On Easter Monday, I was sent to Iraq to monitor the progress being made. I did not quite have in mind to report on the sophisticated improvement in terror. Assassination, in Baghdad, is the new fashion in violence. Apparently, variety is not only the spice of life.
Once I was being settled in my small spartan room, in an unmarked compound protected by reinforced concrete on the outside and heavily armed gurkhas within, I was told that if I heard a siren I was to immediately hit a hard surface. Mortars were still being fired almost daily from Sadr city. On my first night, the mortars ended harmlessly in the river Tibrus but next morning I was told by my bodyguard: “Their aim is improving”. This, shall we say, piqued my curiosity. Read more:
I am writing these lines and can confirm (almost) all the details of the article. Yes, everyone is keen that the Christians should not leave the country as they are an integral part of Iraq. I do not quite agree on the ‘anxieties’ about Iran. This depends very much with whom you speak, Sunnis are more worried than Shias. Shias also, however, are not ‘automatically’ in favor of Iran. After all Iraq really is the historic centre of the Shia community. Therefore there is a little rivalry here. Also among the government officials there may be more worries about the Americans leaving, while the General population is more keen on them to leave.
My opinion, quoting a high Iraqi official, who is a medical doctor by profession: “If you leave a little dirt in a wound, it will not heal”, or in other words: “even if only a few Americans remain in Iraq the situation will not normalize”. May Allah be our supporter at all times.