Iraq in Fragments

It was beautiful

The bridges

The river

There were fish

Now there's nothing

It was so beautiful

During the war it was so scary

Our house trembled and shook

The war was overhead

I was afraid in the night

We found some people saying "Baghdad has fallen!"

"The Americans have taken it"

The Americans pass by

The tanks pass by

The helicopters pass overhead

The world is so scary

The world is so scary now

It's all for the oil no more, no less

Why don't they take the oil and leave us alone?

We don't care about the oil

We've never benefitted from it

Saddam took everything for thirty-five years

and now the Americans will be even worse

I read in the newspaper today

that the Americans deny taking Iraqi oil

Why are they guarding Basra and Kirkuk?

Because they have the oil resources

This humanitarian aid they talk of, where is it?

Did you get any? Did you get some?

Or you?

Why didn't they burn the Oil Ministry?

They settled in

The situation is getting worse every day

Every day it gets darker

Today is better than tomorrow

There is no security

No security, no police And you see the streets now

Bush wants us to receive him with flowers

How can he expect that?

If it's like this in the beginning, what will it be in the end?

When you first come, you see Abdul Khader Gaelani Mosque

Go right, there's nothing on either side

No, you go straight The streets are here and here

Go into the street, take a right, like that

- you see a cafe - we live opposite the cafe

You'll find me there

knock on the door, ask for Mohammed, and I'll come out

My boss told me "lI am like your father"

He raised me up from a child

he and my grandmother

He loves me, loves me

He's nice to me

He doesn't swear at me or beat me

You don't clean the shop You're always playing marbles

Are we working here, or playing marbles?

Why are you doing this?

You pimp!

I told you many times not to play marbles

I tell you to sort the tools - the socket wrench is missing

where are the things?

Open your mind, open it!

Open your mind, you scum!

Look at me! Look at me!

You tell me you cleaned the shop this morning?

You're lying to me? Eh?

I'm talking to you!

Look at me!

Aren't I talking to you Get up!

Look at me!

He loves me

He loves me, he's nice to me

He loves me like his son

He considers me as one of his sons

He doesn't hate me

And he won't fire me

One must form a new outlook on the world

In these times we must forget divisions and denominations!

This will not serve us or Islam This will not serve Muslims

Enough of this "He said this and they said that"

History must move us forward, Not hold us back!

If History becomes a barrier, we will suffer

We must use it as a lesson

and reap the benefits

Our history has been written for thousands of years

He who tells history must tell it for all,

not only for himself

I never liked this thing from the start

Nobody got hurt except for us, the poor

Only the working class got hurt

If there will be work and reconstruction,

we won't be the ones who benefit

Only the rich will benefit

The others will stay the same:

The workers will stay workers

Everyone has their own opinion

Look at the differences between the Sunni and Shia:

You can see the divisions now

If you're applying for a job they'll tell you:

"Go to the Dawa Party,"

"and get their blessings"

Where has the Dawa Party been for the last 35 years?

Where have they been?

Why didn't they rid us of Saddam back then?

They've come back and now it's on a silver platter for them?

If you're a Shia they'll give you their blessings

If you're Sunni they won't

I tell you, I wish that Saddam were still around

I wish he were still here to see everything that's happening

So what if he oppressed us and was hard on us

He would never leave us in this situation

He would never allow it!

He told me he'd pay me later

He's lying, he's a beggar

I used to dream about work:

What is work? How do people work?

How's it done? I knew nothing back then

I used to dream about it I worked and dreamed

Now I kept working and stopped dreaming

I started working to support my mother and grandmother

I dropped out and went to work

I'll keep on working until I'm grown

My boss said, "You must go back to school"

"School will teach you to read and write"

He said, "I'll force you to go"

"If you don't go back, I'll beat you"

This year is not like the others

First, there will be no cheating!

Don't try to bribe the teachers or the headmaster to pass

There will be none of that!

Now they've got us in rows

And they're speaking about school

I want you to be the vanguard

We want you to do us proud,

to be the pride of the New Iraq!

Because we have finished with oppression and tyranny

Under Saddam they made us sing a lot, and we became tired

a new president will come

We must sing a different song, if another president comes

We must sing differently

When you succeed you take a step forward

This step will help push out the Imperialism controling Iraq

With your efforts and progress

through your studies and cooperation

The first time around I failed the first grade

And then I failed again the next year

I'm four years older than them

But I don't care, the important thing is to read and write

Who is God?

Where is God?

Yes, in the sky!

How must we say our prayer,

that we must know by heart?

The chapter, the Opening Chapter

Say it: The Opening Chapter

This is something every Muslim

must know by heart

And you can know it, too

if God is willing

In the name of God, The Merciful, The Compassionate

All praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds

The Merciful, Compassionate Master of the Day of Judgment

You alone do we worship, You alone do we turn to

Guide us to the Righteous Way

The way of those on whom you have endowed Your Grace

not the way of those who earn Your wrath, or goastray

I have an idea about those who pray:

The Drunks and the Sinners

If you treat them well, they return more than they receive

But one who prays and calls himself a God-fearing man

In matters of work or money he will always screw you

What did they tell you in school today?

They didn't give me anything

Did they give you homework?

I did it all in school I don't do it at home

How is the Reading book now? Is it still the simple stuff?

Yes, it's still the same They're bringing new books

The books we have are torn

Do you know how to write your name now?

slow down, Boss!

Can you write your name, "Mohammed"?

Like this, like this, and like this

Good! You can write "Mohammed"

And your father's name? "Haithem"

That's the only thing I still don't know

I can write it, it's easy

"Haithem" HAI-THEM You haven't written it before?

You brother of a whore!

Four years! And you still can't write your father's name?

When will you learn your father's name?

What is it with you? It's the fifth year

I never expect to see my father again

My father is dead to me

I will never see my father, or anything

My father was a lieutenant

He was a policeman

Then he started talking about Saddam

They put him in prison

They showed him on TV

I saw what they were doing in his mouth

They were searching his mouth