[lit-ideas] The latest from Iraq
- From: "JimKandJulieB@xxxxxxx Krueger" <juliereneb@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2007 13:49:29 -0500
After nearly 3 months, Riverbend has finally posted -- here is a brief bit.
Julie Krueger
"I always hear the Iraqi pro-war crowd interviewed on television from
foreign capitals (they can only appear on television from the safety of
foreign capitals because I defy anyone to be publicly pro-war in Iraq). They
refuse to believe that their religiously inclined, sectarian political
parties fueled this whole Sunni/Shia conflict. They refuse to acknowledge
that this situation is a direct result of the war and occupation. They go on
and on about Iraq's history and how Sunnis and Shia were always in conflict
and I hate that. I hate that a handful of expats who haven't been to the
country in decades pretend to know more about it than people actually living
there.
I remember Baghdad before the war- one could live anywhere. We didn't know
what our neighbors were- we didn't care. No one asked about religion or
sect. No one bothered with what was considered a trivial topic: are you
Sunni or Shia? You only asked something like that if you were uncouth and
backward. Our lives revolve around it now. Our existence depends on hiding
it or highlighting it- depending on the group of masked men who stop you or
raid your home in the middle of the night.
On a personal note, we've finally decided to leave. I guess I've known we
would be leaving for a while now. We discussed it as a family dozens of
times. At first, someone would suggest it tentatively because, it was just a
preposterous idea- leaving ones home and extended family- leaving ones
country- and to what? To where?
Since last summer, we had been discussing it more and more. It was only a
matter of time before what began as a suggestion- a last case scenario- soon
took on solidity and developed into a plan. For the last couple of months,
it has only been a matter of logistics. Plane or car? Jordan or Syria? Will
we all leave together as a family? Or will it be only my brother and I at
first?
After Jordan or Syria- where then? Obviously, either of those countries is
going to be a transit to something else. They are both overflowing with
Iraqi refugees, and every single Iraqi living in either country is
complaining of the fact that work is difficult to come by, and getting a
residency is even more difficult. There is also the little problem of being
turned back at the border. Thousands of Iraqis aren't being let into Syria
or Jordan- and there are no definite criteria for entry, the decision is
based on the whim of the border patrol guard checking your passport.
An airplane isn't necessarily safer, as the trip to Baghdad International
Airport is in itself risky and travelers are just as likely to be refused
permission to enter the country (Syria and Jordan) if they arrive by
airplane. And if you're wondering why Syria or Jordan, because they are the
only two countries that will let Iraqis in without a visa. Following up visa
issues with the few functioning embassies or consulates in Baghdad is next
to impossible.
So we've been busy. Busy trying to decide what part of our lives to leave
behind. Which memories are dispensable? We, like many Iraqis, are not the
classic refugees- the ones with only the clothes on their backs and no
choice. We are choosing to leave because the other option is simply a
continuation of what has been one long nightmare- stay and wait and try to
survive.
On the one hand, I know that leaving the country and starting a new life
somewhere else- as yet unknown- is such a huge thing that it should dwarf
every trivial concern. The funny thing is that it's the trivial that seems
to occupy our lives. We discuss whether to take photo albums or leave them
behind. Can I bring along a stuffed animal I've had since the age of four?
Is there room for E.'s guitar? What clothes do we take? Summer clothes? The
winter clothes too? What about my books? What about the CDs, the baby
pictures?
The problem is that we don't even know if we'll ever see this stuff again.
We don't know if whatever we leave, including the house, will be available
when and if we come back. There are moments when the injustice of having to
leave your country, simply because an imbecile got it into his head to
invade it, is overwhelming. It is unfair that in order to survive and live
normally, we have to leave our home and what remains of family and friends…
And to what?
It's difficult to decide which is more frightening- car bombs and militias,
or having to leave everything you know and love, to some unspecified place
for a future where nothing is certain. "
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