(Continued from Homepage)    

 

And I wonder:  what madness, what evil, what blind obedience to authority led those pilots to drop bombs on these people, my fellow passengers?  And what went so profoundly wrong with the judgement of American politicians at the time who led us into that debacle? 

 

Most Americans now see the U.S. invasion of Iraq as clearly one of the great mistakes of U.S. foreign policy in recent history.  I cannot find an adequate explanation for it.

    

I glance at my fellow passengers as they finish their snacks and return their trays to their upright position.  The majority are men, but there is a sizable number of women as well.  What happened to these people during the war? I wonder.  Do any of them have family members or friends who were killed or injured?

    

I am traveling to Baghdad during the first week of December, 2023, on a very modest peacemaking mission with a collection of holiday cards with hand written greetings from Americans that I hope to deliver to Iraqis.  It's not much — in fact it's very small — but at least it's a little something I can do for the cause of peace after the terrible mistake the U.S. made 20 years ago.  I believe somebody from the U.S. should apologize to Iraqis for what we did and show at least a little kindness.  That is essentially the point of my trip.

    

At the airport I get my visa which says "Welcome to Mesopotamia" at the top in both Arabic and English.  At my hotel I tumble into bed exhausted.  Exhausted, but I've made it to Iraq, a country I have come to care about very much.

 

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As the week proceeds, I experience Baghdad on two levels:  the first is the remarkable energy of the city around me and the warm welcome of the people I meet.  When I awake the next morning and venture out onto the street I find a city buzzing with energy and activity.  There seem to be building projects going on everywhere.

    

The second part of my experience is the memories that my current trip brings back of my previous six humanitarian visits to Iraq from 1996 to 2003.  I visited Iraq earlier to bring relief supplies and to build awareness back home of how the harsh economic sanctions the U.S. had imposed on Iraq were causing suffering to the people of Iraq, especially the children.  It is this interweaving of past and present that gives this trip its special character.     

    

Early in the week I took a trip down memory lane -- "memory lane" for me was Sadoon Street here in Baghdad where I spent much of my time during previous visits.  Seeing the children on Sadoon Street now brought back heartbreaking memories of seeing so many children then sick and malnourished because of the cruel economic sanctions.

     

I ended my visit to my "old neighborhood" with a cup of tea at a place I had never been on my previous trips:  the Orient Express cafe which I discovered in the Palestine Hotel.  It is a tribute to Agatha Christie who, like me, developed a special fondness for Iraq.  Some of her best-selling novels are based here.

    

The holiday card exchange got off to a good start the next day at the Karada Inside Cafe.  It is a favorite of artists and the literary crowd here in Baghdad.  The cafe has a modern feel with its patrons sipping coffee and using a variety of electronic devices.  The Christmas tree near the door made me feel at home.

    

Majid Hashem, one of the Iraqi artists whose paintings Common Humanity has been including in our exhibits for the past 15 years, happened to be back visiting Iraq and I was delighted and grateful that he came by to help with our card exchange.  He brought along his brother Ali who is also an artist and lives in Baghdad.  Together we handed out holiday cards to patrons at the cafe and they responded by writing cards back to the American authors which I then carried back to them in the U.S.

    

In my discussions with Majid, I learned that his family is from Ur in southern Iraq.  Ur was the home of Father Abraham and Mother Sarah in what was then ancient Sumer.  Majid's home was near the famous ziggurat of Ur.  He grew up studying the Gilgamesh Epic in school, the world's first great literary work which was written in Sumer.  Amazing!  Thank you, Majid and Ali.

     

Seeing the legendary city of Baghdad was great, but even better was meeting some of the wonderful people there.  The following evening I was treated to dinner along the Tigris River by Danya Kubba, her husband Haider Al-Mubarak, and their son Ahmed.  Danya is another one of the Iraqi artists whose works we include in our Common Humanity exhibits.  Her painting "Iraqi Mona Lisa Shubad Queen Nour" honors ancient Sumer in what is now southern Iraq where civilization began some 5,000 years ago.  It was the first time I had met Danya and Haider and Ahmed and they made me feel totally welcomed and I gave them some holiday cards.  Thank you!

    

Saturday was my last day in Baghdad, and what a wonderful day it was!  My friend Saad Muneer hosted me on a visit to Al-Mutanabbi Street near the old city of Baghdad, a street that is especially noted for its booksellers.  Wikipedia describes the street as the heart and soul of Baghdad literacy and the intellectual community.      While we were there something remarkable happened at one of the cultural exhibits:  I had my name written in cuneiform.  The letters of the alphabet you are reading at this moment originated in ancient Sumer (now southern Iraq) some 5,000 years ago in a form of writing on wet clay tablets.  The word "cuneiform" comes from Greek meaning "wedge-shaped."  Reed stalks were cut at a slant and pushed into the wet clay in various.  Unlike Egyptian hieroglyphics which are small pictures, the genius of cuneiform was that it was infinitely more adaptable by using a symbol to represent a sound. 

    

Then we visited a miniature re-creation of the famous Ishtar Gate of ancient Babylon which is located a short distance south of modern-day Baghdad.  It is through this gate, many scholars believe, that the Wise Men traveled following the Christmas star. 

    

Before I said goodbye to Saad I gave him some cards, too.  Thank you, Saad!

    

One thing that did not happen during my trip to Iraq was that I had no contact with any Americans.  As a solitary American in Iraq I visited only Iraqis and was always welcomed graciously by them.  There are some 2,500 American troops still in Iraq and I wanted nothing to do with them.  There     are some 900 American troops in neighboring Syria as well.  I think maintaining U.S. troops in the Iraq and Syria is a terrible mistake and that those soldiers should be recalled immediately.    

    

I spoke with a man on Al-Mutanabbi Street who looked to be in his 60's.  "I remember how good life was in Baghdad in 1970," he said.  "But then Saddam Hussein invaded Iran.  And then he Invaded Kuwait."  That was followed by so much suffering after in the 1990's due to the U.S.-imposed harsh economic sanctions and then in 2003 with the U.S. invasion, I would add.  The Iraqi people have experienced so much profound suffering in recent decades.  So much of that can be traced directly to U.S. policy and actions.

    

Sometimes as I walked the streets of Baghdad I wondered:  were there really U.S. armored vehicles driving on these streets 20 years ago and American soldiers shooting at the people who are walking around me now?  It seems so hard to believe that happened, but tragically, of course, that did.  What a terrible, terrible mistake.

    

It is my fervent prayer that Iraqis can recapture the richness of life that was here in 1970.  And I also fervently pray that Americans will finally discover the true spirit of Christmas and stop sending so many weapons and soldiers around the world.

    

Thank you, Baghdad!  What a wonderful city and people you are!  I look forward to returning to see you again, soon.  God bless.

 

Mel Lehman, Common Humanity

Christmas 2023