Iraqi honeymoon long over, three years after war

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

BAGHDAD, Mar 19: Hawra and Haider began their married life cowering under the ''shock and awe'' American bombardment of Baghdad in March 2003.

When it was over, and Saddam Hussein had fled, they believed ''Operation Iraqi Freedom'' had delivered a bright new future, free of fear and the economic sanctions that impoverished them.

Three years on, as they celebrate their third wedding anniversary, those dreams have died as insurgency and rising sectarian violence have brought new fears, and more poverty.

Haider Khaleel, then aged 26 and married for three weeks when the first bombs fell on his city on March 20, was working as a house-painter. He thought his degree in mathematics might finally land him a well-paid job in business when peace came.

Hawra Mohammed, 10 years younger than her husband, believed the opening of Iraq's sanctions-bound oil wells, would make grey Baghdad bloom like Dubai and other wealthy cities on the Gulf.

''I dreamt of being the local agent for an international company. I would be able to travel and make a fortune,'' Haider said as he laboured in the small grocery store he now runs.

''But the bombings and shootings have killed all my dreams.'' ''After the war, I thought the situation would be better than in Saddam's time,'' said Hawra, sitting in the kitchen at their modest home nearby. ''I wanted to travel freely with my husband abroad ... to live as other people all over the world do.

''I imagined Baghdad would be like Dubai or even better,'' she said, laughing at her own fantasy. ''But that was just a dream.'' The arrival of two children has brought happiness, but also more worry about what fate holds for them: ''I can't say what our future is,'' she said. ''Our dreams have vanished.'' It had all seemed very different after the war. Though there was chaos there was optimism amid American promises of democracy and prosperity that would hold up a beacon to the West Asia.

''When the war ended, I worked very hard for six months. I earned a lot and that encouraged me to dream of a great future,'' said Haider, whose decorating career benefited from rebuilding.

''I dreamt of starting my own construction company.''

POSTWAR HOPES

Even when the first guerrilla bombs exploded, laid by Saddam loyalists and Sunni Islamists allied with al Qaeda, the couple had great hopes. US troops alienated Iraqis with tactics aimed at imposing security. Kidnapping and murder flourished. Sabotage kept vast oil reserves, the world's third biggest, below ground.

But Hawra and Haider went out for dinners and the movies.

They visited friends. Yet as security worsened even those activities suffered as fear returned to dominate lives.

''The reconstruction in the six months after the war made me plan for a profitable future,'' Haider said. ''But when security deteriorated, I got out of the decorating business.'' As a Shi'ite in the mainly Sunni Saidiya neighbourhood within mainly Shi'ite east Baghdad, Haider is acutely aware that he is vulnerable as Iraq slides towards sectarian civil war.

In the past month, following the bombing of a major Shi'ite shrine that set off bloody reprisals, the victims of the ''dirty war'' are becoming more numerous and more visible. Dozens of bodies are dumped in Baghdad every day; many have been tortured.

''I live in Saydiya. I am a Shi'ite and I might be targeted as many others have been. So I can't move around and expand my business,'' said Haider, talking of his fear every time he sets foot outside his door. ''I hope everything will be fine and a new government can settle everything.'' Three months after an election hailed as a new beginning for Iraqi democracy, leaders are still deadlocked on forming a unity government that many believe is a last hope for peace.

''We just can't live like other married couples in other cities in the world,'' said Hawra. ''After three years of war we are imprisoned again by our fears.'' Reuters

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