Iraq
McClatchy's 'Inside Iraq' Blog
"Inside Iraq" is a blog updated by Iraqi journalists working for McClatchy Newspapers. They are based in Baghdad and outlying provinces. These are firsthand accounts of their experiences. Their complete names are withheld for security purposes.Gone With the Wind
Posted by Laith, March 22, 2009
Dreams are one way for man to improve his or her life. The biggest achievements started with dreams. The happiest moment for us is when our dreams come true. One of my dreams was to see more than one party in Iraq, and not to hear about people killed for political reasons as Baath Party used to do for about 35 years.
Before 1979, Iraq was one of the best Arabic countries: people used to live a very good life. We used to have the best goods, the best factories and the best services.
But with the coming of Saddam to the presidency chair in 1979, everything changed. The man started his political life with an aimless war with Iran that brought nothing to Iraq but death and destruction. The war lasted eight years and Iraq lost about a million men. We also missed the technological progress.
After the eight years war, Saddam invaded Kuwait and the result was more death for men and children, and a very hard long embargo that lasted until the US invaded Iraq in 2003. During the years of embargo, my dream was like the dream of the majority of my people: to get rid of Saddam, who was the main problem of Iraq.
With the need to work even when I was a student, I couldn't have any dreams but to live in a country without Saddam or Baath Party. When I left Iraq in 1996 to study my master degree in England, I was rejected by the British embassy in Jordan because I'm Iraqi. Once again, Saddam and his policy prevented me from making one more dream true. I didn't want to come back to Iraq and live again under Saddam's crazy laws. I decided to live abroad. I lived for more than seven years without visiting my family even for one time.
When the US military started what they called Operation Iraq Freedom, I really felt so happy for one thing. I thought Iraq would be free again and we would have real government with politicians who really care about Iraq's future and its people. I had a real big hope that services will be the best again and we would live happily again.
I never thought that we would start killing each other for the sake of some strangers or to kidnap each other for money, but I was completely wrong. I was sure that the American administration had planned very well for the stage after the war, but I was wrong again.
Nothing really changed in Iraq after six years. To be honest, we have one big change. Now we have hundreds of political parties that do nothing to Iraq, and all they care about is their interests.
After six years, the Americans approved that they came without any plan, because most Iraqis are still poor and deprived from the simplest human rights. Iraqi governments and the American administration failed completely in putting Iraq once again on the right path.
I have to admit that after six years of the invasion, all my dreams have gone with the wind.
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