After a couple of snowy days, today was a nice day. It was a nice day until few minutes ago. I was talking to a very close friend of mine. His story is my Iraqi version of newly weds.
He got married few months ago. He and his wife worked in the same company, in which I worked a couple of years back in Baghdad. They started preparing for their wedding and their apartment. The apartment was a small part in the second floor of the guy’s parents’ house. This is how it used to be in Iraq. The not-rich people in Iraq used to get married and live in the guy’s parents’ house. This is due to the high cost of buying or renting a house. And even when people did have the money enough to rent apart from their parents, they did not. Everybody usually do this for a couple of reasons; to save some money that can be useful in the future and to keep company of the new bride so she wouldn’t feel lonely and away from her family.

During that time, I was constantly in touch with both of them as both of them were my friends. They used to tell me about every single tiny thing they buy for their small studio apartment in the second floor. I even started imagining what it looks like. The small table here with the small candles all over it. And the small kitchen that they always said would not be enough for me to get in. I was not lucky enough to attend their wedding. I was stuck here in the ********** called Amman. It was a simple wedding in a lovely park in ‘Harithya’. The family and close friends attended the nice and cozy wedding.
Few weeks later the couple came to Amman for a few days for business reasons. We spent sometime together remembering the old days in Baghdad. This business trip was the replacement of they honeymoon.
Few weeks after they went back, they received a threat. The couple was half-sunni and half-shiite. But the district they lived in was under the domination of Al-Qaida in Baghdad. Yes, and area in Baghdad under the control of Al-Qaida. And Al-Qaida folks did not like the sunni-shiite mixture of that house. So, they have to leave. No matter how much they loved their little home. No matter if it was their home. No matter if they did not have another place to go to. No matter if they have the right to be at their home. They had to leave.
These threats were real. Many families in the neighborhood had to leave their homes. And those who did not take the threats seriously, had to pay. They did not have to pay money; they paid the lives of their kids or themselves.
On the other hand, the girl’s family got a threat too for living in the wrong sectarian area. And they had to leave too.
Suddenly, the three families had no where to live in. And the sectarian violence did not stop there. They threatened the families that leave their homes not to rent or sell the house.
Someone’s house is like the conclusion of their whole lives. It’s the last resort to the whole family. It’s the place to go when you are in trouble. How would you feel if all of this is just gone?
The newly weds left their small house along with their small dreams. They just had to leave everything behind as the Al-Qiada message told them.
Under which law is someone authorized to kill someone else’s dreams and hopes?
The newly weds are now cruising around the country, looking for a place that can accept the sunni-shiite mixture with no hard feelings.
Thank you Mr.George Bush
Thank you Maliki
And my thanks extends to everyone participated in giving the Iraqis this NEW LIFE.