Hello friends, Each day I write you a letter in my mind but I have simply lost the will to put those letters into the computer. This time, fortunately, I did. I just wanted to update you with what is happening here.
In my last letter, about a month ago, I told you that we used to have electricity for about 8-12 hours a day. We were promised (you know by whom) that the electricity supply would get MUCH better after 25 July. Now it's 24 August and we still have electricity for no more than 8-12 hours a day.
The funny thing is that today in a press conference Mr. Bremer said that electricity DID GET MUCH BETTER! Well, not in my country. Perhaps he was referring to New York, because it did get better there.
As for fuel. Well, the fuel queue shrunk from about a kilometre to about a 100 metres, plus or minus 200 metres, depending on I don't know what. Because one day you'll see tens of cars in queues and another day five or six. It's beyond my apprehension why one day nobody has fuel and another day everybody has it.
Security. Going out with a new car is still a great risk. There is a probability that you'l get shot (not necessarily murdered, thank God) and have your car taken. Unfortunately mine is a Peugeot, so my car has not left the garage for the past 4 months. Many, many people still go out in new cars, but personally I am not willing to take that risk. To be honest, we used to hear about a car being stolen every day but now we hear that about once or twice a week. Now that's an improvement!
This is the number I hear about and not the actual number of cars being stolen in all Baghdad. I tried to get an old car but since there is no government, you cannot trust anyone to sell you a car. It might turn out to be stolen. So getting a car is not as simple as it may seem.
There are tens of thousands of used cars being imported - I am not exaggerating the number - from everywhere. But no one knows what the rules are for their registration and whether one will have to pay any taxes or registration fees. They are all in the street and without number plates.
Many roads are still blocked by the US army. In fact the number of roads being blocked is increasing. The hanging bridge is still closed. We go out to work in the morning and we reach the office either in 20 minutes or in an hour
We thought that those blocks were temporary - especially with the hanging bridge and some main highways leading to it. But it has been four months now and they block the Abu Noas street - a very vital street. It looks like the blocks are not going to be opened soon.
Water is almost always there, but it is very weak. No complaints on this, though. In my last message I said that MCI announced it would make its mobile service Many roads are still blocked by the US army. In fact the number of roads being blocked is increasing. The hanging bridge is still closed. public in mid-July (at least I saw a formal paper from them saying so) but this turned out to be just another broken promise. Many areas are still without any kind of telephone service because the phone exchanges were hit.
So in short, no noticeable improvement has been seen in the past two months. This is only making people more desperate and those who were optimistic have now lost their optimism. I am one of those people.
When in a very short period you hear that a vital oil pipe has been destroyed over and over again, and the Jordanian embassy (which is less than 2 km from our house) gets attacked by a very large amount of explosives and the same day an attack about 1 km from where I work; and then what happened in the UN HQ, (you fill in the gaps with small explosions here and there). With all this going on, imagine how we feel.
For the first time in my life, I have started to think if I should consider leaving my coun try. I am simply losing hope. Each day we hear some bad news, ranging from people being robbed, to killed, to explosions. You always start your day with something to destroy the rest of the day for you. Consider that for a life.
The experience we have had in the past few months. Almost all the promises we were given were broken. Even when they said they'll make passports in mid October (though not important) that also turned out to be a broken promise.
A week ago I went to get my father's retirement payment. It was $60 and they gave the payment for all the retired people in Baghdad in one month and in one place and my dad's turn was on 12 August. It was 52 degrees that day. (More than 3000 people died in France because the temperature reached 42). All the people there were over 60, and they had to stand in queues outdoors. Is this how the Americans look at human rights?
During the period I was in the queue two people fainted. Was it so difficult to do it like the old days, each going to the bank closest to his residence? By the way, the $60 were for three months!
A friend of mine asked me if we get to see the American soldiers often. Well, you can hardly go out for more than 15 minutes without seeing a patrol or two. Helicopters are almost always there.
Yesterday, when I was sleeping on the roof (where most Iraqis sleep nowadays because of the absence of electricity) a helicopter came so low that I was almost able to reach out and touch it.
Picture this, you're sleeping safe and sound, and suddenly you wake up to the sound of a helicopter no more than 10 metres above you.
If you don't believe it was that close, well here is the proof: I saw it in the dark WITH. OUT WEARING MY GLASSES. Do you believe me now? We are closer to nature than any time before. We spend a lot of time in the garden and we sleep on the rool in the night just counting the bright stars in the very dark surroundings.
I know I might sound too pessimistic in this letter but this is only because I feel that way. Things might be better than how I see them or will be soon, but unfortunately I see things this way.
Regards, Ahmed, Baghdad, Iraq
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8 socha Fighting for Asylum rights nce September 2003 to put her full case to a court on appeal. The lawyer was only able to appeal on very restricted points of law, seriously limiting the chance of success.
This means that we need more general campaigns to explain why people leave their homelands and why some come to Europe. Britain is in the forefront of pushing for the harmonisation of asylum rules on the harshest possible basis within Fortress Europe. ed. This view was epitomised by the judge ment of Lord Chief Justice Woolfe, who turned down Mrs Ay's request for an appeal before an adjudicator. He said that the need for a strong immigration policy must override the children's welfare. He justified this by claiming that it would send "an appalling message" to the British public if someone with Mrs Ay's "immigration history" were granted asylum.