been marred by horrific violence and bloodshed during Iraq'a occupation. After Ali, Hasan, Hussein and Abbas there followed other Imams until we get to Imam Mahdi in the 12th century. The Caliphas (leaders of the Muslim world) are important to ALL Muslims. It is the Imams that are particular to the Shia. Here in Britain, we use the word 'imam' to refer to the prayer leader in a mosque. In Iraq, both Sunni and Shia call this man a sheikh. An Imam is a direct descendant of the Prophet Mohammed. I hope this goes some way to explain the importance of the Al Askari Shrine and why its bombing has inflamed tensions so much in Iraq. When the Americans were attacking Najaf in August 2004, it was the burial place of Ali, the 1st Imam, that the Al Mahdi Army were protecting - the Imam Ali Shrine. When people were attending the Moharram commemmorations in Kerbala in March 2004 when those huge bombs went off and so many died, those people had gone on pilgrimage to the burial places of Hussein and Abbas. And when Khadimaya Mosque in Bagdad was bombed at the same time, and then the stampede that killed 1000 people last year - those people had gone on pilgrimage to Khadim's burial place/shrine - another Shia Imam - the 7th.

Mohammed went on to tell us that, when he drives his taxi, he is not particularly worried about his safety. Like other Iraqis he gets on with it - bombs and bullets are commonplace and people are used to it. I can remember that in Bagdad - we would hear a bomb in the distance and sometimes acknowledge it with a look or a 'did you hear that?' and that would be it, we would just carry on. Unless they were close we would not flinch really. And that was when there was an average of 14 attacks a day in Iraq. Before this latest plunge into violence that average number of attacks a day was up to 90 - just imagine how used you would get to that, you would have to get used to it just to carry on and survive. He told us how he charges 3000 dinar (£1.20) for a taxi ride from Tahrir Square to our area in Kerrada - a journey that used to cost us 1000 dinar (40p). But fuel prices have risen as I have already explained and Mohammed queues for over 12 hours a week to fill up - the day you queue depends on whether your registration number plate ends in an odd or even number. Generator petrol can only be bought on the black market ie from boys on the side of the road - illegal, risky and very expensive - a litre of fuel here costs 900 dinar (36p) - keeping warm and cooking is an expensive business. Food prices have risen too - a felafel sandwich is now 500 dinar (20p) - double the price it was. People are not eating meat in Iraq so much now (not that they ever consumed the quantities that the average Westerner would anyway) - due to bird flu (yes, they've had that in Iraq!) and ecoli in the beef herds and, of course, they don't eat pork. So now more fruit and vegetables are being consumed and less are being produced in the country due to the rising cost of fuel, fertiliser and farmers, like others, are trying to leave the country. Food rations are still available. But during the summer soap and sugar were missing from the monthly rations, so the government paid every family 20,000 dinar (£8) for their missing rations. People had to queue at their local food rations distribution centres to collect their payments. Then one day in Bagdad a suicide bomber joined the queue and blew himself up killing many. So people stopped queuing for a time for their cheques and food rations, although they are returning now. Electric in Mohammed's area is very bad - 1 hour every 12 hours and water is on for 6 hours , then off for 2 and is often too dirty to use. Mohammed kept emphasising that there was no problem between Sunni and Shia, only the bad people and the Americans were causing problems. Indeed his father was out at that time with both Sunni and Shia members of the neighbourhood patrolling the area. Iraq's don't trust the badly trained, corrupt police to protect them anymore so neighbourhood security patrols protect civilians. Menfolk go out in cars in the dark hours with their guns to stop anyone suspicious from entering their areas. We enquired after Christian friends in Kerrada who were not answering their 'phones when we called them. Mohammed informed us that the Christians were leaving Iraq to go to Jordan or Syria after the last spate of church bombings. Christians in Iraq are slightly better off and run many businesses. They are not in any way resented for this and relations with other faiths, as I have illustrated many times before, are harmonious. But their departure leaves many shops and businesses closed and further plunges Iraq and its economy into chaos. When we attended the scenes of the church bombings in August 2003, the answer to the question of the perpetrators then as now was quite simply 'the Americans'. We also asked Mohammed about the crowds on the streets with their guns after the Shrine bombing. He said they were just, understandably, angry people, not makeshift 'armies' on the rampage. Indeed, he continued, Ayotallah Ali Al Sistani and Moqtada Al Sadr had called for restraint for a week while the matter of the Shrine was investigated.

2 days later Mohammed rang us - he was out and about - the curfew was lifted. 'People are scared' he said, 'Everyone's trying to get out, or moving to the country'. His own family was moving to Sadr City that very day to stay with other family members there - slightly safer they felt than the more open and more sparsely populated area of Abu Gharib. So now we would not be able to 'phone him at home again.

2 days after that Mohammed rang again. The situatin was even worse. The electricity was back off again - it had been on almost constantly for about 5 days over the curfew for security reasons to keep the streets light. He was selling his taxi. He said there was no point taxi driving. There was no petrol, the petrol station in Kerrada had been blown up and people were too scared to queue and there were no passengers anyway. The cost of filling up on the side of the road on the black market had rocketed to 18,000 dinar (£7.20) in a few days.

It appears that Mohammed and many of the Iraqi people's belief that the Americans are behind the Shrine and other bombings could be well founded. The Americans cannot work with this recently elected government, they cannot get what they want. Maybe a Sunni led administration would be more compliant, after all they were before and it's the Sunni politicians who refused to go to the meetings after the Shrine bombing and who are refusing to form a government now, setting a bad example to the population as a whole. Sunni people aren't bad people, or worse than the others in Iraq - they're fantastic people. But the vested interests of a few power hungry trouble makers could spell disaster and bloodshed for so many.... View Full Story