CPTnet
28 September 2006

IRAQ REFLECTION: Remembrance

by Jan Benvie

Remembrance is the name of the new US prison camp at Baghdad airport.
However, the word evokes for me the people I met in both Suleimaniya, in the
Kurdish north of Iraq, and in Amman, Jordan, which I traveled through to and
from Kurdistan.

I remember Um Hassan, the young Iraqi mother in Amman for cancer treatment.
She and her husband pitied me, alone in Amman, and took me for a meal. I
remember the sadness in her eyes when she showed me photos of the three
young children she had left behind; her chemotherapy was unavailable in an
Iraqi healthcare system ravaged by war and sanctions.

I recall the meal Khalil, a young Palestinian man, insisted on making me one
Friday in Amman. He was anxious that I not eat alone. By now, he should be
on his way to Paris to meet his girlfriend. How different Paris will seem
to him after living in a squalid refugee camp all his life.

Thinking of Khalil reminds me of Ahmed, his hotel co-worker. Ahmed's wife
is expecting their first child, but she lives in Egypt while he lives and
works in Jordan-until he can save enough for them to have a home together.
His welcome when I arrived, tired from my long flight, was warm and he
always seemed to be at the desk, smiling and ready to give advice or
directions when I needed them.

I remember many people in Suleimaniya, but particularly Othman, the
(sometimes) angry Kurdish man, articulate and intelligent, but unemployed,
living in an area with only a few hours of electricity and water a day. He
was always eager and happy to help us with both mundane tasks like shopping
for computer software, or important tasks like arranging meetings with
government ministers.

Another Kurdish man, Mohammed, had recently returned to Suleimaniya from
Canada. He had been imprisoned during Saddam's regime and had fled after
his release from prison. His return home has not been everything he had
hoped for -he recently spent two weeks in prison for being part of a
peaceful demonstration (one of many imprisoned for protesting shortages of
fuel, electricity and water).

I remember Amanj and Rukhosh, parents of a three-day old baby in
Suleimaniya. I recall their anxious attempts to keep their tiny daughter
cool in the 100