Excerpts from a man's story about his life in Iraq

"My family consists of two brothers, two sisters and myself.  One of my brothers is married, his wife and children all live with us in the same house.  My father is alive but my mother died two years ago.  This family has been seriously damaged by the loss of my eldest brother, who was captured by the Iraqi army on March 1991 following the dramatic failure of the Shia uprising of the same year. This event hurt my mother, of course, more than any other in my family. She was spending her life between crying and sadness. This course of life, however, came to an end in late 2000, when she was died. Before her death, I sometimes talked to her by phone. Once, she told me that she would prefer her eldest son Ali with me rather than missing him. "It is enough", she was saying, "to hear your voice". She did never ever accept that her son was dead. But now the hard truth is very clear: her son is one of about ten thousand people or maybe more that have been tortured until death by the hand of Saddam. Under these circumstances, thus I decided to flee. It is not hard to imagine that if I had accepted to remain there, I would expect the same fate. The dilemma of Iraqis has been very simple; it is to accept living without saying a word. This was the hard choice for me.

"It could be argued, however, that the sanctions have exacerbated the situation in Iraq.  The sanctions meant that foodstuffs couldn’t be imported so there was a shortage of food and there was food rationing.  Every person was allocated only 6 kilos of flour, one kilo of sugar, 4 kilos of rice per month.  Eggs and meat, including chicken, were too expensive to buy.  Milk wasn’t rationed but was difficult to get, there was very little of it and it was expensive.  Water was readily available but was polluted during the first Gulf war and the quality was poor since then.  There were also shortages of tea.  Fruit and vegetables were readily available, but Iraq has one of the most fertile soils in the world.  Agriculture has not been given much attention; the focus has been on military equipment.

"Before sanctions the health services were free for all, including for people from abroad: whether Arab or European.  Even during sanctions healthcare was free but people went to the black market in order to get the drugs they needed.  There has been a shortage of medical equipment as well as the lack of drugs -- not only because of sanctions but because ministers in Saddam Hussein’s government were very involved in the black market.  There has been a shortage of staff because many doctors and nurses left Iraq, and many did not want to work in such poor conditions and with such low pay. 

"As regards education, Iraq had one of the most developed educational systems in the world because all schooling was free from nursery up to post-graduate level.  For example, when I was in university we had free student housing, free schoolbooks and a grant of 20 dinars per month, which was enough to cover all my living costs.  The situation changed completely after sanctions: the families of elementary and secondary schools students had to make donations to the schools in order to keep them running; housing for university students was no longer free; and in all cases book had to be paid for.

 "As regards housing, all government employees were given parcels of land and grants or loans by the state in order to build their own houses: for example, doctors, nurses, teachers, engineers. Non-government workers may also get free land but not a grant or loan. The people of Iraq has benefited from this system since 1958, the year that transformed the monarchy of Iraq to republic of Iraq.  Due to oil revenues, the subsequent governments of Iraq have been able to develop such social laws and regulations. The social system thus has supported the essential needs of most Iraqis.    

"We fear, of course, that the system will change under the American agenda, which will not only take over the Iraqi oil industry but also want to control everything, including privatising the health and education services.  Since most Iraqis are dependent on the state, any change in this system will damage their lives, particularly of poorer people, who are the majority of the Iraqi population."