After Jabr’s appointment, the roving gangs of kidnappers and murderers changed their look. Instead of being dressed all in black, they wore police uniforms. They also carried police-issued guns and drove around in police cars. But Jabr denied these men were real police officers. He also denied knowing about the torture center found on the 6th floor of the Interior Ministry building.
But Jabr isn’t the only militia connected minister in the US supported government. Former Health Minister Abdul Mutalib Mohammed Ali and former Transportation Minister Salaam al-Maliki—are both closely linked to the Medhi Army. The US appointed Prime Minister of Iraq, Nuri Al_Maliki, belongs to the Al Da’wa party, the same party declared a terrorist organization by the State Department in the 1980’s. So it seems that instead of bringing peace and stability to Iraq, the American led forces paved the way for theocratic terrorists to enter the country and then appointed them to the government. That may seem like an extreme statement but it’s difficult to come to any other conclusion when you look at the pedigree of the groups that make up the current Iraqi government.
After her husband’s murder, Amel was summoned to perform in the National Chorus once again. This time, the command to perform didn’t come from Saddam. It came from contractors working with the Americans. As part of an attempt to show the world that Iraq was functioning once again, the Americans wanted Amel to sing the praises of the newly liberated Iraq and its American supported regime.
She says that even though the contractor received about $1,000 to hire her, she was paid only about $50. But she was in no position to bargain. Once again, she felt that if she refused, she would be imprisoned or worse. The same people she performed for during the Saddam regime were now hiring her to perform for the Americans. The cast of characters hadn’t changed, just who signed the checks. So she sang for Paul Bremer and other Americans at parties held in the Green Zone. She sang for the media to show that Iraq was functioning again.
Every time she went to the Green Zone it took days to get in and out. She would cover her face with a scarf when she left her apartment in Baghdad and go to a government building. She’d spend three of four hours in the building, to make sure that no one had followed her. Then she’d change her clothes for the performance and go to the Green Zone.
After finishing her work in the theater, she’d go back to the government building for a few hours. Then she would cover up with the scarf again and go to a friend’s house. She would stay at her friend’s house for several days. When she was certain that no one had followed her she returned alone to her Baghdad apartment.
She made connections with people in the new regime and was asked to work for a human rights NGO. When she took the job teaching music at the NGO she still believed that the American invasion and occupation might bring about a real change for the better. Working for the NGO made her feel like she was helping others at the same time she was helping herself.
Whatever feelings of security she built up with her new life was shattered on a summer night in 2005. The police and militias were fighting a gun battle in her area of Baghdad that night. A group of 6 or 7 policemen in uniform broke down her door, entered her apartment and pistol whipped her. One man tore off her clothes and pulled her by her hair. He said that because she was a Sunni and she worked for human rights, killing her would be “halal” or permissible under Islamic law.
She was in so much pain by the time they started raping her that she still isn’t sure how many of the men took part. She does remember the officer with a limp who told her that he would come back any time he pleased and rape her again. He gave her a phone and told her to photograph any of her neighbors that were terrorists. He didn’t give her a definition of terrorist but presumably anyone who got in the way of official police raping and killing was considered a terrorist.
The difference between the armed men who killed her husband and the armed men who raped Amel was just the uniform. It was in 2005 that Bayan Jabr took over as Interior Minister and it was during 2005 that men in police uniforms were seen killing, kidnapping and raping. Jabr was asked about this and denied that police were really behind the violence. Somehow the bad guys had gotten hold of large quantities of police issue guns, uniforms and cars.
It didn’t matter to Amel. It didn’t matter what uniform the rapists wore or who was funding them or training them. All that mattered was that she was trapped. She didn’t have enough money to buy a plane ticket anywhere and leaving Baghdad by any other means was suicide. The roads leading out of Iraq were controlled by various militias. She’d never make it the border.
She had some friends in Jordan. A woman she’d met at an NGO training in Amman, Jordan told Amel that if she made it to Jordan, she’d give her a place to stay. Her friend in Amman advised Amel to keep working in the choir because it might just give her an opportunity to get out of Iraq.
Amel doesn’t want to talk about what happened to her over the next few months. But it looked like her luck was changing almost a year later. The choir was asked to perform in Amman for a week long celebration of Iraqi-American Culture. She would be given a hotel room, a salary and most importantly a plane ticket from Baghdad to Amman. The Americans assured her that the flight would be safe because they had secured the road to the airport and the airport itself.
As she left her home in Baghdad, she knew she might never see it again. Real freedom, the freedom she’d hoped the Americans would bring might be just a plane ride away. She knew she would never find it in Iraq and she’d have to look for it in another country.
Jordan was still accepting Iraqi refugees. All she had to do was get to Amman and present her story and her passport to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and she could get refugee status. That would mean that she couldn’t be legally deported for Jordan. After that, she might get resettled permanently in another country.
She had high hopes when the plane landed in Jordan but before she could get off the plane, the manager of her group collected everyone passports. He didn’t want anyone bolting when they got to Jordan so he would hold on to the passports.
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