A Hundred and One Days: A Baghdad Journal by Åsne Seierstad, Ingrid Christophersen
Authors: Åsne Seierstad, Ingrid Christophersen
Tags: General, Social Science, History, Biography & Autobiography, Editors; Journalists; Publishers, Sociology, Military, Language Arts & Disciplines, Customs & Traditions, Iraq War (2003-2011), Journalism
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Satan want? I ask.
- You know him better than me.
One day a cardinal arrives in Baghdad with a message from the Pope. No one knows what it is about but there are rumours that he wants to offer Saddam Hussein asylum in the Vatican.
Aliya comes with us to Mass in St Joseph’s, where the cardinal is preaching. She has never been inside a church. Beforehand we take a stroll round the Christian suburb of Karada. In a bar called ‘Fruity’ we find Joseph. The blender hisses, the seeds crackle and a pomegranate is turned into red juice. Joseph pours it into a glass, adds straws and serves it to us.
- The cardinal is making a peace proposal. The Pope whispered it into his ear and no one will know what he whispered until he tells our President, Joseph explains, who ordinarily is a student at Baghdad technical high school.
- Insh’Allah , God willing, it will help, Joseph’s boss Hussein says. He is a Muslim but is of the opinion that it can do no harm that the Pope has sent a man to Baghdad.
- It depends on how mighty the Pope is. Is he very mighty? Hussein asks.
- Very, says Joseph.
- But can he stop Bush?
Joseph is at a loss for an answer. - I’ll listen to what he has to say. But it would have been better if he had gone to Washington to talk to Bush. He’s the one who wants war.
Like most Iraqi Christians Joseph is a Chaldean - an entity within the Catholic Church. Of Baghdad’s fifty churches, thirty are Chaldean, and in many of the churches Mass is conducted in Chaldean, or even in Aramaic, the language that Jesus spoke. The liturgy is the oldest in the world and Iraqi Christians try to maintain their culture and rites. The number of Christians in Iraq has nearly halved over the last fifteen years. Now they account for barely three percent of the population or three quarters of a million people. Every year thousands of them try to leave the country, to the USA or Europe. The Islamisation of Iraq and the increasing influence of the imams worry them. In spite of their low numbers, Christians have enjoyed a privileged position in Iraqi society. They have been well represented in the Baath Party and in Saddam Hussein’s elite forces. One of the President’s most important men, Tariq Aziz, is a Chaldean. - With Saddam Hussein at least we know what we have got. A new regime might be influenced by religious fanatics, goes the refrain.
- There is no antagonism between Christians and Muslims in Iraq, Joseph and Hussein assure me. - We are brothers and worship the same God.
Joseph has been given a few hours off to listen to the cardinal; he takes off his apron and leaves while Hussein waits for the call to prayer from the mosque. We lose sight of Joseph in the crowd by the church. Aliya stays outside. That’s OK by me, I would rather be alone.
In the garden behind the church a short, stout priest leaps about. Can he spare a few moments to talk? He can, and in fluent French.
Father Albert does not agree with Joseph that there is no animosity between Christians and Muslims. - The average Christian will get this high, he says, but no higher and points to a spot in the middle of his stomach. - The best jobs, the best pay are reserved for Muslims. But the worst is yet to come - the advance of the fanatics. It’s seething and bubbling, he says with a concerned expression.
Father Albert is curious about the Pope’s message. - God moves in mysterious ways. But here in Iraq neither popes nor cardinals count. It depends upon the good will of one man. There is now only one way left to avoid war, that our good man leaves the country, he says. - Just write it. I’m an old man and must be allowed to say what I want. Saddam Hussein must leave the country. But that he’ll never do.
Father Albert is just as critical of the American president. - He pretends to have good reasons for going to war. But he does not. He just wants control.
The priest belongs to
- You know him better than me.
One day a cardinal arrives in Baghdad with a message from the Pope. No one knows what it is about but there are rumours that he wants to offer Saddam Hussein asylum in the Vatican.
Aliya comes with us to Mass in St Joseph’s, where the cardinal is preaching. She has never been inside a church. Beforehand we take a stroll round the Christian suburb of Karada. In a bar called ‘Fruity’ we find Joseph. The blender hisses, the seeds crackle and a pomegranate is turned into red juice. Joseph pours it into a glass, adds straws and serves it to us.
- The cardinal is making a peace proposal. The Pope whispered it into his ear and no one will know what he whispered until he tells our President, Joseph explains, who ordinarily is a student at Baghdad technical high school.
- Insh’Allah , God willing, it will help, Joseph’s boss Hussein says. He is a Muslim but is of the opinion that it can do no harm that the Pope has sent a man to Baghdad.
- It depends on how mighty the Pope is. Is he very mighty? Hussein asks.
- Very, says Joseph.
- But can he stop Bush?
Joseph is at a loss for an answer. - I’ll listen to what he has to say. But it would have been better if he had gone to Washington to talk to Bush. He’s the one who wants war.
Like most Iraqi Christians Joseph is a Chaldean - an entity within the Catholic Church. Of Baghdad’s fifty churches, thirty are Chaldean, and in many of the churches Mass is conducted in Chaldean, or even in Aramaic, the language that Jesus spoke. The liturgy is the oldest in the world and Iraqi Christians try to maintain their culture and rites. The number of Christians in Iraq has nearly halved over the last fifteen years. Now they account for barely three percent of the population or three quarters of a million people. Every year thousands of them try to leave the country, to the USA or Europe. The Islamisation of Iraq and the increasing influence of the imams worry them. In spite of their low numbers, Christians have enjoyed a privileged position in Iraqi society. They have been well represented in the Baath Party and in Saddam Hussein’s elite forces. One of the President’s most important men, Tariq Aziz, is a Chaldean. - With Saddam Hussein at least we know what we have got. A new regime might be influenced by religious fanatics, goes the refrain.
- There is no antagonism between Christians and Muslims in Iraq, Joseph and Hussein assure me. - We are brothers and worship the same God.
Joseph has been given a few hours off to listen to the cardinal; he takes off his apron and leaves while Hussein waits for the call to prayer from the mosque. We lose sight of Joseph in the crowd by the church. Aliya stays outside. That’s OK by me, I would rather be alone.
In the garden behind the church a short, stout priest leaps about. Can he spare a few moments to talk? He can, and in fluent French.
Father Albert does not agree with Joseph that there is no animosity between Christians and Muslims. - The average Christian will get this high, he says, but no higher and points to a spot in the middle of his stomach. - The best jobs, the best pay are reserved for Muslims. But the worst is yet to come - the advance of the fanatics. It’s seething and bubbling, he says with a concerned expression.
Father Albert is curious about the Pope’s message. - God moves in mysterious ways. But here in Iraq neither popes nor cardinals count. It depends upon the good will of one man. There is now only one way left to avoid war, that our good man leaves the country, he says. - Just write it. I’m an old man and must be allowed to say what I want. Saddam Hussein must leave the country. But that he’ll never do.
Father Albert is just as critical of the American president. - He pretends to have good reasons for going to war. But he does not. He just wants control.
The priest belongs to
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