An Iraqi's Point of View

[FishForLunch]

When will you stop slaying the innocents?
By Sarmad S. Ali

"Major fighting" may have ended in Iraq with US President George W. Bush's declaration, but the recent bombing of the United Nations headquarters shows that the country is still at war. Iraq is now engulfed by internecine warfare, waged by the unknown against the innocent.

Shia cleric Mohammed Bahr al-Uloom says that these unknown fighters are intruders from neighboring countries, whereas Ahmed Chalabi of the Iraqi National Congress says that they are Iraqi Baathists, fedayeen, or members of the Ansar al-Islam. President Bush himself has refrained from identifying the attackers, promising only that the United States would pursue and punish them for blocking peace and development.

Whatever names can be attached to them, their bloody deeds have been condemned by the entire international community. But not by every Iraqi.

"I highly encourage the spirit of resistance and jihad against those unbelievers," said a spectator as he watched the aftermath of the UN bombing. Some Iraqis compared the bombing to the bombing by the Palestinians. They liken the Coalition forces to the Zionist forces of occupation - both are "unbelievers" occupying a country for their own interests. In Iraq's case, the Coalition forces are allegedly hunting for black gold and other resources, while in Palestine's case the Israelis want a land for themselves.

Of course, Iraq and Palestine are as different as night and day. Don't you Iraqis remember how, more than four months ago, you cheered and applauded? Don't you remember your jubilation when Saddam's statue was pulled down? Iraqis have a memory like a sieve, especially regarding those who do them a favor. The Coalition has forgotten that Iraqis might applaud their rulers for a brief time, and then turn on them. Over 80 years they have dragged down one prime minister, spat on another, and trod on Saddam's statue.

Don't you think that a heavy price was paid for your liberation and that you yourselves should reimburse Coalition forces for their losses during and after the war? Instead you reciprocate with grenades, roadside bombs, mortar rounds, and explosive-laden trucks, forgetting that the soldiers and officers themselves are not responsible for the intractable problems from which you suffer. If you must blame anyone, blame the leaders of the Coalition and the officials who run this country, and stop punishing the innocent.

Do you think that your operations against innocents, humanitarian organizations and Iraqi bystanders can be called "resistance" or "jihad"? Who told you that, when you murder Christians, that you are killing "unbelievers"? Muslims and Christians lived in peace and brotherhood under the tent of the Prophet Mohammed long ago.

Why can't you follow the Prophet's example? Will there come a day when even Christian Iraqis are to be liquidated? Haven't you considered that those Americans you have been killing have families waiting for their return home, just like yours wait for you?

The Quran tells us that murder in cold blood is as if all humanity was murdered. Yet you call yourselves "mujahideen." Many of the wounded and dead from the bomb blast were handicapped Iraqis being treated at Ibn al-Qif hospital, next to the UN headquarters. The injured were lifted from the rubble on their wheelchairs with blood and dust mixed on their tattered clothes. Many Iraqi employees who had nothing to do with politics are now in their graves. People live a state of silent panic when they visit any government agency, because this kind of thing can now happen anywhere.

Shortly before the UN bombing, attackers ruptured a water main and left hundreds of thousands of desperate Baghdadis without water for two days. Do you think you hurt the Coalition forces? The Coalition has their own supply of sterilized bottles; the water you spilled from the pipeline is your own. Or were you trying to turn Iraqis against the Coalition? You failed, because your responsibility for the dry taps and parched throats was clear with every gallon that spilled onto the street, and with every drop of blood is spilled on the soil of this great nation.

Iraq Today