Voices of Iraq Article: Iraqis find new rules of survival

Voices of Iraq: Iraqis-Advice (Feature)
Posted by: nadioshka on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 - 07:27 PM

By Ibrahim Zannoun


Mosul, Nov 21, (VOI) – Iraqis have learned them by heart, yet they keep exchanging them every time there is an act of violence in their daily toiling through bombings, kidnappings and assassinations.


Advice on how to escape a multitude of ways to get killed has become boring clichés, however, Iraqis who sometimes poke fun at such precautions, believe they could save lives.
Here are some of the safety measures recommended by ordinary Iraqis.


"My wife is expecting a baby. Family and friends have advised me to steer away from Islamic, historical names and names of Arab figures when we choose our child's name," said 27-year-old Salem Mahmoud, an employee.


"They considered it a golden advice as hundreds of Iraqis are being killed because of their names. We started to take precautions for the future in naming our kids," he added.

Names such as Ali or Omar could indicate a certain Moslem sect, making the bearer likely to get killed in the escalating wave of sectarian killings that has been engulfing Iraq since the bombing of a sacred Shiite shrine in Samaraa last February.


"I bought a mobile telephone and my brother advised me not to use certain backgrounds or tunes of religious, nationalist or political songs. Some got killed because they had an expensive set or because of a tune or a background as it could reveal his identity," said university student Walid Khaled.


"I chose the tune of Titanic and nobody objected," he added.


Tareq Kanaan, a retired army soldier, stopped buying newspapers although he is a keen reader.


"There are those who choose there victims through their choice of certain newspapers which can be the key to reveal the affiliations of the reader costing him his life," Kanaan said.


"My son, who is a university student, implored me to do without newspapers… Even my wife who waited for me to finish reading newspapers to use them in the kitchen or for cleaning windows said she did not want a newspaper that could turn her into a widow," he added.


Umm Ahmed, a housewife, tells her children not chat with colleagues at schools.


"How many a family died when their children spoke unwittingly about their wealth of money or furniture. How many a family paid everything they had gained to have back a child who was kidnapped by gangs," she says.


"Children like to talk and boast of their dad's car or even of their daily pocket money," she adds.


Shaker Abdul-Wahab has a different piece of advice for his children.


"I tell them everyday to stay away from American convoys or tanks, police patrols, army vehicles…and official motorcades as well as hooded men," he said.


"What we see every day is driving us crazy. I tell my children before they leave home everyday to keep away from anything that may cost them their lives even if they have to jump into a pond of rotten water," said Abdul-Wahab.


Retired army soldier Mohammed Amin, 58, stopped going to mosques to pray for fear gestures might reveal his sectarian affiliation. Shiites and Sunnis make different gestures with their hands during prayers.


"What do we do? We pray different ways according to the circumstances for fear of the consequences," Amin added.


He has also advised his neighbors to do the same.


Housewife Samira Ammar says her husband prevents her and their children from leaving the house for fear of armed attacks.


"Yesterday, the only thing we could see from our neighbor Hadi was his leg. The rest of his body was mutilated and molten by the car bomb that exploded in a crowded place," she said.


Mohammed Ismail, a pupil in the second grade, says his father advises him not to move far away from the house for fear of getting kidnapped.


"My friend was kidnapped two months ago and they cut his throat," he says.


What bothers him most is that thuds of explosions scare birds off the trees.
"Funerals are now more than the birds," he says.