Iraq is very tired

Half an hour ago I was sitting on Al-Saddoon street with a group of old men discussing the debts and the situation in Iraq generally. The haggard, wrinkled face - able of switching rapidly from very solem looks to wide grins - told me "The people of Iraq is very tired after 35 years of Saddam, so tired." Before that I'd been sitting in a juice bar with a gang of shabab (youths) who were all speaking at once in very excited tones. When we talked about debts they whooped in amazement $200 million? No, no - $200 billion (gasp). These people only earn a few dollars a day and find it unbelievable that the countries who paid for Saddam imagine that they can squeeze money from Iraqis - "we have nothing".

I've had a pretty constructive day today. Meeting first with the Human Rights organisation of Iraq, then Malik Doha, the head of the Lawyers Union and after that the Iraqi Peace Party. The later were so delighted to see me that they laid on a spontaneous banquet of quuzi - a huge bronze dish heaped with rice mixed with nuts, sultanas, spices and meat. It must be eaten standing up, and very quickly! I also spotted some more cute stationary (rapidly becoming a hobby of mine in Iraq) - a smiley face notebook being used by the lovely people at the Peace Party which now includes some jottings about Jubilee Iraq.

I'm hoping to go to Najaf tomorrow to meet Ayatollah Sistani and others with the guys from Coventry Cathedral's Reconciliation ministry. If this happens then i might not be able to blog for a few days, so don't worry if there are no posts. It's very much a "bacher inshallah" appointment, so maybe there will be more waffle from me tomorrow.

By the way, I have a solution for some of my "Bacher Ishallah" problems (see yestarday's post) care of Riverbend, the Iraqi blogger who writes better English than me: "when all else fails, try saying "Ahhhoooooooooooooooooo"- there must be heavy emphasis for this one on the 'h' and you have to roll your eyes and look 'huffy'. This basically means, "For God's sake, when are you people going to sort yourselves out and give me a proper appointment- I don't work FOR you, I'm trying to work WITH you..." But only use "Ahhhhooooooooo" as a last resort."