"It was beautiful" "The bridges" "The river" "There were fish" "Now there's nothing" "It was so beautiful" "During the war it was so scary" "Our house trembled and shook" "The war was overhead" "I was afraid in the night" "We found some people saying "Baghdad has fallen!"" ""The Americans have taken it"" "The Americans pass by" "The tanks pass by" "The helicopters pass overhead" "The world is so scary" "The world is so scary now" "It's all for the oil no more, no less" "Why don't they take the oil and leave us alone?" "We don't care about the oil" "We've never benefitted from it" "Saddam took everything for thirty-five years and now the Americans will be even worse" "I read in the newspaper today that the Ame ricans deny taking Iraqi oil" "Why are they guarding Basra and Kirkuk?" "Because they have the oil resources" "This humanitarian aid they talk of, where is it?" "Did you get any?" "Did you get some?" "Or you?" "Why didn't they burn the Oil Ministry?" "They settled in" "The situation is getting worse every day" "Every day it gets darker" "Today is better than tomorrow" "There is no security" "No security, no police And you see the streets now" "Bush wants us to receive him with flowers" "How can he expect that?" "If it's like this in the beginning, what will it be in the end?" "When you first come, you see Abdul Khader Gaelani Mosque" "Go right, there's nothing on either side" "No, you go straight The streets are here and here" "Go into the street, take a right, like that" " you see a cafe - we live opposite the cafe" "You'll find me there knock on the door, ask for Mohammed, and I'll come out" "My boss told me "I am like your father"" "He raised me up from a child he and my grandmother" "He loves me, loves me" "He's nice to me" "He doesn't swear at me or beat me" "You don't clean the shop You're always playing marbles" "Are we working here, or playing marbles?" "Why are you doing this?" "You pimp!" "I told you many times not to play marbles" "I tell you to sort the tools - the socket wrench is missing where are the things?" "Open your mind, open it!" "Open your mind, you scum!" "Look at me!" "Look at me!" "Yo u tell me you cleaned the shop this morning?" "You're lying to me?" "Eh?" "I'm talking to you!" "Look at me!" "Aren't I talking to you Get up!" "Look at me!" "He loves me" "He loves me, he's nice to me" "He loves me like his son" "He considers me as one of his sons" "He doesn't hate me" "And he won't fire me" "One must form a new outlook on the world" "I n these times we must for get divisions and denominations!" "This will not serve us or Islam This will not serve Muslims" "Enough of this "He said this and they said that"" "History must move us fo rward, Not hold us back!" "If History becomes a barrier, we will suffer" "We must use it as a lesson and reap the benefits" "Our history has been written for tho usands of years" "He who tells history must tell it for all, not only for himself" "I never liked this thing from the start" "Nobody got hurt except for us, the poor" "Only the working class got hurt" "If there will be work and reconstruction, we won't be the ones who benefit" "Only the rich will benefit" "The others will stay the same:" "The workers will stay workers" "Everyone has their own opinion" "Look at the differences between the Sunni and Shia:" "You can see the divisions now" "If youre applying for a job they'll tell you:" ""Go to the Dawa Party,"" ""and get their blessings"" "Where has the Dawa Party been for the last 35 years?" "Where have they been?" "Why didn't they rid us of Saddam back then?" "They've come back and now it's on a silver platter for them?" "If you're a Shia they'll give you their blessings" "If you're Sunni they won't" "I tell you, I wish that Saddam were still around" "I wish he were still here to see everything that's happening" "So what if he oppressed us and was hard on us" "He would never leave us in this situation" "He would never allow it!" "He told me he'd pay me later" "He's lying, he's a beggar" "I used to dream about work:" "What is work?" "How do people work?" "How's it done?" "I knew nothing back then" "I used to dream about it I worked and dreamed" "Now I kept working and stopped dreaming" "I started working to support my mother and grand mother" "I dropped out and went to work" "I'll keep on working until I'm grown" "My boss said, "You must go back to school"" ""School will teach you to read and write"" "He said, "I'll force you to go"" "If you don't go back, I'll beat you" "This year is not like the others" "First, there will be no cheating!" "Don't try to bribe the teachers or the headmaster to pass" "There will be none of that!" "Now they've got us in rows" "And they're speaking about school" "I want you to be the vanguard" "We want you to do us proud, to be the pride of the New Iraq!" "Because we have finished with oppression and tyranny" "Under Saddam they made us sing a lot, and we became ti red a new president will come" "We must sing a different song, if another president comes" "We must sing differently" "When you succeed you take a step fo rward" "This step will help push out the Imperialism controling Iraq" "With your efforts and progress through your studies and cooperation" "The first time around I failed the fi rst grade" "And then I failed again the next year" "I'm four year solder than them" "But I don't care, the important thing is to read and write" "Who is God?" "Where is God?" "Yes, in the sky!" "How must we say our prayer, that we must know by heart?" "The chapter, the Opening Chapter" "Say it:" "The Opening Chapter" "This is something every Muslim must know by heart" "And you can know it, too if God is willing" "In the name of God, The Merciful, The Compassionate" "All praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds" "The Merciful, Compassionate Master of the Day of Judgment" "You alone do we worship, You alone do we turn to" "Guide us to the Right eous Way" "The way o f those on whom you have endowed Your Grace not the way of those who earn Your wrath, or goastray" "I have an idea about those who pray:" "The Drunks and the Sinners" "If you treat them well, they return more than they receive" "But one who prays and calls himself a God-fearing man" "In matters of work or money he will always screw you" "What did they tell you in school today?" "They didn't give me anything" "Did they give you homework?" "I did it all in school I don't do it at home" "How is the Reading book now?" "Is it still the simple stuff?" "Yes, it's still the same They're bringing new books" "The books we have are torn" "Do you know how to write your name now?" "Slow down, Boss!" "Can you write your name, "Mohammed"?" "Like this, like this, and like this" "Good!" "You can writ e "Mohammed"" "And your father's name?" ""Haithem"" "That's the only thing I still don't know" "I can write it, it's easy" ""Haithem" HAl-THEM You haven't written it before?" "You brother of a whore!" "Four years!" "And you still can't write your father's name?" "When will you learn your father's name?" "What is it with you?" "It's the fifth year" "I never expect to see my father again" "My father is dead to me" "I will never see my father, or anything" "My father was a lieutenant" "He was a policeman" "Then he started talking about Saddam" "They put him in prison" "They showed him on TV" "I saw what they were doing in his mouth" "They were sear ching his mouth" "They were sear ching his teeth and beard and his hair" "And they showed how he was before" "How he was holding a sword" "In the past" "That shooting we heard this morning?" "When we were sitting here Do you know what it was?" "A brother and sister!" "The Americans called to them:" ""Stop, where are you going?"" "They were afraid and started running" "They killed them both" "They were just buried The shots were for the funeral" "A brother and sister!" "The other day they passed by with cars, not tanks" "They were driving very slowly in their car" "They were chewing gum" "They drove forward One of them was in back" "He was watching the kids in case they pulled a pistol" "That's how he watched them" "They may stay for a long time How would I know?" "It's for the oil" "It's for the oil, isn't it?" "They're going to install a new president" "It's not safe here" "It's scary there's no security" "I want to go abroad" "When you are abroad, nothing will happen to you" "But here you can't go out It's not safe" "My teacher told me I could be a pilot" "What would you like to be?" "An Engineer, a Pilot?" "'A Doctor?" "' I told her 'A Pilot'" "I want to fly the plane, to see a place that's beautiful and nice" "Not Iraq, but a beautiful place" "I imagine..." "I imagine..." "I'm high in the sky I can see the doves, the sky" "I can see the birds" "I am in the plane and seeing countries" "Beautiful and nice" "I fly down to those countries" "I'll go to that country" "The beautiful one" "D-A-R spells what?" ""dar"" "D-U-R spells what?" ""dur"" "What does it spell?" ""dur"" "What's the meaning of "dur?"" "Many houses!" ""dur"" " What do we say?" ""Dur"" "How do we we write "Dur?" D-U-R" "And one house?" "We write D-A-R" "DAR" "DUR" "DAR" "DUR" "When we say "dar" it means:" ""one house"" "One house Who lives in one house?" "People" "You, Mohammed, Who lives in your house?" "My uncles, me, my mother and my grand mother" "All of you live in what?" "A "dar" - one house" "Where do you live?" "In a house" "And the house next door?" "Our neighbors" "Mohammed's house, plus his neighbors' ..." "How many does that make?" "Daran!" "Two houses!" "How many?" "No, I'm telling you, is it clear?" "Don't come to work starting Tuesday morning" "What's the point in letting you work here an hour a day?" "I'll find another kid to take your place" "I'll find some little kid and let him work" "Ah?" "What do you say?" "Which is better?" "School or work?" "Work" "Why?" "Doesn't the school teach you?" "No, it doesn't teach me" "It doesn't teach you?" "What will you learn today?" "To work" "You're going to learn to work today?" "Do you know how to write your name?" "Write your name here" "Okay And your father's?" "Is there any one who can't write their father's name?" "I only know my first name" "How many months has your father's name taken?" "Show me how to write it here" "The first letter in the name, what do you call it?" "Eh?" "You don't know it?" "So why are you in school?" "Why are you going to school and don't know the letter 'M'?" "Are you pleased with yourself?" "Stand up and go away" "Haven't you been in school for two months?" "You spent five years just to write your name, "Mohammed"" "When will you learn "Haithem?"" "Next year?" "He's been in school four years and he only knows his name!" "Aren't I talking to you?" "Why will you say I fired you?" "Because you can't write your father's name" "Come here!" "I'm talking to you!" "Come here!" "Why are you crying?" "Did I hit you?" "Did I beat you?" "Come here!" "Did I hit you?" "Can you write you'r father's name?" "Why not?" "I'm talking to you!" "Look at me!" "What's this?" "A handkerchief?" "Better to clean your face with your sandals!" "You dog!" "Today when you go - look here!" "" "Bring a pencil tomorrow to write your father's name" "If you don't know how to write it I'll roast you alive!" "Understand?" "You write your father's name tomorrow" "Go, you pimp!" "You mule!" "What's his father's name?" ""Haithem!"" "He can't read or write!" "After five years in school!" "You dog, son of a bitch!" "Five years in the first grade!" "Why are you going to school?" "Why do they spend the money for you to go?" "He's goes to school, drops out, goes to school and drops out" "And he doesn't know anything" "It's better for him not to go" "It s better not to go, I tell you!" "Better not to go!" "Go tell your grand mother that you're dropping out!" "11 years old and you can't write?" "In the morning" "I went with my uncle" "When he left in the morning he said, "Come with me"" "I went with him to the big shop" "I started working with them" "It's much better for me" "At my old work, they beat me and swore at me" "I don't like anyone to beat me" "In my uncle's shop, nobody beats me" "Nobody swears at me, and I feel relaxed" "I will never go back" "I have forgotten him, even my boss name" "I left him, once and for all" "If anyone tells me to return, I will say:" ""I would rather kil I myself than go back"" "Beware our people!" "We will rise up I ike a great earthquake!" "The people were forced into silence, and only in death could they break their chains!" "The crescent moon of our celebration nears" "The celebration for which we have shed our tears" "Be gone, Oppression and torture of Saddam!" "We are the generation of Sadr" "Grant us victory over the blasphe mers!" "We are the generation of Sadr!" "Ali, grant us victory!" "As one of those children bornin the 70s" "I always heard about Saddam's oppression of the Shia" "Saddam knows" " as do oppressors I ike him - and it's clear to all, that the Shia are the most revolutionary of all Muslims" "I loved religion and I was very religious" "I entered the Hawza," "I became a disciple, a student of the Hawza" "I saw Mohammed Al Sadr almost every day" "He created in me a kind of courage" "And this courage grew ever stronger until I resolved to challenge the regime myself, to challenge the Baathists" "They ordered my arrest" "They threw me in a cell for an entire year" "Nobody passed by, nobody asked after me" "There's no fight between Shia and Sunni, especially in Iraq" "The only differences were created by Saddam and Saddam's regime" "He made the disagreement between Shia and Sunna" "After the Islamic Revolution in Iran" "Saddam sounded the alarm that the Iraqi Shia might make another revolution" "I ike the revolution in Iran" "He began to punish the Shia for their Islamic customs and traditions" "He forbade flagellation" "They take up black colors and weeping as a symbol" "And flagellation, this is also a symbol of great tragedy they tast ed losing I mam Ali Bin Abi-Talib" "They came to teach us of Western Democracy" "Killing, displacement, and torture, arrests without charge" " in the land of Iraq " "This is the Democracy they have brought!" "But Islam is the true Democracy, the opposite of the false, empty Democracy they are boasting of" "We are not terrorists - never!" " as enemies of God and The Prophet try to depict us" "They would suck away our wealth, and control our minds" "After all that they accuse us of being terrorists!" "Where is the money they are squandering?" "Where are the food supplies?" "They blame security problems!" "But by God!" "You see all these trucks, coming from everywhere all carrying supplies for the Americans, carrying supplies for the security forces, the instruments of repression!" "They are not carrying food supplies" "What a shame that some still believe the occupying power has Iraqi interests at heart!" "the occupying power has Iraqi interests at heart!" "What kind of fool could believe such a thing?" "Either we wil I hold legal elections to liberate Iraq, or we remaining the strangle- hold of the Americans" "Maybe it will bring conflict, but we are prepared for that" "Maybe the occupation forces will oppose us in the streets" "We will lead civil disobed ience and sit down before the tanks" "To prove we are in charge, that we can take our freedom" "The important thing is to dissolve the im posed council and replace it with an elected one" "We won't abide those imposed by the Occupation Forces" "Let them not imagine that in Iraq though we faced 35 years of Baath ist oppression that we don't know the meaning of democracy" "We know what democracy is" "If elections succeed in Naseriyah, they'll throw out the Americans with a slap on the face" "It will be like this: "The Islamic movements propose holding direct general elections by secret ballot, direct general elections by secret ballot, to elect a council to represent all the people of our province"" "Everyone should feel they have a voice on the committee" " Yes, yes " "So we're saying four Islamic and three Democracy..." " That's seven " "And three..." "We aren't including a Sunni position?" "No, that will create factionalism" "It's factional?" "Okay, skip it" "This is the reality, I want to explain..." "These elections won't bring clear victory to any one group" "This is the reality" "The Religious Scholars are the last wordon the elections and we will follow the Religious Scholars" "Holding local elections proves national elections are possible" "And if God is willing, it wil I be a signal for the occupiers and the UN that elections will succeed" "We will support elections" "Elections that are democratic, popular and Shia" "And it's your right to vote for whomever you like" "We are moving on this path and we will hold a conference of political parties in Naseriyah" "First, we must organize our selves" "If we can do that with dignity, then our path will be true" "The Advisory Council, employed by the CPA, was appointed, not elected" "So we fought against it using non-violent resistance" "We decided the solution is to replace the council by elections" "We are under occupation Let's be realistic" "The occupier won't allow us to do something be fore July without forcing their own conditions" "I know from experience there's a decision I ike that" "They are shaking our hand and stabbing us in the back" "It's a game!" "After July they will allow us a small portion of our freedom" "A portion Not the whole thing!" "We must beware the factional provocation being sown in Iraq" "They had th is plan in 1917, when the Eng lish occupied Iraq in the 1st World War, when General Maude took Baghdad" "They tried it then, but the Shia and Sunni declared unity and so their plan failed" "So I suggest we not to raise this sub ject in the elections, as all groups" " Sunni, Shia, Sabians - are true patriots" "Even these parti es are not legal parties" "A party must have a program, some issues they represent" "There are no laws governing political parties" "Excuse us - let's hear what Sheik Aws has to say" "Brothers, we have no time to argue and quarrel" "As our brothers have noted, the situation is critical, and our province is forgotten" "This meeting between Islamic and Democracy move ments may be impossible in the future" "Perhaps some foreign hand will intervene, or the Devil may walk between our rows" "I don't believe this opportunity will ever be repeated" "Our mission and our duty, commanded by God, is to show the correct path to those who go astray" "They are bringing the sins of alcohol to Naseriyah and people pass by them without protest!" "Now we will consider it our duty to ask the faithful if they pass the flea market and see alcohol sellers..." "We are warning them against staying there in the market, selling alcohol" "We are an Islamic city!" "The Mehdi Army will lead groups to cleanse this area after three days following this warning!" "The Devil's plan is weak!" "And God i s on our side!" "Praise be to Moqtada, our leader!" "We are with you, not Bush!" "Nor with any oppressor!" "The alcohol sellers will escape!" "We weren't doing anything, only passing by!" "Just keep quiet" "By Abbas Bin Ali Bin Ali Talib!" "If wewe reguilty, we would have run!" "...and I used to com plain about Saddam!" "God bless your parents" "You!" "What's the matter with you?" "There's nothing wrong with me" "After a bit you'll be released" "But you asked what's wrong?" " Yes, what's the matter?" "It's blasphemy!" "Those wine sellers in the month of Ashura, and you arrested us!" "I won t go Just let me talk with him" "I told you:" "I will release him If he's innocent I'll release him" "Sometimes a man might have troubles, even with his family" "We were saved from ty ranny!" "And you brought anothe r?" "How can it be, brother?" "When Saddam fell I rejoiced, but now again I m blindfolded!" "We've returned to Saddam's time once again!" "You arrested him in the market?" "Yes He was selling alcohol" "By God, he was selling auto scrap!" "Saddam uprooted my family How is it I'm bound up again?" "How can it be?" " Stop your noise " "Even God cannot accept it!" "You're slandering people In this holy month of Ashura!" "What can we do?" "Today we didn't even eat breakfast" "And now you're framing people" "We are living through challenging times in this city" "We will either live or die" "We will close every door of depravity opened by Ame rica" "And we know that America is preparing our punishment and will try to destroy us by any means" "They fear the Mehdi Army will drive them from Iraq" "We are asking in a civil way, and if we are disappointed n this path then we must chooseanother path granted us by God" "We turned out in a peaceful demonstration to call for the release of Mustapha Yacoubi" "A lot of people came" "The Spanish were on this side, and the people on the other" "The Spanish had taken u p battle positions" "The police were pushed back and began shooting in the air" "It seems some of the demonstrators had weapons" "A firefight started, many people were shot" "On TV we saw the Mehdi Army training in Baghdad" "Moqtada's speech made the Americans very nervous" "They trampled our holy places, they beat our Imams" "The south will not be silent, and no American will feel safe" "Where is the Democracy?" "Is this the Democracy?" "Is this the Freedom?" "They routed Saddam and now 100 Saddams to replaced him!" "America promised a life of comfort, freedom, democracy, but we knew it was all lies!" "The American military claims they have stopped using some methods of interrogation in Iraq after revelations of torture of Iraqi detainees in Abu Graib prison, near Baghdad" "As to how what happened in that prison will reflect on America and the American people those disgraceful acts do not reflect our character" "As we have broadcast all over the world, we will conduct a thorough investigation that the whole world will see" "In order to find out the truth of how these things happened, whether there were any decisions made, or orders given, and how they were delivered" "And our investigations will be completely different from what was done under Saddam Hussein when no investigations were carried out" "Has America saved us from the Baathists?" "They've changed the faces They removed Saddam, and here are the Baathists:" "They brought Alawi his kind" "Who can trust America?" "Who can trust the biggest tyrant?" "America is supporting Israel on one side, and we Muslims trust that America came to help us?" "Verily, glory goes to the revolutionary" "Glory goes to the resistance" "And shame, disgrace and defeat go the occupier!" "When will we begin the fight?" "You saw what became of the spies who in formed on holy warriors in Sadr City, in Baghdad:" "They were hanged from the electricity poles!" "So shall it be with all spies" "Peace be upon Mohammed and his followers!" "Curse his enemies and make victorio us his son," "Moqtada!" "Moqtada!" "Moqtada!" "If Vietnam was able to defeat America, then we of courage and faith can de feat the enemy, and expel them, God willing We can do it" "If America leaves, these people will be like a return of Saddam" "Saddam in a new form, a new image" "The city is empty, a ghost town, and Moqtada's men control it" "America promised one thing and did another" "They came as I iberators and became occupiers" "They came to help the people but then turned against us" "Against the Iraqi people, against Iraq" "That's America" "Their problem is they only know how to use force" "You have to study the Iraqis to know them" "They should learn our customs, our habits..." "It's impossible to change us with the barrel of a tank" "It's impossible" "If they bring tanks here then they are against the people" "We are in the center of the city It has become a battleground there are people living here, going to cafes and that's how it is" "America wants the bombings!" "They are killing civilians in the street it's deadly serious" "They say: "We came to save you from Saddam Hussein"" "Who put Saddam in power if not them?" "They supported Saddam for 35 years" "They want to build a military base here to steal our wealth and our oil" "They want to take everything!" "There is only one God!" "America is the enemy of God!" "Lighten their load, oh God and bring their spirits to you, oh God" "You are all-forgiving, oh God" "You are the Mercy and the Blessing, oh God" "Look favorably upon their virtues, oh God" "If they have done wrong, for give their trespasses" "All of you have come for the sake of your dead" "All the dead of the King of Believers, the Shia" "I remember all the days they play before my eyes" "In autumn they work the brick ovens sometimes I go to watch" "sometimes I go to the ovens and watch the fire" "In the summer it's very hot" "Without shade you won't last" "You have to sit in the shadows" "I will bury you" "You'll bury yourself" "When you take back moves I lose my desire to play" "That's what you always say" "You know me too well" "Youre taking back your moves!" "You only say that when you lose" "You have won very beautifully" "But victory doesn't come easily" "That's all" "When I was born, my father named me Mahmoud, after an Imam" "My father" "He said, "I will let this one study"" "And he put me in school before he died" "When my father went to God," " we had sheep, we lived in the countryside " "They said "Mind the sheep You don't know how to study"" ""You won't amount to anything"" "I don't want my children to be like me" "Let them be different" "Sulei!" "Come, little white sheep" "Sulei, I got my hair cut at a barber" "What style did you ask for?" "The Arnold" "Suleiman is a friend of mine" "Sulei!" "Not like that!" "You have destroyed my head!" "As we get older, we won't for get each other" "We won't say" ""Now we're older No need to visit each other"" "As we grow older, our friendship must grow stronger" "I will be a teacher:" "Suleiman says he wants to be a doctor" "He jokes with me:" ""If you become sick, I'll give you the wrong injection!"" ""Not the one that makes you better"" "Go for five minutes!" "And if I last that long?" " I'll give you whatever you like" "We have loved each other since child hood" "Like brothers" "When we first moved here" "Bizhar and I became best friends" "And it's the same at school" "Me and Bizhar, we always stuck together" "We still walk to school togethe r" "If anyone fights with us, we defend each othe r" "Teacher!" "Teacher!" "Teacher!" "Stand up Suleiman, please, and stand up, Salar" "I'm asking, Salar, "Who's that?" - "That is Suleiman"" "Clap for him" "However much you study, it's not enough" "However much you study, it's too little" "There are those who only study, and they'll be doctors" "And those who haven't studied" "They must take any job they can find" "I pray my grades are good enough just to pass" "The principal and I are on uneven terms" "He's always saying "You'll fail But who knows?" "He just says that so you'll study more" "Bring them back, Rosho!" "Always with the sheep, summer and winter" "Why?" "I don't want to leave school" "I want to go to college and be something" "We pray to God to end violence and suffering to give the Kurdish people rest" "I tried hard to put Suleiman in religious school to become an Imam" "I will die soon" "In my remaining days I will attend the mosque and spend my time praying to God" "I said to myself, "I have six sons"" ""Let one of them be for God,"" ""and let the others be for this life"" "It is written in the Quran, "If we stay alive, we will see"" ""Any place touched by sunlight will be governed by Islam"" "Now they say the Kurds are blasphemers, that Kurds brought Amecica to Iraq" "They say, "We will behead all the Kurds"" "People think the Kurds are blasphemers" "But suicide bombers?" "Can you imagine?" "They think it s Jihad, that you'll be a martyr" "But if there is religion left it is among the Kurds" "In the past, we moved from our village because of poverty" "Saddam Hussein destroyed the villages" "He turned the area into a wasteland" "He changed it into an Arab area" "Because bones were broken and blood spilled between us" "Ourunity and brotherhood will never return" "God brought America to the Kurds" "He brought her tous, and they liberated Iraq" "They toppled the regime" "We came out of the darkness into the light" "There's been enough war in Iraq" "How long can it continue?" "Let's lay our weap ons down and practice politics" "If you compare Jewish people with the Kurds:" "They are much fewer" "They have their own flag, their own government" "They are free and independent" "Why can't the Kurds be independent?" "Why can't they have their flag?" "Even if I don't live to see it, my children will benefit" "The Prophet said, I desire nothing" "He said, "Life is nothing, it is empty, like a house"" ""with two doors:" "You ent er on one side and exit on the other"" "I want no thing from this life" "All my children, from youngest to oldest, have followed in my footsteps" "They are walking in my path" "We ask God in His glory to hear our prayer on this Friday sabbath" "Dear brothers" "We have all been requested to go to cast our vote for our future, our country, our nation" "To draw it with our hands!" "You must sacrifice one day to save a persecuted people" "Tounco ver how an entire nation was buried alive in the Anfal Campaign!" "It's just a paper that you put in the ballot box" "The ballot box, my brothers" "Many years we fought in the mountains" "Many years we struggled against the oppressor" "All that was nothing compared with the vote you will cast" "The vote that you will cast is better than 100 bombs and 200 boxes of bullets!" "If the Kurds unite they will be something this time around" "This is your only paper?" "Yes" "Then go in" "Let them come, brother, let them come!" "Check our bodies well!" "Unti I now we have been unknown to the world" "Kurdistan!" "Kurdistan!" "Now they will know who we are" "You can't stand here, the line is ove r there" "Brothers!" "Be patient!" "I'll let all of you in!" "Nobody without a form can come in!" "Brother, I checked with all the polling stations" "Anyone with an ID, just ask for his ration card so we don't lose any votes for the Iraqi National Assembly" "You must mark list 130, it's the Kurdish one" "These are for other parties" "Put your right index finger in the ink" "Yes, this one" "Where shall I put this?" "I'm illiterate I have my husband with me" "Mark 130, it's the Kurdish one" "A man who eat these votes and for get me tomorrow, who will only play with me, I will not vote for this man, who only wants to fill his pockets" "You must support those who support the poor" "Now the Kurdish leadership has grown fat" "While the poor people are moaning from hunger" "This is the truth" "If it cannot be, it cannot be" "Now it will be hard for Kurds, Sunna and Shia to liv e togethe r" "The future of Iraq will be in three pieces" "Iraq is not something that you can cut into pieces" "Iraq is a country" "And how can you cut a country into pieces?" "With a saw?" "Kurdistan is lik e Heaven on Earth for the Kurds" "We must protect Kurdistan like our own eyes, and not let the enemy invade Kurdistan" "Those who rely God's grace, God willing, they will succeed" "If God is willing, he will give us strength" "By God, the spring is very nice, the grass grows..." "I have for gotten many things" "Things don't stay in my mind" "When they tel I me I was dreaming," "I say, "How can it be a dream?"" ""I've never seen such a dream"" "and yet I had dreamed it" "His father said, "You must herd the sheep"" "He had no choice, so he left school" "His future will burn" "I have no business going to school" "I'm the only one left" "They won't take anyone who's not a good brick cutter" "All these young guys come searching with their mustaches and their big muscles" "From morning until night nobody gives them work" "If they can't do even that work, they just go home and lie down" "Always lying around..." "But you must build your life Isn't it so?" "Now I work the brick ovens" "Then I tend the sheep" "My father is getting old, he can't work" "If we all went to school, he'd do the work" "But we won't let him work" "He raised us all Shouldn't we care for him now?" "I'm tired I eat quickly so I can lie down and fall asleep" "Now the war is over" "Today, everything in Iraq is control led by America" "Nobody can escape America's reach" "Two men are wrestling" "Someone asks, "Whose side is God on?"" "They answer, "God is always on the side of the winner"" "Whoever wins, God is on his side" "I'm going God be with you"