Direct From Baghdad #2

Check this out. http:\\riverbendblog.blogspot.com

She's an Iraqi woman living in Baghdad who writes a perceptive diary-
in perfect English-about what Iraqis think about the occupation. Best
source I've come across so far for that perspective. - D. McR.

*
Friday, December 12, 2003

Meanwhile...
We heard the latest statement from Washington about Germany, France,
Russia
and Canada not being allowed to have anything to do with the
reconstruction.
Iraq no longer feels like a country- it feels like war spoils: the
winning
team gets the pickings. So how is the world supposed to be involved in
the
reconstruction of Iraq when they are being deliberately excluded?

It's a decision like this one that brings to light the complete
uselessness
of the Governing Council. Why is Washington calling the shots on the
reconstruction issues? This means that even after a military occupation,

we'll be under an economic occupation for years to come. Why aren't any
of
the new ministers or GC members saying anything about this? Somehow, I
have
a feeling that if they have anything to say, it'll be in accordance with

this latest decision.

There was a demonstration in Baghdad yesterday of about 4,000 people.
The
parties who are a part of the GC took part in an 'anti-terror' protest.
The
roads were closed for security reasons and helicopters were hovering
over
head. There were a couple of women's groups. I recognized some women
from
Al-Da'awa Al-Islamiya- Al-Jaffari's party. The Iraqi communist party and

SCIRI were also involved. The irony is seeing SCIRI members hold up the
"NO
TERROR" banners (they could start by not terrorizing the Al-Iraqiya
station
because the anchorwomen don't wear hijabs.).

There were other demonstrations in some provinces, and they've all been
lobbed together with the one in Baghdad. The truth is that some of them
were
actually anti-occupation demonstrations, like the one in Khaldiya. There

were large crowds demonstrating in Khaldiya, demanding the release of
boys
and men who have been detained for over 3 months in American prison
camps.

Today (well, technically, yesterday) there was another large
demonstration
in Baghdad which was a peaceful anti-occupation demonstration. The
demonstrators were mainly university students and teachers who were
opposing
the raids occurring in some colleges and universities. They were
demanding
the release of three women who were detained when the Technology
University
in Baghdad was raided. Their spokesperson, a professor, I think, said
that
this was going to be the first demonstration in a long series of
anti-occupation activism being organized by teachers and students.

There were some loud explosions a while ago... I just read it might have

been inside of the 'Green Zone'.

- posted by river @ 2:22 AM

Kerosene and Gasoline...
The electricity has been terrible lately- it comes in fits and starts.
The
moment it goes off, we start running around the house unplugging things
and
flicking off the power switches- you don't want anything to be turned on

when the power comes back either too high or too low. That's why I've
been
blogging less often. Every time there's electricity, we remember a long
list
of things that can only be done in an electrical world. like vacuum.
Some
say it's not only Baghdad- the north also seem to be having continuous
electricity problems.

The most popular guy in the neighborhood these days Abu Hassen. He lives
on
our street and he's going to purchase one of those large generators that

will, supposedly, provide electricity to around 20 houses. The problem
is
that it can't accommodate any more than 20 houses (probably fewer) and
anyone who wants to has to 'sign up' for the electricity. When E. went
to
get us registered for a few amperes, Abu Hassen told him that he already
had
30 families who wanted to sign on but he would put us on a waiting list
(!).

Since the generators are expensive, Abu Hassen has been hesitant to buy
one.
E. says he has a nephew who works at one of the electric power stations
in
Baghdad who convinced him it would be a *great* investment because the
power
situation promises to be very erratic for a while yet.

The big problem now is that gasoline is hard to come by. This is a very
frustrating issue for Iraqis. Gasoline was like water here. In fact,
bottled
water used to be far more expensive than gasoline and admittedly still
is.
The lines at the gas stations are long and tedious. E. and my cousin
sometimes go to fill up the car and disappear for hours at a time. The
gasoline is necessary for running the generators and now they're going
to
start rationing it. This will mean that within days, the price of gas is

going to go up because people will start selling black market gasoline.

Kerosene is also hard to come by these days. Every time the kerosene man

comes banging down our street, representatives from each household
instantly
run outside and stand impatiently at their gates, some greeting him with
an
energetic "Hello, habibi!" We need the kerosene for the 'sopas' or the
kerosene heaters, and the kerosene lamps. The weather is nice during the

day, but it gets somewhat chilly during the evening. We light the
kerosene
heaters in the rooms and watch them carefully so that they don't start
giving out poisonous fumes from burning kerosene. There have been entire

families that died in their sleep from CO poisoning from kerosene
heaters.

The nicest thing about the heaters is the fact that there's always a
kettle
of water on top of them. This accomplishes two things it once: it keeps
the
air in the room from getting very dry, and it provides a ready kettle of
hot
water for the tea ritual during the evening. The sopa is also fantastic
for
heating bread. At night, when there is no hope of electricity, we sit
around
on the rug, a little distance away from the sopa, and drink sweet tea,
with
warm bread and some famous Iraqi salted white cheese, while listening to
the
radio or just talking about family matters, or political matters.

The sun sets quite early these days and, if there's no electricity, it
gets
a little bit depressing. E. and I often go out to the roof to enjoy the
last
few minutes of sun every evening. Sometimes, the electricity will return
at
night and the lights will flicker on suddenly, leaving us too dazzled
for
the first few moments to do anything but sit there, allowing our eyes to

adjust to the abrupt change.
-- -Kraig Grady
North American Embassy of Anaphoria Island
http://www.anaphoria.com
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