Three years after invasion, Iraqis now living in San Diego County differ in views of war

WILLIAM FINN BENNETT

For Iraqis living in San Diego County, TV images of death and destruction are daily reminders of the toll being exacted on friends and relatives in their war-torn homeland.

"I cry every day when I watch the news," Shiite Muslim and El Cajon resident Aqel al-Hosiny said during a recent interview.

As the violence continues, al-Hosiny and other Iraqis in the county revealed starkly contrasting views on everything from the likelihood of a full-scale civil war to whether it was a mistake to oust Saddam Hussein.

"Saddam was a terrible man who killed thousands of people," said Iraqi native and Lakeside resident Hassan al-Maalaki, 48.

Another Iraqi native had a different view.

"When Saddam was president, there were no terrorists," said Nael Tito, 29.

The Chaldean view

While Iraq is a predominantly Muslim country ---- 97 percent of its population is Islamic ---- many of the Iraqis now living in San Diego County are Chaldean Catholics, a centuries-old offshoot of the Assyrian Church of the East integrated into Roman Catholicism in the 16th century.

Most of its 500,000 members live in Iran and Iraq, and Chaldeans make up about 3 percent of Iraq's population of 26.7 million people, according to the CIA's 2006 edition of "The World Factbook."

In El Cajon and the surrounding area, there are about 8,000 Iraqi Chaldeans, according to the Rev. Sabri Kejbo at El Cajon's St. Michael Chaldean Catholic Church.

On a recent afternoon, several young Iraqi men ---- all of them Chaldean Christians ---- were gathered outside of El Cajon Shish Kebab restaurant, smoking and chatting in the shade.

Several said they believe civil war is inevitable, and in regular talks with family members and friends in Iraq, they hear descriptions of a nation dominated by fear and uncertainty.

Some observers believe the country, invaded by the U.S. in March 2003, is already in a civil war.

Others say that while sectarian violence is rampant in the portion of Iraq controlled by Sunni Muslims, the situation in other parts of the country is less dire.

Several of the Chaldean men said they believe that removing Saddam Hussein from power may have been a mistake in a country where only a strong leader can control such divisions.

Tito said that life had been more secure under Hussein, and that life for ordinary Iraqis has worsened since his ouster.

"Now when somebody leaves home, they don't know if they are going to come back," Tito said.

Many of the best jobs that are available in Iraq involve working with the Americans as translators, Tito said.

But "you have to keep it a secret, or they will kill you or your family," he said.

Tony Korkes, 30, agreed.

"It's worse than before," he said. "There is no safety ---- (Now), everybody is afraid. Neighbors used to trust neighbors. Not anymore. You can't park your car in front of your house ---- people will think you are rich and come and kill you."

Korkes said people are not only afraid of leaving their homes after 6 p.m., they're afraid their children will be kidnapped during the day.

"We know people here whose family members have been kidnapped and they have to send money (to the kidnappers) or they will kill them ---- sometimes, even when they pay, they kill them," Korkes said.

The biggest mistake America made after the invasion was not moving immediately to install a government, Korkes contended.

"They waited too long," he said, adding that he believed a civil war between Shiite and Sunni Muslims is coming.

Shiites and Sunnis

While the two groups share many fundamental beliefs, Sunnis, who make up 85 percent of Muslims in the world, believe their religious leaders should be elected from among those who are best able to fill that role, according to the Web site, islam.about.com.

Shiites believe their leaders are of the Prophet Muhammad's bloodline. The differences between the two sects have sometimes led to violent confrontations.

Saddam's regime was known to encourage Sunni loyalists to move into areas with Shiite or Kurdish populations. And the demise of his regime spelled possible trouble for Sunnis in a country where Shiites represent about two-thirds of the population.

Just before the first Iraqi elections in early 2005, Iraqi native and Fulbright scholar Hamdy Singary visited North County and said Iraqis had high expectations for their government.

In late June, Singary, now at the University of Arizona where he is working toward a master's degree in law, said he recently spoke with a relative in Baghdad who asked for money so that she could escape the violence and move to the Kurdish-controlled area in northern Iraq.

"She said the killing has gotten much worse, killing with no reason," he said.

Rent has skyrocketed in northern Iraq as more and more refugees from the Sunni Triangle seek a safe haven.

The Sunni Triangle is an area northwest of Baghdad with the city of Tikrit at its north end, Ramadi to the west and Baghdad to the east. Its population is predominantly Sunni, and some of the worst sectarian violence has occurred there.

On July 1, a huge car bomb exploded in Baghdad, killing 66 people and injuring about 100. A Sunni group took credit for the attack, saying that it was in retaliation for Shiite attacks on Sunnis.

Torture victim

Don't tell Shiite Muslim al-Maalaki about the benefits of Saddam's rule.

Sitting outside of the Islamic Center of Lakeside on a recent afternoon, the 48-year-old al-Maalaki pointed at twisted scars on the top of his feet, where he said Iraqi secret police had poured battery acid.

He also has scars on his arms, the result, he said, of being chained and hung from a ceiling fan and beaten incessantly.

Over a three-month period in 1979, he said, he was tortured for days at a time. When his wounds became so bad that his life was at risk, they would take him to a hospital for a few days of recuperation, before beginning the torture sessions again, he said.

When he could no longer bear the punishment, he agreed to sign what he called a phony confession to get them to stop, adding that he never knew exactly what the charges were against him.

At that point, he said, he was taken before a judge who sentenced him to 10 years in prison.

Al-Maalaki, who came to the U.S. in 1994, said that if the Americans leave Iraq, another cruel dictatorship will quickly follow.

"I don't want the U.S. to leave Iraq ---- if they do, all of Saddam's friends will come back," he said.

Asked if he believed the United States will bring peace to his troubled homeland, Al-Maalaki said yes, but that he believed it will take years.

"All you can do is pray for Iraq."

Civilian deaths continue

Responding to calls by some Democrats for a timeline to gradually withdraw U.S. troops, Republican leaders have said that would worsen the conditions and all-out civil war would result.

Despite the June 7 death of Sunni extremist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in a U.S. airstrike, more than 700 Iraqi civilians and security forces have died violently since his death, according to published reports.

Sitting in another El Cajon shish kebab restaurant, 43-year-old pharmaceutical technician al-Hosiny recalled a recent telephone conversation he had with his brother, who lives in Baghdad.

Al-Hosiny said he told his brother that he wanted to bring his family to visit in the coming months, but his brother told him he should reconsider.

"He said, 'Don't come now ---- you have three children, if someone knows you are from America, they will kidnap them.' "

He said that U.S. forces made a huge strategic error when they disbanded the Iraqi army.

If the U.S. had kept the army essentially intact, much of the sectarian violence could have been avoided, al-Hosiny said.

The Los Angeles Times recently reported that the number of Iraqis who have died since the March 2003 invasion was "at least" 50,000 people, most of them civilians.

The numbers were arrived at by compiling statistics from the Baghdad morgue, the Iraqi Health Ministry and other agencies.

The reported toll surpassed the Bush administration's estimates that about 30,000 Iraqis have died since the start of the war.

'Hate overtaking love'

UCSD Medical School professor Wael al-Delaimy said that he speaks frequently with friends and family in Iraq, as well as other Iraqi natives living in San Diego.

A Muslim, al-Delaimy said he believes that most Iraqi people have a love-hate relationship with U.S. forces.

"But currently, the hate is overtaking the love," he said.

In the weeks after the invasion, people welcomed the troops for ending what most viewed as a brutal regime, he said.

"But three years on, I would say most or all (Iraqis) think it was a big mistake and not worth the price," he said, adding he knows two Shiite families in San Diego who had their parents kidnapped in Iraq.

"One of them is missing, the other had to pay a huge ransom," he said. "They were saying we were better off during Saddam's time, because now there is chaos, kidnapping and killing and nobody knows who is killing or why."

Asked whether he would like to see the U.S. leave, al-Delaimy said yes, but the exit should be gradual.

"For the sake of everybody, there needs to be a clear timeline for exiting, and that will relieve some of the tension," he said.


Christians of Iraq

Updated list of Opression and Murders of the Assyrians in Iraq News not reported by the International Press

Three years after invasion, Iraqis now living in San Diego County differ in views of war