For the first time in more than 35 years Iraqis are free to talk, discuss and debate — publicly and relatively without fear — the political and social aspects of their daily life. But for most of them all they can talk about is violence.
What happened this morning? How many mortars fell on your neighbourhood yesterday? Did the Americans free your cousins or are they still being ”interrogated”? All these questions have become part of the daily chit-chat of Iraqis when they meet in the souk, bus or café.
Words like intihary (suicide bomber), or ubuwa-ied and mudahamat (the terms for raids conducted by United States forces) have become part of the daily speak. Whenever men get together in tea houses, or women stand outside their doors chatting, violence is always the topic.
”Is the resistance good or bad?” is Question Number One in Iraq. Of course the answer depends if you are Shi’ite, Sunni or Kurdish, and if you were a former military officer or a political prisoner.
A few weeks ago the Iraqi government, with the help of the Americans, decided to conduct a big sweep looking for weapons, insurgents and hostages in Latifiya, 30km south of Baghdad. The town is a hotbed of Sunni insurgents and one of the many no-go zones engulfing Baghdad these days.
Squeezed in the back of a police SUV with two AK-47 guns dangling next to my head, I listened to a couple of police officers chatting as 60 police cars, with half a dozen US Marine vehicles in attendance, screeched their way from Baghdad.
Eight police officers were cramped in the car under the command of a young twentysomething lieutenant, a recent graduate from a US-sponsored training course in Amman. He is one of the new recruits on whom the government and the Americans are basing their hopes to rebuild the country. His number two was a Shi’ite police officer in his 50s who first joined the force under Saddam Hussein.
The lieutenant turned out to be a Sunni, originally from the area in which the raid was taking place. Understandably, he started freaking out the moment we hit the road, fearing that someone might recognise him. His suffering didn’t ease when the convoy hit a huge traffic jam and two men standing suspiciously on the roadside next to a car waved at him.
He tuned to his aide and said, as he started to unbutton his shirt: ”If the mujahedin open fire at you, be sure not to fire back.”
”What do you mean sir?”
”I mean, make sure not to fire back because those are mujahedin, holy warriors.”
”But those people are shooting at us and trying to kill us all the time,” said the aide, unable to believe what he was hearing.
”Of course they shoot at us! We are collaborators.”
”What do you mean, sir?” asked the aide.
”We are working with Americans, the infidel occupiers. This is why they are allowed to kill us.”
”But we are stopping the criminals, arresting thieves and protecting the citizens — isn’t this what police should do? Do you call this collaboration?”
”Yes, because sometimes the police help the Americans to arrest the resistance fighters.”
”But those people are terrorists. They are killing and kidnapping civilians,” said the increasingly incredulous junior officer.
”First,” said the lieutenant, ”the resistance don’t kill civilians; they only attack the Americans. They are trying to liberate our country. Second, they only kidnap the Jews.”
”And what about all the people who get killed in the car bombs? Are they occupiers too?”
”Oh no, these car bombs are planted by the Americans and the Jews to smear the reputation of the resistance.”
”What about the Russian contractors who were working to fix the electrical plants? Are those also Jews and collaborators?”
”See, the resistance detain people and investigate them. If they are okay they will be released. And by the way, they are all taught about Islam while they are being held, and are given Qur’ans before being released. Or else they are killed if they are found guilty by the Sharia court.”
Everyone in the car fell silent, and by now we were on the outskirts of Latifiya and we could hear the explosions. The lieutenant, now wearing a coloured T-shirt, tucked his gun in his trousers and jumped out of the car and mixed with the crowd. Later, four policemen were killed in the raid when insurgents attacked them. — Â