This day marks five years since the start of the US-led invasion of Iraq. Five years full of death and suffering to Iraqis. What is even more sad, is that the suffering of the Iraqis did not start only five years ago. It started a long long time before that. Saddam and his entourage caused pain, agony, and death to an enormous number of people. Some people thought it would end by the occupation of Iraq by the US and life will flourish again. How wrong were they.

Those five years were nothing but another episode of suffering. With some new types of suffering, I must admit. If we look into facts of what this war has accomplished in five years, and I mean the accomplishments to the simple Iraqi person who does not have "Democratic" dreams, you can simply say, NOTHING. And what pro-american people might say about the improvements, it is the improvements done to what was sabotaged during these years of occupation. I can simply see that the last year, there was so much effort to fix things. Things that were broken in the past four years before. The last few months witnessed decrease in number of deaths, as compared to other periods during the occupation, not as compared to a normal country (Something we only hear about). Many media interns of the US were bragging about the low rates of deaths in the past few months. It ONLY 300 people this month. Its ONLY 200 people this month. What do they care? its just a number. A number that when compared to other months looks small. I mean, its ONLY lives of people we are talking about here.

And if I start about the services, oh my God I will not stop. The government had made sure to keep the people NOT having many services they did not have in the four years earlier. Secondary things like electricity, gas, clean water (or even not clean), garbage disposal, health care, education, paved roads, and many other secondary things. All of these things are considered secondary because the main accomplishment is security.

The government have accomplished so much in the past year. I mean just today, the second session of the reconciliation conference was concluded. A conference where our beloved "politicians" give speeches about how important it is to re-conciliate. and then they leave the conference in their armored vehicles with ten or more security personnel because they might be attacked by "terrorists" who happen to have connections with some other people who were in that conference. One important achievement we must not forget. The parliament changed the flag of Iraq. It was the last trace of Saddam left in Iraq. And it had to be changed. There are no Bathists or terrorists connected to Saddam anymore that we have to worry about, its just the flag that was left. The government also passed a big bunch of laws. The very same laws that the government tends to break every once in a while. And the government sure gain much respect with so many statements they made the past year about how they are going to bring to trial everyone who commits crimes on the Iraqi soil. And speaking of trials and courts. The Iraqi court made a big achievement last year too. They released one of the most important leaders of death-squads in Baghdad, because the witnesses just could not make it to the court room. I don't know why. Maybe because of the small concrete walls all over Baghdad. It can be a little confusing, I know. One last huge accomplishment is not to be forgotten. Turkey had a big military operation inside the Iraqi land.

What do we need to conclude from these five years, as Iraqis?

1. It is our battle against terrorists. No one is going to fight this battle for us. Not the American nor anyone else. The title of this post is "Five gone, X more to go..", it is our decision to determine the value of X. Only us can determine how many years we can take of this suffering.

2. When the government does something wrong, we need to stand-up for ourselves. Being a victim does not do any gains. We need to stand-up for ourselves and take control. I know it is not easy with all the armed people around, but we have to make a start, or else we will create another Saddam Hussien, and another, and another.

3. NEVER vote based on sect or ethnicity. It has brought nothing but harm in the past few years.

4. We need to raise our awareness of our rights. And fight for them. And I do not mean armed fight, I mean peaceful fight in every possible way.

5. Tyrannies do not always end. Occupations do.

I know it sounds like an election speach. Or more like a shout in the face of a tornado (As we say in Iraq, and sorry for the expression, boola bi shatt, like piss in a river). But again I say, no one is going to fight for us. The Americans did not fight for us when the toppled Saddam. They did it for themselves. So, we have to do whatever it takes to have the life that we want, no one will do it for us.