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Diary for the Week 1-15 Dec
On Sunday, 10 Dec., the NLA was reopened, as we planned. Some of
my staff were unable to turn up, as some roads were blocked by the
army and American forces.
On Tuesday, I met the manager of a company that would renovate
remaining parts of our building, including the Periodical Department
and the open-shelf-collections room. We agreed to be in close contact
to coordinate our works for security reasons. We both were concerned
about the safety of our staff. He gave me the numbers of the cars
of his company. In addition, we agreed to my suggestion that his
employees would had their own ID, which they had to show to my security
guards upon arrival and departing.
On Wednesday, I received more bad news. A terrorist group attacked
the house of one of my staff. As a result, he and one of his sons
(a university student) were injured, while the other son (a doctor)
was murdered.
On the same day, I met Ali's brothers and talked about his pension,
and how the LNA could support his wife and two sons. The brothers
gave some of information about the assassination of their brother.
They said that Ali was in his car, when another blocked his way,
after he had taken his younger sister to her university. The assassins
were 4 men, who ordered Ali to get out of his car. After leaving
his car, Ali discovered the 4 men were armed with guns and that
they intended on killing him. Ali was a brave person, and had well-built
body. He attacked the 4 assassins, succeeding in bringing down two
of them. Unfortunately, one the assassins shot hem in the leg. After
Ali fell on the ground, the assassins fired at his head, chest and
stomach. Ali left on the pavement bleeding until he died. The street,
the scene of the crime, was very busy that morning. But no one dare
to intervene. It is highly likely that the assassins are members
of one the militias that penetrated the security forces.
Our main concern now is the snipers. There are two areas, which
the snipers use to kill innocent people at random. The first area
is the infamous Haifa Street, the strong hold of the Ba'athists
and al-Qadda. The Haifa Street is located on the other side of the
Tigris (1 km away from our building). The second area is al-Fadhal,
which is only 1/2 km. away from our building. A number of innocent
people, including women, were gunned down by the snipers. The Republican
Street, which separates our building from al-Fadhal, is no go area.
On Thursday, We, I and my driver, decided to change our route,
as precautionary measure. As soon as we arrived to al-Sinak area
,we learnt that a group of terrorists had just kidnapped 40 people.
The terrorists safely walked away, as the police and the guards
of several government buildings refused to intervene.
Diary for the Week 16-21 Dec.
The security situation is deteriorating in our area and in the
al-Haifa Street. From time to time, different armed groups attack
civilians, houses and government buildings. Most of the roads leading
to the NLA were blocked this week. I was told that a sniper killed
a woman in the Republican Street.
My staff received their monthly salaries on Thursday, owing to
the bravery of two of my employees, who work at the Accountancy
Department. The two young women transferred the salaries (81 Millions
Dinar = US$60,000) from the Bank to our building in secret. It took
them five days to complete the operation. The Bank is located in
a dangerous area, where the terrorists can attack at any moment.
Diary for the Week 23-28 Dec.
It is another bad week for the NLA.
On Sunday, I learnt that Ahmed Salih, who was on leave, was murdered
by a Death Squad in his own house. Ahmed came from a poor family.
After his father's death, he raised his younger brothers and sisters.
He worked very hard to educate them. I also learnt that Ahmed was
engaged to a girl two weeks before his death.
On Monday, I received more bad news. The older brother of Maiadah,
who works in the Periodical Department, was murdered by a group
of terrorists.
I learnt that some sniper fired at a car in the Republican Street,
killing the driver and all the passengers.
It was a Christmas period and the security situation was as bad
as ever. We have four Christians in our institution. The first two,
'A' and 'B', work in the Archive, the third, 'C', in the Library,
and the fourth, 'D', in my office. I gave them 5 day-break to celebrate
Christmas. 'D' took just one day off. She continued to show up,
even when the main roads were blocked. I advised her to cover her
hair, when passing through dangerous areas (i.e. under the control
of the militias and armed gangs). She said that she was wearing
Hijab for some time to hide her identity (i.e. being Christian).
I had a meeting with my Minister on Tuesday. As usual, we talked
about the security situation and the safety of the staff. As we
were talking, the head of the Minister's office, Mahmud, entered
the room. He informed the Minister that the security situation became
worse around the Ministry of Culture; the terrorists murdered two
people near the cinema (around 200 meters away from the Ministry).
As I left the Ministry, I heard that some suspected cars were roaming
the area. The Ministry moved to its old building four months ago.
The old building is located in al-Haifa Street, which is known to
be the strong hold of the Ba'athists and al-Qa'ada. Just after I
arrived to my office, I learnt that some armed groups blocked al-Haifa
Street, and attacked a number of government buildings. The fighting
between the armed groups and the guards of government building lasted
for three hours.
The NLA will be closed between 28 Dec. 2006 and 7 January 2007.
I hope my staff will enjoy their Eid al-Atdha holiday.
Diary: January 2007
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