A Family Tree.


I have spent all day drawing up my family tree i.e my genealogical tree.

I tried assembling all the information together. Souvenirs, memories, faces, locations, names...some sort of a mental compendium of an oral and visual history.

What I heard, whom I met, what was said about who, who married who, where did they come from, their origins, their sect, their religion, where they ended up, their life stories...

I tried to go as far back as I can, gathering all these little pieces and sat down and sketched the family tree, starting with my great grandparents -both maternal and paternal.

It was not easy...

Some of them are already gone for good. Some I never really bothered to find out more about, some I took for granted, some were too distant physically and some emotionally out of reach, and some were a taboo subject...

I spent hours remembering names and faces...They were difficult, painful hours...

My immediate family was just a branch of this tree amongst many other branches but we were all attached to the same trunk. We all belonged to the same trunk.

I got tired after a while and stopped this exercise...But I was curious as to why I had started it in the first place. Why this sudden need to delve into my own personal roots...

I have no clear answers.

Maybe because I have been feeling like a leaf that has fallen, amongst many other leaves, kind of scattered "pêle-mêle."

Maybe because winds blew us away, apart from one another, sometimes ripping whole branches to the ground...

Maybe it my own feeble attempt to hang on to something solid...like an imaginary tree when my own grounds are so shaky, almost non existent.

So I sketch trees instead, family trees...


I remember a long time ago, I lived through an earthquake, everything shook and not knowing what to do, I held on to some wall only to feel the wall wobble and crack...

It is the same now. Everything around me feels like this wall - wobbly, cracked...Fractured.

I console myself with the thought that I, at least, have the memory of a Tree. Something to give me strength, verticality, and a sense of belonging even if it is on some fictional, imaginary level...



I have serious doubts that the increasing number of Iraqi orphans can console themselves with that same thought.

A friend who is closely associated with an International Organization, told me that the unofficial figure for Iraqi orphans is 5 million. I have no way of verifying this figure but it does not surprise me.


Who will remind these orphans of their family tree? Who will tell them stories about their parents, grand parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, relatives...

Who will feed them? Who will nurse them? Who will hold them? Who will teach them how to draw trees? Who will recount their origins to them?

Thousands are growing up in the streets, in the garbage dumps, sleeping in packs, in some corner, in some rubbly building, in some orphanage, abused, neglected, traumatized for life...

And if they ever make it to adulthood, that is if they do not commit suicide before or fry their brains in drugs or end up incarcerated in some prison for petty theft...or get caught in some pedophile ring, or see their life story written in some brothel at the hands of some perverted adult... What will they tell you?

What Tree will they sketch ?

Do you ever think of them ? Do they ever cross your mind ? Or are you just sadistically pleased with your great Iraqi production ?

I really have to say it - You are a VILE lot. Every single one of you. And that includes you too, impotent, treacherous Arab shits. And that includes you too perverted, sly Iranians you and your supporters. And that includes you too, sectarian heinous, repulsive Iraqis.


There are also hundreds of other Iraqi children rotting away in local prisons, under the pretext of helping the "insurgents."

Prisons run by the sectarian militias from Iran. Militias, that you, anti-war, another category of shits, support.
Militias run by the bastard driller Muqtada al Sadr and the Al Hakeem clan and the Maliki puppet whom you welcomed with flowers in Washington D.C.

And you wonder why I call you VILE? And you wonder why I call you a DISGRACE?


An article appeared yesterday, and it states that these child prisoners show signs of severe torture. Read on.

"The five children showed signs of torture all over their bodies. Three had marks of cigarettes burns over their legs and one couldn't speak as the shock sessions affected his conversation..." (full article here)

It is believed that there are about 220 child prisoners in Iraqi governmental run prisons. I say bullshit to that. Multiply this number by 3 at least, if not more.


It is also common to witness an armed militia man walking into some hospital with some sick child prisoner (sometimes not older than 12) and the doctors have to treat and ask no questions whatsoever. Some of these children are diagnosed with STD.

Would you like to see your own children in a similar state ?


So you have the orphans, the child prisoners and you also have another category, the traumatized for life, beyond help category.

Take this one for instance;

"Salah Hashimy, 14, has lost his parents, sisters and many friends since the US-led invasion in 2003; finally there was no one to look after him. He lacks education, love and support, a combination that, according to doctors, caused his mental health problems. My memory is very weak but I cannot forget when I saw my sister being raped by militants until she died," Hashimy said." (full article here)

And we all know, all of us Iraqis know, who does the "professional" raping in Baghdad.
None but the sectarian militias from Iran and IN PARTICULAR Jaysh Al-Mahdi of your "patriotic" Muqtada al Sadr. And they are ALL "rogue elements."
And this is a FACT.
Congratulations to you, anti-war shits, supporters of Genocide.


So tell me, o'civilized ones, how will these children draw a Family Tree?

What will they say ? Our family tree was bombed, raped, tortured, murdered, imprisoned, broken, exiled in the name of Democracy ?

Or will they just stare at you and point their fingers at your eyes ?

Or having lost it all, will they later join the Resistance, and clean us from your filth...and find a sense of belonging ?

Only then, will they be able not only to create a NEW Family Tree, but also draw One...replacing the one you viciously and violently uprooted them from.
The one you robbed them from ever experiencing.
The one you never allowed them to feel or...remember.


Painting: Iraqi artist, Khaled Al-Qassab, 1999.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Such a shame! One day, you will regret all the dark forces behind you. I hope it won't be too late!
Layla Anwar said…
nur aris,

Am not sure I understood what you mean. Never mind. I do not understand half of the comments on this blog.
Layla Anwar said…
Dark forces, light forces and you all leave us fending here alone.
Take the cloak off and come back to earth. If you see them screaming, it is God screaming in your face...And you can't leave IT behind.
YoUnicorn said…
My Dear Layla

Yes it is God screaming !
We need to invent
new words for the pathology
of the bastards responsibles of
this. There are no words, no words
Thank you Layla.. you share with us words from your heart and the truth is needed !!

The truth is the only weapon
we have for justice
and it will come dear ... it will come...


Lots of love
Salaam
Narendra shenoy said…
I wept, I'm afraid. Most unmanly. But I have two sons, aged 13 and 10 respectively. I guess that's why I'm so emotional. It must be a weakness, this tendency to feel the pain of others. Strong people seem to march on regardless.
Layla Anwar said…
Hello Narendra and thank you for visiting and your other comment on some previous post.

Weeping is NOT unmanly. Just very human.

I had a look at your blog and read some of your writings. You are a very good writer and with a great sense of humor. A suggestion if I may even though am not well placed to do so.
Use those writing skills to reflect other facades of reality wherever you are. Am sure they can be included in your biography as parts of you as well.
Layla Anwar said…
Dear Yolla,

Hello and thank you for all including the fun mails.
You take care and lots of love to you
Anonymous said…
You Iraqies play the victim so well, especially you Layla.

So the United States had no right to go to war against and occupy Iraq. I get that. But you guys are raping,torturing and butchering each other so this genocide talk is just bullshit. It just sounds real good doesn't it?
Layla Anwar said…
lisa,

you may need to get that flag pole out of your butt, get the cotton out of your ears, and take those striped shades of your face.
Only then, will I seriously reply to you.
YoUnicorn said…
Lisa

Please stop the programming and
the brainwashing.. or simply dont post such nonesense. War? what war?
Whatever happens in a country is a local issue and YOU / uksahell (uk,usrahell) 3 invasors
dont have any right and have never had any right to INVADE Iraq
Genocide is happening and you need to wake up... is your choice.
Fill your heart with lies or stop to be a real human being... and of course you can reply whatever, I just dont care.
ASK to yourself what are YOU playing? the Bulliest !!!!

Thank you Dear Layla
Peace
Salaam
Anonymous said…
Come on!! You don't reply seriously to anyone!! Even the self-loathing Americans who agree with you!! You are just a racist floating baathist propaganda that there is a genocide going on for political preposes. You really think that the US will "kicked out" of Iraq that the baathist superhumans will be the ones credited for "saving the Iraqi peolple" and they will take over and everything will be alright.....
Layla Anwar said…
Lisa,

Seems you did not take that flag out of your ass yet...Pity. I was hoping you would eventually make some sense.
Do come and bark tomorrow, you keep me amused.
Peter said…
dear layla. it's only today that i heard of your blog. it is great, keep going on. i loved your argument with lisa. i am all for you, hook, line and sinker.
i have just today started a blog of my own, it'scalled urwandarwacu.blogspot.com (our rwanda). one of the bees in my bonnet is the french complicity in the 1994 rwandan genocide.
peter from holland.
Peter said…
dear layla, it's only today that i learned of your blog. i think it is great, keep it up, and tell the likes of lisa to go to blazes. i must confess i enjoyed your argument with her.
greetings, peter (from holland)
Anonymous said…
The US had no right to invade Iraq and the ongoing occupation is a war crime. I find the fact that almost 6000 Americans have died for nothing is a war crime too. I couldn't begin to know how to face an Iraqi or an American killed in my name. But nobody got my approval to start or or contnue this war. You know everything...tell me what you think I am supposed to do. Explain to me how Genocide applies to what is going on in Iraq. Are you denying that Iraqies are slaughtering each other?
Layla Anwar said…
Hello Peter,

And thanks for visiting my blog.
I mentioned once operation turquoise of Rwanda in one of my posts calld WHY.
At least in the Rawandan case, people finally admitted that it was a genocide...and the "respectable western" world made films out of it and wrote books.
Till this day, the Western media, press etc...REFUSES to acknowledge the genocide of the Iraqis which is now amounts to 1 million ++ dead. Please check http://uruknet.info this is the site that really keep updates on the current iraqi situation and I use it regularly.
Also check the article that just came out by Gabriele Zamparini addressing the BBC on that same issue.
Best to you Peter.

P.S Lisa is of BAD FAITH. She refuses to recognize that PRIOR to the American occupation of Iraq there was no civil war and no sectarian strife and Iraqis did not go butchering each other.
Layla Anwar said…
Lisa,

I think you can read my response to your ignorance in my reply to Peter. You are just someone of BAD FAITH and I have given you enough space on this blog.
Anonymous said…
if the world is to rely on American science, technoloy and money then don't get pissed when America decides to protect it's interests. If you don't like it, invent your own shit or at least give people the freedom to do so!

AMERICA IS THE GREATEST COUNTRY ON THE PLANET. Don't like it? too damn bad and as always...
KISS MY FAT ASS.


'keep your friends close and your enemies closer.' general lab
YoUnicorn said…
Lisa
I suggest you take your medication
or go inpatient... you really need help. The wonderland of the delusional free LOL
Ah btw .. go to weight watchers,
maybe you can lose some of the
over weight or stop eating rubbish.


My Dear Layla
Bless you
Lots of love always
My heart and solidarity to Iraq.
Arriba Iraqi Resistance !!!!

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