Dear
Mr. Bush,
It
was regrettable that you were not allowed to see and talk to
ordinary Iraqi citizens during your sneak visit to Baghdad on
Thanksgiving Day in 2003. Those Iraqis you met during that visit
were part of the US-installed puppet government, which came on
the back of American tanks. Naturally, they told you what they
thought you wanted to hear. Moreover, they lived, like your
other advisors in Iraq, in their isolated bubbles in the secured
“Green Zone,” with very little contact with ordinary Iraqis.
I
am sure that had you talked to ordinary Iraqis you would have
gotten different opinions than those being passed to you by your
American or Iraqi advisors. As an ordinary Iraqi citizen, I
would like to share my thoughts on the Iraqi dilemma that
America has found itself in.
More
than a year ago, you told the Iraqi people that “the torture
chambers and the secret police are gone forever.” I honestly
wanted to believe you then. I discovered later that your
American soldiers had been torturing the Iraqi people from May
2003. I discovered also that your army generals knew about it
and wrote reports to their higher authorities about such abuses
of human rights. I will give you, Mr. President, the benefit of
the doubt and assume that your advisors did not tell you the
facts.
Having
known the facts, you did not apologize to the victims of the
American torture, but went ahead and put the blame only on the
“seven bad apples.” That did not stop the torture or the
human rights violations committed by your troops in Iraq.
Reports are still coming to date confirming that torture is
being committed against Iraqis in American detention camps. I am
sure that your advisors will tell you that this is necessary to
protect the security of America, several thousands of miles away
from Iraq.
Your
action has doubled the number of Iraqis “liberated” from
their jobs. |
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Your
partners in the “coalition of the willing” are not doing any
better. The British Army is torturing Iraqi detainees. Now we
discover through human rights reports that the “new Iraqi
army,” created and trained by your government, is also
torturing Iraqis. It is clear to me that while we were
tortured—before the “liberation”—by one force of evil,
we are currently being tortured by at least three evil forces.
It looks to me that, contrary to your announcement, the
“torture chambers” may truly be here forever.
Allow
me, Mr. President, to tell you that blaming seven “apples”
only set the legal precedent for every dictator in the world to
escape the responsibility for torture and human rights
violations. Like you, every dictator will pin the responsibility
on the seven, ten, or twenty bad apples in his forces. I am sure
that decent American legal scholars would tell you that this
excuse is very dangerous and would not stand in a proper,
impartial court of law.
Actions
are judged by results, not by rhetoric. Ordinary Iraqis, like
your American soldiers, are faced with threats against their
lives. The general lawlessness that still exists, as a result of
your occupation of Iraq, makes ordinary Iraqis’ life
miserable. We Iraqis are afraid to go out lest we get kidnapped
by criminal gangs roaming the country. We also fear getting shot
at by your nervous, trigger-happy troops, or killed by a bomb
directed at them.
The
innocent Iraqi people are not using Armored Personal Carriers,
nor are they using armored cars, to help them protect
themselves. More innocent Iraqi civilians are killed by your
troops than those killed by criminal gangs. You probably know,
Mr. President, that your trigger-happy soldiers enjoy freedom
from prosecution for these unlawful killings. From what I have
witnessed, those killers do not even stop to say sorry for their
actions.
Allow
me to remind you that, now, in your “liberated” Iraq, more
than 60% of the Iraqi workforce are unemployed—as compared to
30% before your liberation. It seems that your action has
doubled the number of Iraqis “liberated” from their jobs.
The
US Congress issued a report on Iraq at the end of June 2004. The
report states that in May 2003 (just after the invasion) seven
out of the 18 governorates of Iraq had more than 16 hours of
electricity per day. It also says that this number was reduced
to one governorate in May 2004, one year after the invasion. Now
we consider ourselves very lucky if we get six hours of
electricity per day in Baghdad, a city of five million people.
Health
services have continued to deteriorate throughout the past 22
months of occupation. Hospitals still lack even the simplest
things. Drugs are not available. Fewer patients seek medical
treatment or examination because of the security situation and
the closed streets. Doctors are not safe at hospitals because
they have been physically attacked by relatives of patients, who
vent their frustration at the poor, helpless doctors.
Due
to the lack of security and the inefficiency of the police
force, criminal gangs have kidnapped for ransom a few hundred
doctors. Some were threatened. As a result, hundreds of highly
qualified doctors have fled the country, which has resulted in
further deterioration of health services. Those highly qualified
doctors did not run away from the tyranny of the dictator, Mr.
President, but from the chaos and lawlessness in your
“liberated Iraq.”
Records
show that the Iraqi government smuggled up to a hundred thousand
barrels of refined diesel fuel a day through Turkey, with your
government’s knowledge. These figures indicate that the Iraqi
refineries had an excess refining capacity allowing it to export
refined oil products.
During
the “liberation” of Iraq, refineries were not targeted, like
in 1991; so one assumes that the damage was minimal. I wonder
why refineries are not fixed yet—after 22 months of
“liberation.” I still cannot understand why Iraq continues
to import refined oil products from Turkey, Kuwait, and Saudi
Arabia, and to my amazement, from Israel. We Iraqis need to know
why our money is currently being spent, unwisely, to import
gasoline, given that we were an exporting nation in the past. I
might understand that Halliburton and KBR needed to import
gasoline for a few months, but not after 22 months of
“liberation.”
In
1991 our refineries were severely damaged by the bombing. We the
Iraqi people were able—despite the sanctions and without help
from the Halliburtons—to fix the refineries in a few months
only. We kept them working and going for 13 years and we were
exporting products. Similarly, the Iraqi people were able to
restore the electricity in a few months. The Iraqi people
reconstructed every building damaged by the 1991 war in less
than a year. Seeing the lack of any reconstruction efforts after
22 months of “liberation” makes me sad.
I
am sure that our traumatized kids will never forget what was
done to their future by your “liberation.” |
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Mr.
President, In 1991 America promised that Iraq would be returned
to the “pre-industrial” age, and they nearly did that by
bombing and destroying everything. The Iraqi people surprised
the world by reconstructing what had been bombed. On top of
that, new projects were implemented despite the sanctions. As an
Iraqi, this makes me extremely proud of our achievement in 1991.
We the Iraqis set the standards of reconstruction. After 22
months of “liberation” and the lack of honest and visible
reconstruction work, I feel that America miserably failed to
meet those standards.
For
13 years, Iraqis lived on food rations given by the government.
We were told that our government was robbing us and providing us
with only 2200 kcal per day. The “liberated” government of
Iraq, after the liberation, is still providing us with about
2200 kcal per day.
The
government of Iraq used to spend about 150 million dollars a
month to import and distribute food rations. According to your
CPA Inspector General, 8.8 billion dollars were unaccounted for
in one year. These 8.8 billion dollars are enough to feed all
the people of Iraq for nearly 60 months. This fiscal
irresponsibility and the lack of transparency in spending our
money make me wonder about the aim of the “liberation” of
Iraq. I’m sorry to say that the Iraqi people are being robbed
blind. We are being “liberated” from our wealth also.
I
am sure, Mr. President, that our traumatized kids will never
forget what was done to their future by your “liberation.” I
am sure that your kids have to deal, in the future, with our
traumatized kids. I am also sure that your kids will have to
repay for all the damage and the stolen money. I can see that
the price will be very high.
I
do not want to be like the rest of your advisors, who give you a
rosy picture. They have told you about the WMD, the Al-Qaeda
link, the 9/11 link, the Iraqis welcoming your troops as
“liberators” … and it has been proved that they were not
telling you the truth. It is about time that you listen to other
people.
We
do not hate America for its “freedom” or “democracy.” We
don’t hate America. We hate the crimes, the destruction, and
the devastation committed by America against the innocent people
in our country.
Respectfully,
Ghazwan Al-Mukhtar
Baghdad, Occupied Iraq
Ghazwan
Al-Mukhtar
