Yasmin 7-10-03

 

Dear Friends,


I just ended a one hour phone call with my mother and two sisters in Iraq.

I wish I could say that things are OK in Iraq, but I can't.


My sister said that the security level in Baghdad is Zero.

Services are nil, too. They have just had the elec. power back after not
having it for 24 hours.


So many gangsters are getting into houses, killing the people and robbing the
house.

Some are kidnapping a person to get a ransom... A crime, so common now, that
was never heard of in Iraq before "Bush's freedom".


My mother, who fell a month ago and has a numb leg ever since, said that it
is impossible to go to hospitals these days, they are in a total chaos. So she
is just relying on pain killers and is hoping that time will fix her problem.


My sister said that no one can drive a nice car too, they will be slaughtered
and the car will be stolen.

A 1990 Toyota is considered a new car in Iraq!

So my aunt who has this car is considering buying an even older car, so that
she can drive it without being afraid for her life.


My youngest sister said that there are times that it's just not safe to go
out ... like in the afternoon for example!


The soldiers shoot randomly when they are afraid, and the gangsters are
everywhere.

They steel and kill in the day light and nobody say anything.


So now, after my father's death, my mother had to lock her house yesterday,
and moved in with my eldest sister.

She said that so many crimes have happened were she lived that it is not safe
to be there anymore.

So many houses were robbed and its owners killed, and no body knows it until
the whole thing is done.

My parent's house used to be in a very nice and secure area.

There are so many embassies in the same street.


My sister said all houses are armed now, ready to defend their home, but
sometimes it doesn't work.

Their neighbor had four armed men in their house, but they were invaded by
eight armed men, so the lady of the house said please take every thing, just let
us live.

There lives were spared, thank God.


Then ... my family said; but not to worry, we are fine.


My youngest sister said that as unsafe as we are, believe it or not, we feel
much safer than the US soldiers are feeling right now.

They can't walk without looking to their backs all the time.


My sister said I know that the soldiers don't want to be there in the first
place.

Let them go home.


In peace.


Yasmin