The house

“What if we run out of oil?”
“That would be the day of our relief, let it dry out before it dries our blood off” My mother would say.

Last week over the phone she was quoting my late fathers’ words of forty years ago when he tried to talk her out of building a house in Baghdad “It is not worth laying one brick in this country”
“He warned me enough but I wouldn’t listen, you left and the rest of us will be forced to follow and the house will stay here and becomes a property of someone else’s”.

Knowing my mother, she will be the last to leave, she only vents when she is deeply upset.

Her brother in law, my late auntie’s husband was slaughtered last week.
A seventy three years old who stayed to guard yet another house. .

A relative kept his brother’s dead body for three days at home, too afraid to take him out of the house for burial.

"Too much death to contain, nothing is sacred anymore,If it wasn’t for the house we would have left long time ago!”

They all say that for as long as they can afford to.

And people are still wondering whether oil has been a boon or a doom.

We spent a life time dreaming of getting hold of it, touching it, depending on it and making it our security.

In the name of oil we were abused, oppressed, tortured and were sent to useless wars.
In its name we lost a fertile land, a promising industry and literally everything.

Over it we are fighting each other and because of it we are following the turbans thinking God will do us just.

Oil for us has been like a mirage we keep on running after, and would be happy to get a drop to satisfy our thirst if ever.

The truth which we don’t dare to face is that it was never ours. We guarded it for so long and now it seems we were made redundant, the real owner has arrived. We either have to leave for good or go six feet under.

Oil is the real name behind democracy, stability and eventually the New Middle East.

People are counting and disputing our death toll. People are trying to condemn this illegal war,and they want to impeach Bush and round up the culprits responsible.

The above might put a stop to any future adventure, it might arrange for an exit strategy but what about us? Not even Bush's death will solve our problem.

I’ll be lying if I say I lost hope. When you are in love it is hard to do so.

But my aims for Iraq have changed.

I want this horrifying hybrid of a government to succeed and the 21,000 extra troops to take control. All I dream of which is no different to the millions of Iraqis is damage control force.

Let them take this cursed oil and drink it to the last drop, let them leave the house unfurnished it doesn’t matter anymore.

What matter most is our blood and it is much thicker than oil.