http://dahrjamailiraq.com/weblog/arc...hes/000342.php


December 31, 2005

Open Letter From an Iraqi


While there is deep concern about the possibility of civil war, the common talk between all groups now in Iraq is the poor infrastructure, poor electricity, deficiency of fuels, bad drinking water, poor health services, poor education and extensive unemployment.

Unemployment doesn't mean that young men don’t have jobs, because you can hardly find a young man who sits in his house. Instead, they will sell cigarettes, for example, or they work as taxi drivers or in the weapons trade, etc. This kind of way of living will not improve Iraq.

I want to ask Mr. Bush…do you think that Iran is a democratic country? With freedom and liberty? Do you?

If your answer is yes, then we can understand what is going in our country.

But if your answer is no, then let me ask you again…are you insane? (pardon me)

Because now you have let those people and their followers have the power and drag us 100’s of years backwards.

The very same who want to cut the body of Iraq into pieces so that they can rule their way, or should I say the Iranian way? It’s the same.

Well Mr. Bush, I shall tell you that your troops invaded Iraq in three weeks. But that was easy for you because many Iraqis, including myself believed you. Let’s say that we had a dream. We believed that you are going to take us to the real freedom.

And as I am writing a vision flashed in my mind, drawing back these nice, hopeful dreams. I miss that dream I had from when I saw first an American soldier with my eyes, and knew that Saddam’s era; war era, sanctions era and suffering era had gone.

In this moment, now I wish that your era had not come. Because of you, we have witnessed horrible days and the future is a gloomy one.

Mr Bush, be acknowledged that the Iraqi police and Iraqi army are not dealing or treating Iraqi citizens as citizens should be dealt with. They humiliate them, insult them with bad words and aim their guns toward people without a reason. They have limited everything in our lives; they have limited our roads, they have limited our freedom to go on the streets after 8 pm, they have limited our feeling of security, they have limited our hopes, our dreams and our social life.

Do you know that the government you installed has increased fuel prices five fold? It has failed to provide the minimum power to people and failed to supply water (Even if not good to drink. In addition, water is not available for the last days in Baghdad, the capital city of Iraq).

Mr. Bush, you must be proud of your new icon of democracy in the heart of the Middle East. Let me assure you that today there is no one in the world who wants to be in your icon of democracy, and not one country would want to be like Iraq. You know why? Because you have turned our lives into a seemingly endless series of crises and our suffering is day and night.

Finally, nothing seems positive now after the fraudulent ballots of the last elections. After all, the biggest winner is Iran and the Kurds. So you might go and sleep well tonight.

Signature:

An Iraqi citizen who believes in freedom and democracy, and who is craving them.

Wow...that is a truly amazing perspective. Whoever wrote this definitely carries force because they actually believed Bush and America was going to make Iraq a better country. Now, I'm sure that many war supporters and conservatives alike are going to jump on me and say that they doubt many people would rather have the Saddam era. Who can honestly say though? If things used to be all right someone, even though citizens were in constant danger if they threatened Saddam, then it would be pretty easy for that person to say that Bush has made things worse. However, that does not really solve the issue, if anything it shows that the person who wrote this letter has a bias. This person, however, cites many problems in Iraq that affect everyone and not just himself or herself. I think what is most important is a regime change for us. We need a President and an Administration that is going to give Iraq to the Iraqis and help solve this civic problems because we did, after all, overrun their country.

I'm surprised that we have had no war supporters comment on this letter.

What about you hev?

It certainly paints a very different picture than the one the American media is presenting to us. I'm sure the Iraqi people feel there are pros and cons to the situation they find themselves in because of us. But if people like the author of the letter are the majority in Iraq right now, which seems plausible, then there are probably more cons than pros.

Agreed. Saddam and his policies are out, yes, but look at all the other civic and social problems he cites.

First of all there is a good chance that the whole letter is a complete fabrication, as are many others like it. Also this is one person, one person feels this way... let me ask, Does the KKK speak for you?

I suppose. Whoever this person is cites problems that effect many Iraqi citizens, not just himself or herself.

I say it's a fake. The left has proven many times how far they will go to try and discredit Bush and his policies. Until proven otherwise I will look at this as a complete fake.

Why? I talk to soldiers. Through Email, chat and old fashioned letters. Funny how they paint a completly different picture than what you see on the news, hear from Murtha and that portraied in this "letter"

No I choose to believe our military and not the left.

First of all i don't thikn that having an unfavourable opinion of Bush's handling of iraq at all has anything to do with political affiliation.

whatever you may say, we know for a fact that Iraq is now pretty much lawless. Saddam actually turned Iraq into a middle east power house. He ensured that women got involved in the workforce. He ensured that Iraq was taken seriously. He ensured that Iraq remained in control of its own oil resources.

So while we can condemn his despotic style of ruling, he actually ensured progress in his country. I don't know if the above letter is fake or not, and truly it is irrelevant. The fact is that all media (left and right) has to show the terrible situation in Iraq. The only difference is that the right blames the insurgents and the left attaches part of the blame to the bush government's policies.

Even if all the e-mails and letters you receive say baghdad is beautiful this time of year, you are talking about american soldiers with a good supply structure that meets their basic needs. But the US army does not feed the iraqis. American forces are all placed in compounds and all their needs are met because that is a contractual obligation of the US gov. So just because they have food water and power does not mean that the iraqis do.