Iraqi-born Cab Driver Speaks Out

[louis-t]

This letter was written by my cousin's co-worker:

I feel compelled to share with you an experience my sister had while traveling. For those of you who don't know my sister, she works for a company with divisions and customers in Europe and the Far East, and has worked closely with them for several years. Needless to say, I greatly admire her ...
......................................................................................................................................................................

Hi Guys....missing you all....but have had a good trip....except for one sadness that had me in tears at the airport......would like to share with you.

I got up at 3:00 am, Paris time, to see the debate today. Was in a cab at 7:00 am to the airport (flying from Paris to Milan). In my jet-lagged daze, the taxi driver politely engaged me in the typical "taxi ride topics"....where I was from...the weather...etc. I was barely aware that he was from the middle east....as most Paris taxi drivers are. He then asked how I felt about Bush.....to which I simply responded. He then told me he was Iraqi...trying to make a new life for himself. English was his third language, but it was very obvious he was educated (said he was an engineer in Iraq). He was a gentle man....handsome man....somewhere in his forties. He was very respectful...careful to read my POV before he spoke candidly.

To recap our conversation....and without any prompting from me, (considering the fact that I was jet lagged and had only 2 hours sleep).....here's what he said......what he did.....

He started to cry.....quietly, humbly......but continued to lucidly speak about his experience. He said our war had killed over half of his family. His country is now a barren wasteland, with no end in sight. He said Sadam was a monster, but that Bush was a greater monster. He just kept saying..."we are only people....just like you.....yet we are living in a hell created by your President; I do not blame the Americans because they don't know anything beyond their borders (he lived in the US for 2 years)......but the politicians are to blame.....it is not right....it is not humane.....it is about money and oil...which I would happily give away.....just to have my family and country back". I repeatedly asked about Sadam....and how bad life was with him.....he repeated...."he is a monster....but nothing compared to Bush and Bush's war". He kept saying he "hated Bush". I asked if other Iraqi's agreed with him or if they felt differently. He categorically said that every Iraqi he knows, at home and abroad, agree with him. He said "you would feel the same if you watched your family and country being destroyed". This went on for 45 minutes. I was sick....holding back tears myself.

You know..... we sit in our sheltered, American-centered world....as a nation, we do not travel (relatively speaking) or truly experience other cultural perspectives....we don't have to...it is not a necessity to co-exist with other nations, the way European countries have to....or the middle eastern countries. We can read, rationalize and debate...... but for all of our scholarly knowledge of current events.....we REALLY don't know how these people are now living or how they really feel.

Love you....

(Name Withheld)

[MsTryska]

1. So would i be fair then in assuming

that these "insurgents" battling our troops are iraqi citizens fighting an occupier? alongside the usual islamist jihadists of course.

[louis-t]

2. Of course.

n/t

[MsTryska]

3. well good for them. we need to

get the hell out of their country. but yet and still, it's like when you go camping or stay in someone's home..."you need to leave it like your found it."

[louis-t]

6. I was taught that if you used something of

someone else's, like a country (to fight 'da terrists')you give it back in BETTER shape than when you got it.

[MsTryska]

10. That would work too.....

this is why i'm not in favor of a full and total pullout as soon as possible.

we trashed their whole scene. now we gotta clean up after the drunk.

[indigobusiness]

4. That is heart-wrenching. -nominated for homepage-

So compelling to hear that kind of insight amidst the noise.

Enough to make a grown man cry.

[Jacobin]

5. Bush needs to be tried as a war criminal in the Hague

And the entire cast of the Faux comedy channel needs to be conscripted to go rebuild Iraq after we turn it back over (no, I mean REALLLLLY turn it back over) to the Iraqis.

[Must_B_Free]

7. In regards to Saddam

We have conflicting information about Saddam.

What is never told is the great good he accomplished for his country.

- He ran a secular government = religious freedom
- He received the highest United Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) for the literacy program he implemented.
- He implemented western style law in the place of Sharia


These are not minor accomplishments. They contradict "Saddam the Monster", however we see firsthand now what monstrosity it apparently takes to hold these various cultures together under one leadership. It seems we took over the very same torture chambers he allowed. We now kidnap people to look for those who oppose us politically.

It could be that, holding absolute power, Saddam was driven insane, however, we saw the images of the "western embracing Saddam" before the war started. He wore Armani suits, listened to Sinatra and took Viagra for his mistress. He sounds just like the gangsters that took his cheese.

My suspicion is that Saddam was ALWAYS a threat due to the natural resources of Iraq (oil). Anyone who had that was a key player in the game of world power. The US did not want EU to have their own Saddam Arabia like we have Saudi Arabia. That was the real that that Saddam represented.

If sanctions were lifted, Iraq + EU would have been a formidable competition for the US.

[Jacobin]

9. but but but, he had "our" oil!!!!!!

So they made him a tyrant (or made him out to be worse than he might have been)

[eridani]

8. Remember--several M.E. countries tried to fend off the war--

--by arranging for the exile of Saddam, sons and inner circle. The Bush administration said that the invasion was on EVEN IF SADDAM LEFT!!! References below--

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/5415227.htm?1c
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/iraq/topstories/031803cciraqbush.709e7010.html
http://216.239.57.104/search?q=cache:MIdjUeeOeKMJ:www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/iraq/topstories/031803cciraqbush.709e7010.html+Fleischer+%22if+saddam+seeks+exile%22&hl=en
http://216.239.57.104/search?q=cache:0XcgLWrA8i8J:www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/5415227.htm+Fleischer+%22if+saddam+seeks+exile%22&hl=en