April 4, 2007

Damascus -- Mamoon Chalabi is one of hundreds of thousands who’ve narrowly escaped death in the lawlessness of Iraq—whether at the hands of American troops, Iraqi forces, government-backed death squads and other militias, armed groups or criminal gangs. Most who’ve been interviewed have harrowing tales to tell, either about themselves, a family member or friend. Chalabi’s is no exception.

It was a hot July evening in 2004 when Chalabi, an assistant to renowned Iraqi eye surgeon Dr. Abedin, was kidnapped by Iraqi police while leaving the Baghdad medical clinic.

"I was in my car and a police car stopped me. They asked me about my license and then they caught me and put me in their car. They were policemen, with the uniform of police and the car of police. They were really police! But you know, there is no law in Iraq. They can do anything."

Chalabi was bundled into the police car, blindfolded and pinned to the floor of the vehicle as it sped away.

"They took me and sold me to a gang who put me in a room, an outside room, very near to a house. It was a home with a family, with a wife and kids, even. They put me on a chair and told me to phone my son, but he had closed his telephone. They hit me a lot then, and very terribly, on my head, my arms, my legs with planks of wood."

Thinking the 68-year old man was also a doctor, the kidnappers demanded $750, 000, an impossible amount of money for the family. Even when they lowered the amount to $200,000, Chalabi knew his wife would never be able to collect that much cash.

After two days of severe beating, still blindfolded and terrified for his life, Chalabi decided there was no way he would live through the ordeal. "I said to my self, 'this is the end’ and I decided to make the end by myself and not by the hand of the gang."

When the kidnappers left that night to go drinking, Chalabi found himself alone. Able now to remove his blindfold, he wrapped it around his hand and smashed a nearby window. "It broke into many pieces. I took a piece that was like a knife, and I slashed my artery here," he says, displaying a faint scar still visible on his wrist.

"I cut it on the left, twice, and I cut it here on the right too. Then I sat on the earth and waited for my death. I lost a lot of blood, more than 4 or 5 pints."

But as Chalabi’s vision began to blur from blood loss, the gang suddenly returned. "They were shocked to find me like this. My artery is pushing blood like water, and there is a small lake around me."

Taping his wrists, the kidnappers took Chalabi just meters from the Al Khindy Hospital where they dumped him. "Because I became useless, because I am going to die and I have nothing to pay to them, they left me."

In the dark of night Chalabi was unable to call attention to himself. "There is no one who can see me and I can’t move. Believe me, I can’t move even a few centimeters."

Staving off dogs during the night, at daybreak Chalabi found himself still alive and able to weakly call out when a young man passed by. Afraid himself, the man first notified police who then took the dying man to the hospital. "There, they put in a canella and gave me drips and blood. And, well, I saved myself."

It took a month at home for Chalabi to regain his health, but then he went back to work. The kidnappers, still tracking him, called, expressing their surprise he had survived. "But I am not afraid because they know I have nothing. When they left me on the ground [by the hospital] they told me not to say it was the police, not to say anything. And when the police did the investigation, I didn’t give any information."

Chalabi remained in Baghdad after the incident, hoping things would get better, but also needing to work. "Because I saw no reason for them to capture me another time, I went. You know, I have to work to live." Others interviewed have expressed similar sentiments; while they may be safer outside Iraq, they also know they will suffer financially. For many, it takes a second or even third threat before making the difficult decision to leave everything behind.

"But the situation became very miserable, day by day," Chalabi continues. "It became worse and worse and it began to change. Now, the kidnappers kill not even for the money, because there are no doctors, no merchants left in Iraq. Now, police just kidnap a lot of people and kill them. Sometimes they collect hundreds, like when they took the people from the Ministry of Higher Education."

Chalabi is referring to an incident in November when scores of armed men gained entrance to the protected government building wearing the latest issue police uniforms. Between 100 and 150 men, both Sunni and Shi’ite alike, were abducted. Nine men, all Shi’ite, were immediately released; another 70, all bearing signs of torture, were released about a week later. According to the United Nations about 70, mostly Sunni, remain missing.

The incident highlights the shifts since 2004. Though criminal gangs still kidnap and demand ransom, the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) reports that most of today’s kidnappings are helping to fund sectarian armed groups and are on the rise. "Abductions have increased rapidly in the past months and have become a tool for armed groups to finance their activities, to intimidate and eliminate opponents, and to instill fear," the agency reported.

Though armed groups target civilians across the board — Sunni, Shi’ite, Christian, Palestinian — the biggest change in the past few years have been the rise of militias and death squads, some US-backed and many of which operate through the government apparatus. Both the Iranian-backed Badr militia and Muqtada al-Sadr’s Madhi militia are known to operate through the sectarian Ministry of Interior and routinely abduct, torture and execute civilians, most of which are Sunni.

"The daylight abduction and the use of apparently genuine government vehicles and uniforms raised questions about possible official involvement in the operation," said UNAMI in reference to the Ministry of Higher Education episode.

Others are more explicit.

"The Ministry of Interior’s security forces are believed to be responsible for numerous sectarian killings, operating 'death squads’ in Baghdad and other provinces," said Human Rights Watch in a January report. The Ministry of Interior must "end its ties to armed militias, including the Mahdi Army and Badr Forces,"

"It’s not clear whether the ministry controls the militias or the militias control the ministry, but either way, they’re responsible for some of the worst abuses in Iraq today," said Middle East director Sarah Leah Whitson.

"This is why after two years I decided to leave, because I don’t know at what time they will capture me, not for money, but to kill me," says Chalabi. "Enough was enough."

Recalling his kidnapping is difficult for Chalabi, even two and half years later. Instead, Chalabi prefers to put the kidnapping behind him. "Just thanks to god, al-hamdullallah, I am better now and Syria has welcomed us.

"All of us in Iraq are in this [type of] situation. We escape and we go to the UN and try to get the refugee [status].

"I pray to go back to my home. I pray for God to calm my country, that everything will be settled. I have my own house there and I can live much better than in this situation. But now, no. My home? It is here."

http://www.karenbutton.blogspot.com/