This is the blog of a 25 year old dentist working in Baghdad, I’ve linked to his site before but it’s worth a read whenever you get a chance.
“Seven days ago I knew where I’m going to be transferred and that really worried me…I’ll have to work in a district that is one of the main strongholds of AlMahdi army and it’s almost out of Baghdad…I got scared a little but I comforted myself by thinking that my name to my 10th grandfather do not indicate whether I’m a Shiite or a Sunni so I can say that I’m a Shiite and a fanatic one…I bought a sliver wedding ring instead of the gold one that I wear (It’s a forbidden in Islam for men to wear gold so Sunni and Shiite fanatics might be annoyed by it and they might cause troubles for me…normal Muslims will not make a big deal about it) and I bought a silver ring with a gem stone because this will indicate that I’m a Shiite and above all my mother is a Shiite although this will not count because the father is what counts, in addition to that I have two Shiite friends who will be working with me and I felt that they will save me if something happened…. I must say that I hate to talk about sects and that really disgusts me but I have to do that in order to tell the story….we have to talk about sects at these ugly times.
He end’s that particular blog post with this:
“I don’t know what to do…I don’t want to go there…I’ll be killed, I’ll try to find someone who accepts bribes and transfer me to another area …I’ll use my escape money for that bribe it’s true that I want to leave Iraq now if I could…I’ll apply for the Jordanian visa tomorrow and it will take a month but everyone says that my chances aren’t higher than 10% because most of the visas applications have been rejected, why would they give me a visa and they have returned me twice? If I couldn’t go to Jordan where could I go? Lebanon is the second gate for Iraqis but it’s so so expensive. If I’m assured that I can leave Iraq I’ll quit immediately but I’m not. If anyone can help with that please do it. I know the wisest thing to do is to leave Iraq as soon as possible because I had enough of this shit…If I live here another year I’ll end up either dead or suffering from serious mental illness. I’m so depressed, and I feel hopeless…I can’t see a way in which I can leave Iraq…Help me god, I’m suffering…if I stayed like this I’ll suffocate and die.”
