true story...

my father knows a doctor who used to live in iraq. the doctors family were once in favour with saddam & worked for him,until by chance one of his cousins was standing amongst a group of men who had earnt saddams anger, & was sentenced to execution with them. from then on, the entire family was blacklisted - every quarter a questionnaire was sent out by the iraqi government on which this execution had to be declared. in bold at the foot of the document was the warning that lying about such things was an act of treason, which is punishable by death. slowly, the doctor's family were picked off one by one, until he decided to flee the country with his wife and four young daughters, in a night, leaving behind everything they owned. travel was prohibited to blacklisted people, especially doctors, but against all the odds they made it out alive & settled in the UK.

back then, iraqi nationals living abroad were given free tickets to visit iraq. a few months passed, and the doctors wife became very homesick. she begged her husband to return, if only for a week or two to see her family, but he flatly refused, knowing that he wouldnt make it out again. he told her that she could go, but that if she was detained he would not come back for her. she agreed to this, and took the children to iraq for two weeks. of course at the visa office her return was postponed once they realised who she was. the government used her to get information about her husband, then called him, threatening, bribing & taunting him as a coward to try to get him to come back. he couldnt, as he knew what it would mean for both him and his family. so he changed his name and identity, forgot all traces of his language and origin & went into hiding, never daring once to contact his wife or daughters. its now 12 years since then.

that was saddam.


one day by chance at an international convention his group met a canadian physician. the doctor's friends got talking to him & let slip that the doctor was iraqi in origin, despite the english name. the canadian was married to an iraqi girl himself, so asked for more details like the family name. he was a little surprised when he heard it was the same as that of his wife... he reasoned perhaps the doctor was a distant relative of hers. it turns out the doctor was her father. they soon realised & the canadian son-in-law told the doctor as much as he could about his family... that his eldest daughter was married to him & living in canada, with children; that his second child was living a few hours away in manchester, also married & with twin 3-year old boys; and his third and fourth daughters were engaged to be married & still in iraq. the doctor called his wife, who couldnt believe he was still alive, and apologised and swore she didnt believe they would hold her back like this. he spoke to his children, & went to visit his daughter & grandchildren in manchester. after being completely cut off from his family for over a decade the doctor had found a small tribe of relatives. He visits his closest daughter & her family regularly & is starting to re-learn arabic.


that is Allah.

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final revision, August 2004 (c)