N's Story
(name withheld for his security)
Before the 2003 war in Iraq
Iraq has faced the worst violent and sectarian period under the regime of Saddam Hussein. Iraq was the country of one leader, one party and one TV station. Life in Iraq lacked any kinds of personal freedoms and democracy. Life was dull because it lacked any aspects of improvement and creativity was very limited. Here, I want to talk about my family's life and mine.
My family consists of six members; my parents, three sons and one daughter. My father has struggled to provide for us. I don't want to talk about our financial problem and will only say that my father's salary was 22,000 Iraqi Dinars a month, $11.
At the time I was in high school and my older brother was studying in the university and my younger sister was in elementary school. We were hoping to improve our financial situation and believed that the situation was not going to improve unless the dictator regime of Saddam Hussein was toppled because it was a big obstacle in the way of improvement and development.
My older, late, brother spoke fluent English. Sometimes he worked with the companies that used to come in Iraq and exhibit their product in Baghdad International Fair. He was optimistic that the situation in Iraq will improve after the Coalition Forces entered Iraq and decided to work with the coalition forces after they come to Iraq because he was optimistic that they were going to help the Iraqi people.
After the war
The war started and the weakness and defeat of the tyrant Saddam's forces was clear. People were waiting for the better to come. Within weeks, the coalition forces were able to topple the regime and free the Iraqi people from the strongest and most violent regime in the world. People welcomed the coalition forces with flowers and happiness, except for small portion who supported the defeated regime. Within a few days, the humanitarian organizations that belonged to the coalition forces and the UN organizations entered Iraq.
My older brother worked with the first organization. It was called Mercy Corps. Its task was to help the Iraqis, in particular those who suffered from the war. He worked with them for a year as a translator. Life was almost stable and there were no kidnapping and killing gangs. After that he worked with many governmental and non-governmental organizations, like Titan, which contracts with the US Army and the civil society groups all over Iraq. He was very careful because he realized how dangerous his job was because the criminal gangs who are against the Iraqi people started to be active around that time. They thought they were fighting the occupation. What occupation? The forces that are helping us and toppled a violent regime that used every kind of sectarianism and racism and then we accuse them of occupying the country. This is not just. It is not fair to call the coalition forces 'occupation' because I believe that the United States is the only side that is fighting terrorism. But those who accuse it to be 'occupation' are the terrorists and they don't want stability in Iraq.
My brother insisted on fulfilling his dream of making a democratic free Iraq, free of all kinds of violence and ethnic differentiation and the managers he worked with admit that. Eventually, he worked with the American consulate in Baghdad, with the Provincial Reconstruction Team. On August 30, 2007, my brother was assassinated by the criminal armed gangs in the south. It happened when my brother was on vacation and it happened near our house. We heard about his murder at 9 p.m. and after that we went to the hospital and were surprised for what we saw. I saw him on a gurney with seven bullets in his body, most of them were in sensitive places. But he was conscious and looked at me, his eyes were full of tears and said, 'Why did they kill me? I did not do anything to them.' Half an hour later, and while (we) were trying to contact the US base to come and help him, but his condition was critical and couldn't wait. I want to say something: my brother did not get any treatment from the medical staff in the hospital. Even the blood bank was far from the hospital. I went to the blood bank, which is about five kilometers away. When I came back, the news was there for me. My brother has died. I don't know how to express my feelings. I am very sad to have lost him, not only I and the family, but all those who my brother worked with. He was honest and diligent in his work. We have not received any compensation from the US government in Iraq and I don't know if it is negligence or there is no law to regulate this issue or they don't have the authority to give the money of the compensation. One military commander, Peter Baker, sent us letter of condolences with a simple amount of money, very simple to cover the funeral.
It did not stop with the murder of my brother. We have received many threats from the same terrorist gangs. We have not committed any crimes. We are only the family of the murdered who was accused of collaborating with the Americans. We have received threats in letters and on the phone. Once we received a letter with a bullet. The letters talked about leaving Iraq. Therefore, we have no solution but to leave our country. I now live away from my family, in a place where there are no gangs. But this is temporary of course because I am living with people from other ethnicity. Iraq consists of two ethnicities, Kurdish and Arab. I am Arab and live with Kurds. Arabs are not wanted among the Kurds. I don't work and am exhausting my savings over time.
I now call on all the honest people in the world, especially the United States, to accept me as a refugee until the situation improves in my country, Iraq, and I can go back.