Video link https://youtu.be/jfCTnXWM_10
The Bombardment
Of Baghdad
Transcript
Introduction:
Hello, this is the Witness History podcast from the BBC
World Service. And we started broadcasting our first-hand accounts from the
past back in 2009, and all this week ten years on we’re bringing you some of our
favourite programs from the early days.
In 2003 the US and its allies invaded Iraq and toppled
Saddam Hussein from power. For Iraqis bombardment and struggle would become the
norm. Robin Lustig heard from one ordinary Iraqi, Lubna Naji, about her experiences
of the war.
Robin Lustig:
It’s the evening of March the 19th and seventeen-year-old
Lubna Naji is at home with her relatives in Baghdad.
Lubna Naji:
Well, actually we were all in the living room, we were watching
TV. And the Iraqi TV which was like the government TV at that time, was showing
like an American movie about monkeys taking over the earth, yeah.
Robert Lustig:
Planet of the Apes.
Lubna Naji:
Exactly, exactly. We were all watching that movie and we
were really interested in it. And suddenly the program changed and they started
featuring patriotic songs. About the regime, about Saddam, so we knew something
was wrong.
But you know noting happened. We went to sleep and it was
like 5a.m. in the morning when we heard the first noises of bombardment.
[War correspondent from 2003]
About 15 minutes ago their air-raid sirens sounded across
Baghdad, anti-aircraft artillery began firing across the night sky. There were
a couple of large explosions that uh and I can see a few large plumes of smoke.
I presume that that may have been targets being hit but I can’t be certain.
Robin Lustig:
When you woke up on that first night as the first bombs fell,
can you remember what went through your mind?
Lubna Naji:
I thought I was going to die obviously. I was really worried
about me and about my family as well. You worry that you’re not going to die but
that you’re going to end up crippled or being disabled. And it would be
dreadful in Iraq because you know, healthy and well people in Iraq do not get
things right, so what’s it going to be like for disabled and crippled people?
Trust me in Iraq death is not the worst thing that could
ever happen to you, there are many far worse things that can happen. It was it was
really terrifying. It was really terrifying.
We had electricity and we had access to the radio, and we
started to search for you know international you know media, like BBC Arabic
radio, and in Monte Carlo International. Because we really wanted to know what
was going on.
We knew what was going on, but we wanted to be really sure about
it. Sometimes you would hear some really close noises.
Robin Lustig:
A few days before the invasion had begun Lubna, her sister
and their two aunts had moved in with an uncle and his family. And they’d all
set about trying to get ready for the coming onslaught.
Lubna Naiji:
We taped the windows, we bought like an enormous of food and
actually we, we had this room we called it the shelter. It was like an internal
room inside the house with no windows whatsoever, whenever there was a
bombardment all the eight of us would just sit inside the room and hide and
wait until the bombardment is over.
I was really fond of this room because it was it was more
like my safety nets really.
Robin Lustig:
Were you able to stay in touch with other members of the
family who were elsewhere in Baghdad, elsewhere in Iraq?
Lubna Naji:
No. Because they all fled Baghdad, some of them went to Kerbala,
some of them went to Najaf. Yes, in more safe places.
Robin Lustig:
For three weeks then, you did not leave the house?
Lubna Naji:
I did not leave the house. Actually my, my cousin was missing,
he went out a short while before this war started and we’ve never heard from
him. So, we spent those three weeks obsessing about his destiny. And his parents
were sick worried about him, and we were all sick worried about him. We had no
idea where he was, what happened to him. It was a very very dreadful you know
thing.
I mean I do I do remember that every night before we go to sleep,
we would say the Shahada, which is like the final prayer that a Muslim would
say if he/she were about to die. Because you never know you’re going to die, you
know while you’re asleep. I used to hug the Holy Quran because I was really
scared you know.
We tried, we tried to make conversations, we tried to laugh
to chat but it was it was impossible, not to worry.
Robin Lustig:
Every night you went to bed you didn’t know if you were going
to wake up the next morning. You did wake up; how did the day proceed?
Lubna Naji:
Well actually my uncle’s wife used to handle all of those
you know day-to-day activities; dinner, breakfast, lunch. We’ve had an enormous
amount of food in the house.
Robin Lustig:
What kind of food?
Lubna Naji:
Everything, canned food.
Robin Lustig:
No fresh bread?
Lubna Naji:
No fresh bread. The thing is that when it comes to Iraq we
cannot live without fresh bread. We love all kinds of breads. So, when there
was no bread you start to eat, and eat and eat and eat trying to compensate the
absence of bread.
It was like every
five minutes I’d go to the fridge and try to take out something in order to
eat. Because that was the only way to defuse the tension.
Robin Lustig:
What was the weather like at that time. Was it already
getting very hot?
Lubna Naji:
My God, It was this dreadful sandstorm that lasted for like
days. And actually you’ve had this smoke I believe that there were people who
were trying to burn stuff.
Robin Lustig:
There were reports at the time of ditched being filled with
oil and set alight.
Luba Naji:
Exactly, there was always smoke in the air which was really
really unpleasant combined with the sandstorm.
Robin Lustig:
You could hardly
breathe.
Lubna Njai:
Of course.
Robin Lustig:
Did you dare to open windows?
Lubna Naji:
No, no we did not, because we had the windows taped already
and one of my aunties is actually pretty old. She was the typical frightened
elderly woman, so whenever we tried to open the windows, she would beg us to
close them.
Robin Lustig:
But after three long weeks cooped up in their house not
daring to go out, American troops rolled into Baghdad, and on the 9th
of April live on television, down came that giant statue of Saddam Hussein in
the centre of the city.
[News commentator 9th of April]
[Applause]
Its making a grinding sound the armoured personnel carrier,
tightening the tension of the ropes and the chains around the neck of the
statue of Saddam Hussein. The engine of the armoured personnel carrier is
roaring- here it comes.
[Cheering and whistling]
Lubna Naji:
We knew that Saddam has gone, you know when they destroyed
the statue. To tell you the truth we hated Saddam, my entire family hated him,
I hated him. We were so relieved that he was gone. So, the 9th of
April 2003 was a very happy day for us.
But afterwards you start you know every year on the 9th
of April you start to think back about that dream that you had that’s been
taken away from you. Because on the 9th of April, you had you had a
time to think and you say “yes this is going to be a democratic prosperous
country. We’re going to be as prosperous as the United Arab Emirates or maybe even
more. “
But, as time you know went by, you started to see all of those
hopes and dreams getting crushed really really slowly and gradually. So, it was
a very big disappointment, a very very big disappointment.
Robin Lustig:
Lubna Naji returned to school in June 2003 and she went on
to study medicine.
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