Michael Yon

Omar and Mohammed of Iraq The Model

1. How do you describe what you do for a living?

Well the basic thing I do for living is practicing my original specialty as a dentist. I don’t have my own clinic yet, so I still work in a government owned public clinic. I realize that dentists are not particularly adored and many people consider us dentists ‘freaks!’ but trust me, completing the treatment for any patient gives one of the best feelings I’ve ever experienced. I do not consider blogging my “for-living-work” although it brings a small income; to me blogging is a hobby, an addiction and a commitment.

2. What inspired you to start blogging?

Finding the means to speak out had always been a dream for me and my brothers and living in a country ruled by a regime like Saddam’s made that dream seem impossible but soon after Saddam was toppled we became free to use the Internet without limitations or censorship. We didn’t know about the blogosphere until my friend Zeyad, who blogs at www.healingiraq.blogspot.com told us he started one. This was the best coincidence in my life.

Baghdad College, my adored High School

3. How do you approach the work

Unless I have an idea from last night I will wake up and do a ton of reading, news and blogs of course and then I would try to make a quick tour in the city and talk to as many people as possible to see what’s going on and what the general atmosphere feels like. Then I’d go back to my desk and write down my observations and thoughts. That’s why most of my posts are published in the evenings.

4. Where do you find inspiration?

Inspiration often comes when I meet and chat with my friends, especially over drinks. Another usual inspiration time is when I’m in bed but before I fall asleep; that’s when I review the events of my, what I heard and what I saw. Many of my posts originated in bed and then I would jump out and write down the outlines of my ideas so as to avoid having them forgotten by the time I wake up!

5. What books are you reading now?

I had started reading a book by Henry Kissinger, it’s called “The Hard Road to Peace.” I’m reading a translated version so I’m not sure whether the title was translated accurately. My dad recommended this book for me to read, he’s a bookworm and I trust his judgment. But then I started “Societal Glimpses from Iraq’s Modern History” written by the earlier Iraqi thinker Dr. Ali al-Wardi. I switched to this book as it is more closely relevant to the current situation in Iraq and offers a good view into the roots of complexities of the Iraqi society. I’m beginning with the part that discusses the era of the British invasion, trying to compare between that and what is happening now.

No! it shall never return again/The counter-terror demos in Baghdad Dec. 03

6. What do you consider required reading in order for people to understand the world today.

That’s a tough question but I’ll talk about my generation where I live. Their problem is they hardly read anything and I believe this is a disaster and I’d like to see them read more about anything. The key is to read both sides of the story so to speak on any topic they find themselves interested in.

Introducing blogging to Iraqi women/Kirkuk

7. Whose work—in any field—do you admire the most?

Mozart’s in music, Einstein’s in science, Dostoevsky’s in literature and many more actually but these are the first to come to my mind.

8. What do you hope will be your most lasting contribution?

I think I haven’t reached that point yet and I hadn’t yet done the big thing that will have a long lasting effect.

Grape leaves make the best ‘doulma’ you can think of!

9. When is the last time you laughed out loud about something?

Last Thursday, I was spending the night at my friend’s and there was a whole bunch of us. One of my friends had a TON of funny videos on his laptop and we probably watched a hundred of those; some were hysterically funny!

10. What do you think people need to spend more time doing ?

I’d say I’d like to see people in general and in the Middle East in particular spend more time thinking on their own without allowing others who claim to know a lot—but in fact know nil—tell them what to believe in or how to behave.

Election posters/Baghdad/fall of 05

12. What is the most important piece of equipment and skill in your arsenal?

In equipment it’s my laptop and the ‘via-cell phone’ internet connection of course! These two things provide me with the greatest flexibility in work I can get. In skills, it would have to be my bilingual fluency.

WHY IS IT DIFFICULT TO DEMONIZE A DEMON?

I was reading the news stories this morning about the demonstration that was organized by Sadr in support of Hezbollah when one quote from a senior coalition official caught my attention. The story doesn’t make it clear whether that official was general Abizaid himself or someone else but I hope it wasn’t Abizaid or any official senior enough to influence the strategy of the coalition in Iraq especially at this critical stage:

General John Abizaid, the top US commander for the Middle East, said neighbouring Iran was arming Iraqi death squads, that militias have infiltrated the police and that more US troops are needed to bring Baghdad under control.

A senior coalition official, however, cautioned against treating the Mehdi Army as a monolithic entity, as it is a loosely organized body with only parts actively engaged in violent and illegal activities.

“We have to careful that we don’t demonize Jaish al-Mehdi, because look at the polls — Moqtada Sadr himself is an enormously popular figure. Why? Because he is thumbing his nose at the coalition,” he said.

Abizaid, however, also warned against civil war.

(emphasis added)

In my opinion the part about being careful about “demonizing Sadr militias” because Sadr is “enormously popular” is meaningless after we saw (and see everyday) what Sadr is doing and what his intentions are, and in fact this being “careful” can be so harmful to the efforts of the coalition and PM Maliki in dealing with the issue of militias and of course to the hopes of millions of us in Iraq who want to see an end to the violence. » CONTINUE

THE BATTLE FOR BAGHDAD; THE VIEW FROM MY ALLEY

Regardless of that, ordinary people will panic and will find no choice but to listen to what the voices from the dark ages say because these are the only voices that possess some form of organization and because the police and army would rarely intervene in problems is a small neighborhood leaving the helpless citizen to feel that he’s got nobody but his sect to give him the sense that he’s not alone in the face of this threat.

The story goes on fast and the news caused new ideas for “security measures” to come from the “central command” of the neighborhood; a young fellow knocked on the door to tell us about the new measures and convince us to support it, he said the new measures will include gates at the entrance to each alley (the other end is already blocked) and the new gates will be manned by teams of two who will let in only the residents of a particular alley or someone the residents say to know and guarantee.

The young man asked us to contribute 10k ($7) in return for they service they are going to provide. The amount is technically nothing but I know such plans won’t work just like the previous ones so I tried to argue but my father made the signal to pay the 10k and spare everyone the headache of an argument.

“We don’t want to look like the ones obstructing their plans in a time of serious threats, their road blocks didn’t work in the past and neither will these gates, so just let them see that for themselves with time. These rocks and palm trunks cannot bring security but identifying the bad guys can and son, we will enjoy security when we find the guts to do that” my father explained later.

So I paid the money, unconvinced that old retired officers and a bunch of teenagers can be trusted with our security. I think they are just glad they finally found something to fill their empty days with, but when you try to question the possible effectiveness of their plans or make suggestions they simply end the conversation and refer you to someone else higher in their “chain of command” and this confirms my doubts that former organizations still exist in addition to the emerging militias that represent a variety of parties and movements.

The whole scene reminds me of the “popular committees” that some Shia leaders were and are urging the Shia districts to form and I think adopting this policy by both parties will eventually lead to a large scale conflict.

I sat in the evening daydreaming about how I’m going to defend my home and family against intruders and I was a hero in those daydreams! I shot dozens of masked gunmen and saved myself and family from harm. It was a very strange feeling because I never shot at anything bigger than a pigeon and that was probably 15 years ago.

I don’t know if I can really shoot to kill when the time comes but the feeling from the dream that I was determined to fight back and defend my home made me feel safe and gave me some relief, only then I was able go to bed and sleep.
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