These days, Iraqi students regularly meet to discuss the war. Two of them were willing to talk to Delta % anonymously.Khalil can talk passionately about the prospect of real freedom and autonomy for Iraq’s Kurdish people, who have suffered through so much bloodshed and tragedy % including bitter fighting between rival Kurdish fractions.
But when asked if he would like to return to his country after the war, Khalil (30) hesitates. ,,I really don’t know. There are too many bad memories. I’d love to have my family come over here.” Khalil, an asylum seeker who is studying at the faculty of Information Technology and Systems, grew up in Suleymaniya, a Kurdish city in northern Iraq, close to the Iranian border. ,,When we sat down to dinner, my mother used to say: remember, the walls have ears”, he says. ,,What she meant was: the spies of Saddam Hussein are never far off.”
But taking such precautions couldn’t protect the family from tragedy. In 1988, at the end of the long Iraq-Iran war, the Iraqi army tried to crush the Kurdish resistance movement, killing tens of thousands of people. Khalil’s oldest brother was among them % a high school kid who was caught trying to hang an anti-Saddam placard on a wall. He was sentenced to death and hanged. Another brother went to fight the Iraqi troops and is still missing.
Later, Kalid studied mechanical engineering in Baghdad. ,,They wanted me to become a member of the Ba’ath party, because my family history made me suspicious.”
In the 1990s, the Iraqi Kurds would again feel the iron fist of Saddam Hussein, who expertly played the different Kurdish parties against each other. And Suleymaniya was often caught in the eye of the storm.
But it was the radicalism of Ansar al-Islam, a Kurdish-Arab fundamentalist movement that was gaining ground in northern Iraq, which made Khalil decide to undertake the hazardous journey through the mountains of Iran in 1998, from where he escaped to the West. In one of the twists that are typical of the byzantine politics in the Middle East, the Kurds are now fighting alongside American troops against Ansar al-Islam, which supposedly has links with Al-Qaeda.
Anyway, Khalil doesn’t know much about politics, he says. ,,Is this war all about ‘blood for oil’ or ‘the liberation of Iraq’? It’s hard to say. In the end, the most important thing is that we will get rid of Saddam Hussein.” In that sense Khalil does believe this is a justified war. ,,The people who demonstrate in the streets against the war don’t seem to fully realise the suffering this régime has imposed on its people. A lot of it was never covered by the media. At the same time, it’s difficult for me to defend this war when I see innocent victims suffering.” Although at the asylum centre he doesn’t have his own television or personal computer, Khalil follows the news as best as he can. And he frequently tries to reach his sister in northern Iraq.
Khalil is convinced that a democratic, pluralistic Iraq is not just some Washington pipedream. ,,There is a real yearning for freedom among all the different groups.” Still, he expects that it’ll take the Iraq people some time to get used to the idea of democracy and an independent judicial system. ,,They have to learn to put their trust in authorities.”
In 1999, another Iraqi engineer suddenly had to flee Baghdad with his wife and children. It was the only way to escape the wrath of the authorities, who accused him of stealing some important building diagrams. But now Mohammed (35) wants to go home % to fight the British and American troops.
,,I don’t want to defend Saddam Hussein”, he says emphatically. ,,But I’m distraught by the invasion of Iraq. How can I explain this to you? My country is even more important to me than my family. It saddens me to watch all the pain and destruction.”
The idea of going back to war-torn Iraq is far from realistic, though % if only because he can’t just leave his wife and kids behind in the Netherlands. So the Arab engineer will complete his degree at the TU Delft instead.
During our conversation, Mohammed never raises his voice % not even when I suggest that the war might be the lesser of two evils. ,,I don’t believe in this so-called ‘smart’ war the Americans promised the world”, he says. ,,I’m not saying they’re targeting innocent civilians on purpose, but you’ll have to admit the reality of the war is far from ‘clean’. And where are those weapons of mass destruction the régime was supposed to be hiding?”
Mohammed fully accepts that Iraq brought the Gulf War of 1991 upon itself by invading Kuwait. ,,But now the situation is very different. The Kuwaiti’s let the Americans use their country to launch an attack on Iraq!” There’s a fleeting look of disgust on his face.
Mohammed has never tried to call his family in Baghdad % he’s still too afraid that his call could put them in jeopardy. He’s a ‘traitor’, after all. ,,My wife sometimes telephones her family, but the bombardments have made that impossible. We’re both very anxious. This war goes on relentlessly, day and night.”
Like so many people, Mohammed would’ve liked more time given to weapon inspections. But even if Saddam would never give in to pressure, Mohammed would remain firmly opposed to military action. ,,Too many innocent people die.”
Khalil and Mohammed are not the real names of the interviewees
These days, Iraqi students regularly meet to discuss the war. Two of them were willing to talk to Delta % anonymously.
Khalil can talk passionately about the prospect of real freedom and autonomy for Iraq’s Kurdish people, who have suffered through so much bloodshed and tragedy % including bitter fighting between rival Kurdish fractions. But when asked if he would like to return to his country after the war, Khalil (30) hesitates. ,,I really don’t know. There are too many bad memories. I’d love to have my family come over here.” Khalil, an asylum seeker who is studying at the faculty of Information Technology and Systems, grew up in Suleymaniya, a Kurdish city in northern Iraq, close to the Iranian border. ,,When we sat down to dinner, my mother used to say: remember, the walls have ears”, he says. ,,What she meant was: the spies of Saddam Hussein are never far off.”
But taking such precautions couldn’t protect the family from tragedy. In 1988, at the end of the long Iraq-Iran war, the Iraqi army tried to crush the Kurdish resistance movement, killing tens of thousands of people. Khalil’s oldest brother was among them % a high school kid who was caught trying to hang an anti-Saddam placard on a wall. He was sentenced to death and hanged. Another brother went to fight the Iraqi troops and is still missing.
Later, Kalid studied mechanical engineering in Baghdad. ,,They wanted me to become a member of the Ba’ath party, because my family history made me suspicious.”
In the 1990s, the Iraqi Kurds would again feel the iron fist of Saddam Hussein, who expertly played the different Kurdish parties against each other. And Suleymaniya was often caught in the eye of the storm.
But it was the radicalism of Ansar al-Islam, a Kurdish-Arab fundamentalist movement that was gaining ground in northern Iraq, which made Khalil decide to undertake the hazardous journey through the mountains of Iran in 1998, from where he escaped to the West. In one of the twists that are typical of the byzantine politics in the Middle East, the Kurds are now fighting alongside American troops against Ansar al-Islam, which supposedly has links with Al-Qaeda.
Anyway, Khalil doesn’t know much about politics, he says. ,,Is this war all about ‘blood for oil’ or ‘the liberation of Iraq’? It’s hard to say. In the end, the most important thing is that we will get rid of Saddam Hussein.” In that sense Khalil does believe this is a justified war. ,,The people who demonstrate in the streets against the war don’t seem to fully realise the suffering this régime has imposed on its people. A lot of it was never covered by the media. At the same time, it’s difficult for me to defend this war when I see innocent victims suffering.” Although at the asylum centre he doesn’t have his own television or personal computer, Khalil follows the news as best as he can. And he frequently tries to reach his sister in northern Iraq.
Khalil is convinced that a democratic, pluralistic Iraq is not just some Washington pipedream. ,,There is a real yearning for freedom among all the different groups.” Still, he expects that it’ll take the Iraq people some time to get used to the idea of democracy and an independent judicial system. ,,They have to learn to put their trust in authorities.”
In 1999, another Iraqi engineer suddenly had to flee Baghdad with his wife and children. It was the only way to escape the wrath of the authorities, who accused him of stealing some important building diagrams. But now Mohammed (35) wants to go home % to fight the British and American troops.
,,I don’t want to defend Saddam Hussein”, he says emphatically. ,,But I’m distraught by the invasion of Iraq. How can I explain this to you? My country is even more important to me than my family. It saddens me to watch all the pain and destruction.”
The idea of going back to war-torn Iraq is far from realistic, though % if only because he can’t just leave his wife and kids behind in the Netherlands. So the Arab engineer will complete his degree at the TU Delft instead.
During our conversation, Mohammed never raises his voice % not even when I suggest that the war might be the lesser of two evils. ,,I don’t believe in this so-called ‘smart’ war the Americans promised the world”, he says. ,,I’m not saying they’re targeting innocent civilians on purpose, but you’ll have to admit the reality of the war is far from ‘clean’. And where are those weapons of mass destruction the régime was supposed to be hiding?”
Mohammed fully accepts that Iraq brought the Gulf War of 1991 upon itself by invading Kuwait. ,,But now the situation is very different. The Kuwaiti’s let the Americans use their country to launch an attack on Iraq!” There’s a fleeting look of disgust on his face.
Mohammed has never tried to call his family in Baghdad % he’s still too afraid that his call could put them in jeopardy. He’s a ‘traitor’, after all. ,,My wife sometimes telephones her family, but the bombardments have made that impossible. We’re both very anxious. This war goes on relentlessly, day and night.”
Like so many people, Mohammed would’ve liked more time given to weapon inspections. But even if Saddam would never give in to pressure, Mohammed would remain firmly opposed to military action. ,,Too many innocent people die.”
Khalil and Mohammed are not the real names of the interviewees
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