“It’s a civil war—now it has started”

by Karen Button

Today was a mixture of emotion. Late afternoon my mobile rang and to my great relief, Aisha, my friend who I hadn’t heard from in four days, was on the other end. She had been in Haditha, in the west of Iraq, delivering medical supplies to the hospital, destroyed last summer when US and US-led Iraqi troops occupied it for five days. Because the phone lines are completely destroyed, it had been impossible for her to call.

She told me of some severe attacks by US forces in the past few months and that the area is completely cordoned off now, with checkpoints surrounding the city. Now, she was trying to get into Baghdad, but it, too, is sealed and no one allowed to enter or to leave. The same with Samarra as most of the country’s so-called Sunni triangle was under curfew. Aisha will stay outside Baghdad tonight, and possibly many nights as the government announced an extension of the curfew until at least 6am Monday, imposed to quell the violence that’s swept Iraq since Wednesday’s bombing in Samarra.

When I called another friend who lives in the Al-Adhamiya neighborhood of Baghdad to let him know Aisha was safe, he told me, with his ever-present laugh, “well, of course we cannot leave our house, but I just was telling my wife that I wanted to spend more time with her and now I can. Today we made a picnic in the back courtyard, just for a change of scenery from the inside of the house.”

But later in the evening, when I called him back for the latest news. I found him in a state of terrible anxiety. Even with an extended curfew there were major clashes in the street.

“The Iraqi Police (IP) are everywhere!” he declared. “We just heard Saadoun al-Dulaimi (the Iraqi defense minister) on the television saying there’s been a Shi’a call that that all followers of Mohammed (Sunnis) should leave Al-Masa’in (a Sunni town)!”

“While he was talking five more mosques are attacked in that time! Three mosques in Al-Adhamiya were attacked, an imam in Barah killed. there are helicopters flying overhead and gunshots are everywhere.

My family, we’ve gathered all in one room for safety and my son and I will stay up the night to defend our house!”

“There is an imposed curfew. Who’s on the streets and fighting?” I ask.

“Only the Sunni are respecting the curfew because they don’t have the ability to do otherwise, while the IP (read Shi’a) are wearing the military uniform and can do as the like.”

“And, where are the American troops?”

“The Americans have disappeared from Baghdad. They came to Al-Adhamiya with their humvees to at 6pm to defend the Numan Hospital, which was attacked, but then they left us.

“It’s a civil war! Now it’s started!” he declares fearfully.

He goes on to say that 150 mosques have been attacked throughout Iraq and hundreds killed.
I ask about the response of Iraqis, “Are there signs that people are still holding on to unity?”

“Al-Daraji (spokesperson for Muqtada Al-Sadr) is saying that tomorrow they will go to the Association of Muslim Scholars to talk. And in Basrah, a demonstration with both Shi’a and Sunni marched together, calling for unity,” he says.

“These are good signs, but, really Karen, we don’t know what will happen.”

I hung up reluctantly and after a sleepless night of worry, call back in the morning. My friend is in better spirits, saying the night calmed down and he went to bed at 4am.

“Now we wait,” he says. “Our curfew continues.”

Yesterday, the Sunni Accord Front, the most powerful Sunni political group in Iraq, pulled out of government talks due to the number of reprisal attacks. By this morning, nearly 170, mostly Sunni, mosques had been attacked, and over 200 people killed.

Long on the brink of civil war, it seems nearly impossible to turn back from it now though both Shi’a and Sunni parties are in talks. Meanwhile, the question remains, who is responsible for Wednesday’s bombing of the Askariya shrine? The Americans, of course, are blaming Abu Mus'ab Al-Zarqawi, the man who, for them, is responsible for every ill in Iraq; the Badr Brigades (militia of Al-Sistani's Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution) are blaming the occupation, though not the Shi’a-led government; and the Sunni are blaming the occupation and the government, in particular, the notorious Ministry of the Interior.

But, the real question that must be asked is, who would benefit from the division of Iraq that would result from civil war? In the end though, whoever is responsible for the bombing of one of Shiite Islam’s most holy sites, it is the civilians of Iraq who are paying. As always.