The shops in most of the area I went to see are closed. I asked
one of the shop owners I know, 55-year-old Abu Fadhil, since I heard
that his shop was robbed. I found his door closed and locked and he was
nowhere to be found.
Later, on my way to Sadr City, I found
that two of the three roads which lead all the way from south to north
Baghdad are either partially or totally closed in some places. You
still remember the highways in Baghdad; well now most of them are
closed, or at least fenced off with obstacles, yet they say there is
some progress in the security situation inside the city! Everyday two
or three cars explode across Baghdad, killing big numbers of civilians.
When
I returned to my neighborhood of al-Adhamiya, I couldn't get in
unless the soldiers checked my ID and my car, even though the guards
are from the same neighborhood and they know me personally. But they
had to check it to ensure that no car bombs might happen. Nevertheless,
daily mortars shell my neighborhood and those are out of control,
despite this concrete wall placed by the Americans which now surrounds
our neighborhood. Despite all that they do, they cannot bring security
to our small neighborhood.
Needless to say, Baghdad has been
changed into THE CITY OF GARBAGE. You can find it everywhere. You can
smell the stench of dead bodies wherever you go.
Talking of
electricity, there is now only one hour daily. That's it. From where
we're staying in the city center, in Bab al-Muadham, I can see from
the balcony that people sleep nearly naked on their rooftops because it
is so hot and there is no electricity to run fans or air conditioners.
Thank God that there are two large generators that maintain electricity
in our building.
Everyday by 2-3 pm the buildings where we are
staying are closed so that no-one can leave or enter. That way it is
kept secure, and this is how it remains until the next morning.
As
far as my family life in this condition, we are as though we are in
jail from 2-3 pm until the second morning where the doors are opened at
7 am.
My son goes to the hospital to work, but for the last two
days he finds it without any running water. [His son works in Baghdad
Medical City, the largest hospital in Iraq] For the last 2 weeks, as he
told me, the hospital has been without any air conditioning and almost
without patients, although it's the biggest hospital in Iraq.
My
son's wife, who is also a doctor, has to go to another hospital just to
try to assist since there is a drastic lack of Gynecologists. She stays
in her hospital for three days continuously before my son picks her up
with his car on the fourth day to bring her home, in order to insure
her safety so she doesn't have to take a bus or taxi.
As for
my daughter, she has not passed out [of] the doorway of this apartment where
we are staying for the last week except for one time for some work she
had to accomplish.
My wife left here only once, when she went to
her job (which she has been on leave from since we left to Syria) in
order to apply for a full year vacation. Thank God she got it.
As
for me, I found my car ruined, so I had to repair it. For that I called
the mechanic to come to my home and repair it, since I couldn't take
the car to him since all the mechanics shops are closed and there is no
place to have a car repaired. All of those shops are totally closed.
When I saw the mechanic he said, "We cannot live anymore, and there is no job we can find."
Dahr,
this short letter gives you just a glance of the current situation in
Baghdad. With the next letter I will tell you some more.
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Writings 
Below is an email I have just received from my close friend and translator Abu Talat. While he has fled Baghdad with his family and is now a refugee in Syria, he recently had to return to Baghdad in order to try to salvage what is left of his former life (his car, belongings from his house, etc.) before returning back to Syria. His note is instructive as to the current living conditions in the capital city of Iraq. Here is the full text of his message:
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