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[ Presenting plain-text part of multi-format email ] > > Travels around Free Iraq > > Before April 9 2003 there was little chance I would > see cities like Nassiriyya, Diwanniyya or Samawa. > So > I had little hesitation accepting an immediate > invitation to head south with Raed, who with a lot > of > ingenuity and a little funding from has started the > process of documenting the real civilian casualty > figures. . > > Raed’s political understanding of Iraq is a > phenomenon. The website “Where is Raed?” set up by > his friend Salaam Pax, while the government was > still > monitoring every word people in Iraq wrote or > thought. > “Salam had got fed up with me not replying to > emails > so he set up a web site which we both started > writing > material on. It was only supposed to be for us. > After a while we noticed people had been looking at > it > as an example of ordinary Iraqi lives, it was very > embarrassing. People were reading about my problems > with my fiancé.” During the war “Where is Raed” > started getting a huge audience. “We really panicked > when the BBC quoted us and we suddenly had tens of > thousands of hits. We decided to change the URL to > Dear Raed and just prayed the authorities would not > find us.” > > So having been back in Baghdad for less than 12 > hours > I found myself in car heading towards Kerbala. The > volunteers working now collecting the casualty > information took us on a brief tour of a bombed > area. > Here we found a woman who had been sitting in > central > room in her house while the missiles were landing > around her. One missile came through the roof of > her > kitchen; through the top wall of the room she was > sitting, out the other side, through a second room > and > out other side of the house. It had failed to > explode. Her memory of the shock showed in the > tears > she couldn’t hold back. “These are the real stories > of the war,” said Raed, “People who have survived, > and > are now struggling to live in damaged houses.” > > Another house where the missile had come through the > building, a woman explained, “It destroyed the > house, > the fridge, my son was killed” At this Raed became > exasperated, “people don’t value life here, they > list > the loss of their son in the same sentence as their > fridges, dammit” > > In Nassiriyya heavy fighting caused thousands of > deaths. As the hospital director explained “most > people could not reach the hospital with their dead > during the fighting, so they buried them at home” > Now > the grim toll in Nasiriyya alone and so far is 1,100 > dead, 3,700 injured and those are the hospital > figures. > > Here we found young children playing in a burnt out > armoured personnel carriers “They were empty” > explained the children “But we saw the helicopter > that > came and bombed them” Now the tell tale sign of the > black DU Oxide on the ground and the intense fire > that > had gutted the machines make the vehicles dangerous > playgrounds. “Do you know about Depleted Uranium?” > asked Raed. “Yes we know about it” they replied, > but > it hasn’t stopped them playing. One entrepreneur > was > busy hack sawing a radiator out of the vehicle. > Further along the road we found the US army > surrounded > by razor with a queue of Iraqi’s being handed their > wages. I stayed in the car filming this and was > soon > approached by a GI “There’s no filming here, we have > machine guns in place” I was puzzled and pushed him > for a better explanation, “I could take that off > you” > he said, leaning into the lens. I had forgotten to > turn it off. “OK I’m not filming” I lied. > After hours and days on the road from Baghdad to > Basra, we stopped at cities I had never heard of, > Samawa, Diwanniyya and villages that are not even on > the map. At one place we decided to stretch our > legs > and walked into a place built with mud blocks. “I > am > not sure they will not start shooting at us,” > admitted > Raed. Yet as everywhere people were glad of > visitors. > “This place is incredible,” said Raed. “It’s > called > Aruba, here they have a water filtration system, > electricity, even television.” But the electricity > has been off for weeks, they are carrying filthy > water > from the river and cannot filter it. It’s making > them > sick “For now they have their food rations, but it > will run out. People will hear that Baghdad and > Basra > are restored, but will they care about villages not > the maps, or will people here start dying and nobody > will know.” Observed Raed. I couldn’t answer. I > met the World Food Programme information officer in > the hotel in Basra. “Just let me know if there is > any > information you need,” he said. He was not on my > list > of priorities, “Well we start distributing food in > two > weeks” he said unprompted. So Maybe Basra will get > their rations in two weeks, but what about this > village of Aruba. > > Thousands of US trucks and machinery are moving in > the > desert, “they are building a new base, Camp Ali” > said > Raed. They could be importing a new city from the > activity. > > Back in Baghdad I am only starting to comprehend > life > with the US military. Tanks thunder past the hotel > every few hours. This morning I saw two of them > climb > the pavement, and nearly destroy a carefully > nurtured > tree in their impatience to get past a garbage > truck. > It’s hard to describe seeing tanks being driven > around > streets as if the were jeeps, not slowing or > indicating for corners. It’s only a matter of time > before a person, child or even a car does not get > out > the way in time. As Jamil the man who makes us all > ‘special’ coffee said, “It’s not good”. > > > > > > > __________________________________________________ > It's Samaritans' Week. Help Samaritans help others. > Call 08709 000032 to give or donate online now at http://www.samaritans.org/support/donations.shtm __________________________________________________ It's Samaritans' Week. Help Samaritans help others. Call 08709 000032 to give or donate online now at http://www.samaritans.org/support/donations.shtm -- Virus scanned by edNET. _______________________________________________ Students mailing list Students@mail.che.ac.uk http://mail.che.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/students --------------------------------- It's Samaritans' Week. Help Samaritans help others. Call 08709 000032 to give or donate online now at http://www.samaritans.org/support/donations.shtm _______________________________________________ Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk