Review: Waiting for an Ordinary Day

Review: Waiting for an Ordinary Day: the unraveling of life in Iraq

Author: Farnaz Fassihi

This author does bring a unique perspective to her reporting on Iraq. She is an Iranian-American woman, who grew up in the Shia branch of the Muslim religion. She worked for the Wall Street Journal from 2002 to 2006, so she had the chance to get to know a few Iraqis before the US war of aggression started. And she had a clear view of how this war and occupation destroyed life in Iraq. Ms. Fassihi achieved some fame when she sent out an email to her friends and family in September 2004 that was passed around freely on the internet. It was described as the ‘email read around the world’. It clearly described what life was like in Iraq for an American journalist.

She documents the horror and the hardships that the Iraqi people faced, and how they wished for just an ordinary day where they did not have to suffer going without electricity, jobs, school, health care, water, and most importantly of all: where they did not have to worry about or deal with the violence that enveloped the country.

The US military is the source of that violence and the source of the ruination of the country of Iraq. As always, violence begets more violence. The US military is not the one responsible for having going into Iraq – they were sent there by US politicians and the US public. So, it is the American people and their elected leaders who are the responsible ones for having ruined the lives of millions for no reason beyond having multi-national companies control that oil.

This book tells about how the occupation unfolded on the ground for Iraqis. This author does have an interesting perspective on the situation, which in a couple of respects are quite wrong. First, she says the Iraqi people respond to “the situation” in a manner consistent with learned helplessness. The author thinks this is wrong, but there is just no other way any reasonable person would respond to a situation like the one in occupied Iraq. It is simply just totally beyond the control of the ordinary person who is not a combatant.

Second, she notes that Iraqi people felt that the policies enacted by the US troops were done on purpose. She seems to think that the horrible policies are the result of the US military’s ‘mistakes’. Well, I think the policies to let Iraq be destroyed were done on purpose myself, just like the invasion was done on purpose. The goal was, in my view, to destroy the people and the place, all the better to control it. I think this position is strongly supported by the near total lack of awareness of what exactly has happened there in Iraq by the US public and politicians. This is done on purpose.

The author states that (after the exposure of the torture at Abu Ghriab): “In the Iraqi imagination, torture at the hands of Americans has been in play for a long time.” This makes it sound like the Iraqis have an overactive imagination regarding bad actions on the part of the US military forces. In the next paragraph, she details how the Red Cross investigations revealed the widespread nature of detainee abuse and torture. So, the Iraqis were not suffering from an over-active imagination. They simply had more information to work with, having heard stories from their relatives and friends.

But I have to recommend this book, since it does an amazing job of following what happens in the lives of ordinary Iraqis up until 2006. There were a few she lost track of, but the overall story of heartache, grief and loss is well documented. She does an excellent job of describing the after-effects of the bombing and fighting. She chronicles the roots of the sectarian violence in the Interior Ministry forces, and the lasting effects of their rounding up and torturing (and often killing) of Sunnis, combined with the random bombings of Shias by Sunni, or possibly al Qaeda in Iraq, extremists. Her descriptions include small details of ordinary life, such as school yard tormenting based on sectarian differences. She tells of the trauma that the children of Iraq have lived with for years now.

She chronicles the impact of the murder of only sons on two hotel staff. She tells how other staff in the hotel found a foot in the courtyard and a scalp by the swimming pool after a car bombing.

She ends her book with this comment:

“I keep asking myself: What justifies the enormous costs of this war and the wound it has inflicted? I am at a loss for an answer. This is the story of war.”

I can certainly answer that question: NOTHING justifies this war and occupation. It was started on a pack of lies, and I am certain that our politicians and pundits and journalists who said these lies knew exactly what they were doing. And today, they do not notice or care what wounds or costs or deaths have been inflicted on Iraq. Some of them even think the Iraqi people should be grateful!! Our country has a moral rot that goes very, very deep, and this war and occupation showed that moral rot to the world.

I hope one day there is justice for Iraqis and justice handed out to each and every American who supported this war for even one second. In between now and the day that justice comes, I hope all the dead Iraqi children come to their dreams at night – that is, the dreams of the US politicians, pundits, journalists and citizens who supported this evil war and occupation. I hope those dead children find a way to share with them, night after night after night after night, the horror that they have inflicted on the world. In short, I hope they do not have another peaceful night’s rest for as long as they live. And when they die, I hope their spirits will meet up with the dead Iraqis spirits so they can know the full impact of their violence and evil that they did while they were living.

And we must make sure this never happens again.

And Iraqis are still waiting for an ordinary day, even as some conditions improve in Iraq. There are still millions of refugees, millions of orphans, low rates of school attendance and high rates of unemployment. There is still a shortage of electricity, clean water, and security. There are still Iraqi dying and grieving their losses every day in Iraq.

Amazon link to book is here.

Photo of Life in Iraq today: Streets full of sewage and foreign troops with big guns hanging around. Photo: U.S. Army Pvt. Johnny Lynn, 20, from Danners, Ill., assigned to Delta Co., 1st Combined Arms Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment stands guard during a joint patrol with Iraqi Army troops in Mosul, 360 kilometers (225 miles) northwest of Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, March 13, 2009. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)