Iraqis, the kidnapped generation

By Laith Yousif

In 1979 Saddam took power, his first act was kidnapping and killing a few of his close comrades or whatever you call them. In 1980, the Iraq-Iran war started to drag the people into worthless 8 years of war that Iraq closed its borders for and made it near impossible for Iraqis to travel and see the world. So people are locked in for 8 years with no real breathing space. Iraqis had a breathing period from 1988 to 1990 when the Iraqi government opened the restriction on travel after the war. And then Iraq went into Kuwait and Iraqis get locked again, a nation of about 24 million at that time locked by its own government – again. And then world super powers bombed these people. Iraqis were under fire for saddam’s decision to invade Kuwait. At that time, president bush, the father, encouraged Iraqis to rise against the system. Rise they did and a mass slaughter by saddam’s regime followed. The United States did not intervene. If you think that Iraqis were not targeted in that war you are just plain wrong. Pointing a bullet at someone is one way of targeting them, but there are so many other ways to hit people hard without pointing the gun on there face.

With saddam’s army in Kuwait, the US goal was to kick him out. How can a water purification unit be a legitimate target when the goal of the mission is to get Saddam out of Iraq? An oil refinery next to a residential area in Baghdad got hit many times as well - the refinery that made gas available to “normal” Iraqis, not the regime. Those in the regime never needed anything. They were protected. In fact, services including fuel to those who were close to the regime were never cut, while ordinary Iraqis got stuck in dealing with inhumane behavior of the “peace loving coalition” and the inhumane behavior of the Iraqi regime.

Bridges, hospitals, communication center, electricity power plants, sewage system units and water purification units in many Iraqi cities were targeted and many in Baghdad (330 miles from Kuwait) were destroyed. That is a lot more than the distance between New York and Washington dc.

So Iraqis go through this, then they are de-humanized by saddam’s regime again, as he continued to rule with an iron fist. Of course, we should not forget how the UN sanctions against Iraq used Iraqi as Ginny pigs for their own experimental policy on how to get a nation down on its knees. The experiment proved that the only group that got affected is simple and ordinary people, while the government of the sanctioned nation would never get affected. We saw after the 2003 war how Saddam used oil money for his own benefit one way or another without caring about the nation and what the people were going through.

During the years between 1991 and 2003, Iraqis suffered tremendously from the sanction. Over one million kids under 5 died during that period for the lack of medication and the malnutrition. Iraqis in general starved during that period, many killed by the regime which simply became stronger as a result of those sanctions.

After all this comes 2003, a war that Iraqis welcomed and hated at the same time. Welcomed because they were trying to get rid of a system that put them in a struggle to survive every day and hated because it was war yet again.

As Iraqis had to endure this new war, ironically the same scenario happened again. Destruction on a large scale: power plants, sewage facilities and bridges although not as extensively as in 1991, because they needed to use them to reach Baghdad. Throughout Iraq, the invasion took a toll on Iraqis, ordinary ones, which were simply classified as “collateral damage.”

Iraq was declared free in 2003. In the speeches that were given around that time, it was said that it’s better to fight the terrorists in their instead of fighting them here. Wow! Such amazing words especially when coming from elected officials who think of Iraqis as second class human beings. Who simply live there and it’s ok to fight in their neighborhood

The fight between al-Qaida and the US materializes on a large scale and almost in every city in Iraq. Iraqis are again in the middle. When the US kills innocent people, they call them “collateral damage” and when al-Qaida or other insurgents groups kills them they are called “infidels” who help the invader. So again, a new cycle starts and Iraqis are in the middle with no hope.

Many Iraqis have left in the past eighteen years and most of those who have not wish they could. It is near impossible for Iraqis to obtain visas to leave and very costly as well, so they are simply stuck.

The world has failed the Iraqi people repeatedly. Iraqis have been kidnapped from any sense of normalcy and freedom that we all expect and deserve. Iraq the regime kidnapped Iraq as a home from its people. The international community did their part through making Iraqis suffer under sanctions, and the coalition and al-Qaida kidnapped Iraqis from peace in their neighborhoods by fighting each other on Iraqi streets.

So now millions of Iraqis, mainly middle class, left Iraq to take refuge in Syria or Jordan and are waiting for other nations to accept them. Maybe after reading all this, you can understand why many Iraqis don’t really want to go back home. They do not have faith in anyone anymore and all they want is the peace of mind that any human being deserves. I think the western world is their only hope and I mean people more than governments. Those Iraqis are asking to be freed from the years of struggle, tyranny and war that they have lived through. They want to breathe freely and enjoy the simple life were they can be happy and productive.