As a proofreader in a news agency in Iraq's Kurdistan region I feel like a doctor, but the type of patients I indirectly meet every day are average Iraqis. Unlike a doctor I cannot cure their illnesses or prescribe medication but I have managed to identify the cause of their psychological illnesses.
Today, such Iraqis leave home unsure if they will return to their families that evening or not. Those who have jobs work long hours every day for little pay. If they are lucky their children or nephews and nieces are not yet kidnapped and if they are extremely lucky they haven't had more than one relative martyred in a suicide attack.
Report after report comes in and I begin to feel the woes and the pains of the Iraqi people. Their restlessness and how desperate they are to live a day without hearing a bomb, without being at risk of kidnapping and to have more than just a few hours of electricity every day.
These patients have wounded hearts, they have anger management problems, they have lost loved ones and their scars are yet to heal.
Recently the Iraqi interior ministry revealed that the country had itsdeadliest month for two years in July, with more than 1,500 casualties. Asingle suicide attack on an army recruitment centre in Baghdad last week killed 57 people and wounded 123.
Not a day passes behind my desk that I do not receive an article about a roadside bomb, a suicide attack or a killing. I retype the same words every day: "unidentified gunmen" killing a certain number of civilians and then "escaping to an unknown location".
It is hard to believe the country is floating on what the world refers to as black gold. The average Iraqi relies on food rations and is desperate for car fuel – that is, if he still has a car.
As a young girl when thinking of my future and ways to reach my dreams, my eyes begin to sparkle with hope. The average Iraqi's fills with tears as he or she tells you: "I just hope live tomorrow".
Recently it was revealed that narcotic drugs are being produced in certain areas such as the Dhi-Qar province. Radiation from war remnants has been found as the cause of cancer among young children in particular. Missiles were found in a girls' school in the Adhamiya area and numerous unidentified dead bodies are found almost every day.
I can only imagine Baghdad as being flooded with corpses and wounded people.
Politically, Iraq today is like a ship in the middle of the ocean with tens of captains, each stirring in a different direction towards their own interest.
As for the government, the electricity minister has resigned and the factions are yet to agree and form a government – five months after the election results. The reality is it is a fight over a seat – the prime minister's post; as citizens are crying for power, food and security, the government is busy searching for where its treasure lays.
Reports state more than a third of the new parliamentarians are supposedly on holiday.
Even if the government forms and with some miracle the requirements of the people are met, it will take an entire generation to heal the wounds of the average Iraqi. The psychological pains are greater than any physical wound.
Every Iraqi needs a psychologist or a doctor. The tragedy is that few worthy doctors are left in the country, as many were threatened and hadno alternative but to escape in fear of their lives.
After knowing the pains of the Iraqis it is frustrating as day after day I proof the same sentence in tens of articles, after so and so met "no agreement was reached". With a seat up for grabs that is worth more money and power than one can imagine, who cares about the average Iraqi
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Sorry I should not have cursed. This is not my blog.
ReplyDeleteStuff like this just gets me really, rally hot.
Why must the innocent always suffer, while the elite walk away healthy, wealthy, and free?
Cursing makes me feel better too, RZ. A good piece by the lady whos name is new to me.
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