I am fascinated by the diversity of the place where I live now. There is a mosque on the way to my school and less than half a mile away there is a church. In other places, I’ve seen synagogues and churches in the same neighborhood. It is so diverse and yet they all make efforts to get along with each other and seem to be living in peace.
In my country, Iraq, We lived in peace with each other before. We yearn to living in peace again. I know that it is a long shot. But for Iraq, that is what I hope.
I remember my days back home. I remember my neighborhood, the school that I went to. I remember my friends often. I enjoyed walking down the street with them; I enjoyed our conversations. It is very sad to mention it, but I remember having four close friends: Zaid and Fadi, who are Christians, Haider who is a Shiite, and Hamad who is a Sunni. Zaid, Fadi, and Haider and I went to the same school and Hamad was a neighbor. I spent a lot of time with those four. We went to internet cafes, restaurants and played sports together.
Now that I’ve left the country, all I can do is to keep in touch with them. Hamad is in Syria because he and his family didn’t feel secure enough to live in that neighborhood. Fadi fled to Syria too with his family, but he went back to Baghdad to go to school and he is living with his grandmother now. Haider is still living in Baghdad but he is not going to school anymore because it is dangerous to drive all the way from where he lives to school.
I was talking with Zaid on the phone the other day and he told me that the neighborhoods where we lived and went to school fall in the territory of what is called “The Islamic State.” His family was threatened to leave their house within 30 minutes or they’d be killed. They couldn’t take anything out, not even his books that he was reading to prepare for the finals. He said that there are no more Christians or Shiites that can live Amiriya, Ghazaliya, Khadraa and Jamiya.
It was very hard to listen to Zaid talking about what had happened to my city. In those neighborhoods there were Shiite and Sunni mosques and there were Christian Churches. We all lived with each other. We all were friends. I was mad when I heard the news. I was mad because that is what I loved about Baghdad; that we all lived with each other and sects were not an issue . Sect wasn’t an issue when I made friends.
Now I look at the pictures from my neighborhood and remember all the people who lived there and I cry because now I can’t have the same days that I had. I know that my neighborhood is not the same place it used to be. I know that Baghdad is not the same Baghdad. I know that Iraq is not the same Iraq.
But I know that this is not the way my family and my friends and most Iraqis want Iraq to be. And I know that one day we will all tell the world that we are not Shiites, not Sunnis, not Christians, and not Kurds, but we are all Iraqis and we all will live on the land of peace.
Although some birds migrate looking for warm places, they return when summer returns. They rebuild their nests on the date palm trees by the Tigris and drink from the water that will wash away the wounds of the past.
I know that I am hoping for a too much, and I also know that a lot of wishes don’t come true. But I believe that this one will.
Tucson, Arizona, America. 6/21/07
[In the picture above is my Baghdad neighborhood.]
24stepstoliberty2@gmail.com
At June 24, 2007 10:34 AM, 
Treasure of Baghdad
Dear Ali,
Welcome to the Iraqi Blogsphere. You are very lucky to write on Omar’s 24 Steps to Liberty. This blog has been a very good Iraqi window to the entire world.
Your words are very touching. Most of what you mentioned reminded me with my friends who were Christians, Sunnis and Shiites. Like you, I’m still in touch with them. Most of them left the country after their lives became miserable since the invasion.
It’s hard to be optimistic these days, but let’s keep our faith in ourselves. You are the seeds of the true new Iraq, not the ones who are killing us. Keep studying hard, and hopefully one day we’ll all go back and help rebuild our country.
Keep up the good work. Always remember this Spanish saying: “The darkest hour of the night came just before the dawn.”
Looking forward to reading your posts.
Yours,
Treasure of Baghdad.
Ali,
But I know that this is not the way my family and my friends and most Iraqis want Iraq to be. And I know that one day we will all tell the world that we are not Shiites, not Sunnis, not Christians, and not Kurds, but we are all Iraqis and we all will live on the land of peace.
That's my hope too. Our troops will then be able to come home and return to their families.
Great writing. Over at Iraqi Bloggers Central we'll try to send you as many readers as we can.
*
At June 25, 2007 12:16 AM, David
Hello Ali, it is nice to read the words of such a well spoken young man. I hope that you will be able to migrate back home some day and be reunited with your friends.
There is a lot of diversity in America, but there is not always a lot of cooperation and genuine friendship between people of different ethnic and religious backgrounds. I grew up mostly in the southern State of Alabama. When I was a child, there was still a lot of very bad feelings from white people toward black people. I personally experienced some prejudice from Christian students because part of my ancestry is Jewish. However, for the most part, I think that things have gotten better in the years since. I hope that your experiences here will be good ones. I wish you best of luck!
I have visited Tucson, AZ several times. The mountains are really beautiful! If you have the chance, visit Kitt Peak. The astronomical observatories there are fascinating and the view is really breathtaking! Its about a two hour drive from Tucson.
It is nice to be in Tucson, the weather reminds me of back. But there is nothing like home.
Fishes also migrate to lay their eggs near the shore and there is time when they go back.
So even if we are not home, we get to tell our stories and do our job and there will be time when we go back.
Thanks for comments
joanne said...
"It is good to hear from an Iraqi about how people of different religions could be best of friends; it is a good reminder that not all Muslims want all non-Muslims dead. I look forward to reading your posts."
Joanne thanks for the comment but by saying "not all Muslims" you are putting a big number of muslims who don't want non-muslims dead.
There are very very few mislims who are extremist and who are anti other religions
thanks
Iraqi Mojo,
Thanks for the suggestion.
There a lot of things about America, positve and negetive ones. Till now almost all of expierince have been posetive except some stuff that happened when I first got here.
It is very diverse as I said before and there are a lot of different people and different opinions. I got to see both side of America the good and the bad, the rich and the poor, the happy and the sad.
I don't think that answers your question completely but I'm thinking about writing an article about me experience here.
At June 25, 2007 6:53 PM, olivebranch
Great to have you in the blogosphere ali, I am [olivebranch] the admin//editor of the Olivebranch Network, my name is luke and I am friends with of Omar & Baghdad Treasure among many of the other Iraqi bloggres.
You can find the olivebranch network at http://olivebranchoptimism.net -
I would love to chat with you online sometime, I love chatting with Iraqis & Iraqi bloggers, especially iraqi youth like yourself.. I myself am only 20 years old and very little fascinates me more than sharing stories, wisdoms, knowledge and emotions with other mature young people. It can be amazing the amount of maturity and insight a young person can have; and from Omar's write up about you and from your own post I imagine you to be one of those.
My messenger ID's are as follow:
Yahoo: lukey_skinner
gtalk: troutish at gmail.com
msn: evilfeet at hotmail.com
Add me if you ever want to talk or just send me an email; i'd love to hear from you... Perhaps oneday after a few more posts you can join the Olivebranch Network too?
my email is
lukey at iinet.net.au
or
troutish at gmail.com
- Pce be upon you
Luke(y)
aka [olivebranch]
At June 27, 2007 2:46 PM, RhusLancia
I think it would be productive- it's your story, your history, and from what you've revealed your situation could be very interesting.
Here in America we get so little first-person (maybe second person since it's your parents) testimony of what it was like then, to be political prisoners of the regime and so on.
One of Omar's most interesting posts ever, in my opinion, was his experience as a conscripted soldier in Saddam's army as the war broke out. I never knew that about him until then. Accounts like that ought to be heard.
If you were to simply take my suggestions, though, I would monopolize you, so be careful. Like: how did you get out? You're with your parents now, right? Why Tucson? Are you going to go to U of A next year? etc!
welcome Ali!