Saturday, August 20, 2005

A Tribe Gathering!

A tribe members I haven't seen or heard about before came over to visit today. The purpose of the visit was to solve a problem. Here is Iraq, if you have a trouble and want a support, you either go to the police or ask for the help of your tribe. And since no one can trust the police, and the police can't also trust us, we go to the head of the tribe and ask for his help.

You may ask why the police doesn't trust us!? Let me tell you, since the situation is not good in Iraq, people are used to call the police to report a robery or a crime and such things. But cuz the policemen are an easy target, anyone can call to give them false information about a robery of a house somewhere, then the poor policemen or the I.N.G. go there and face their destiny... The house they go to is an ambush! A BOMBED HOUSE! That's what happened someday in Baghdad when the I.N.G. got a report about some terrorists hiding inside a house, and when they went nside the house to arrest them the house fell all over them! It was a false report to drag them into the house and them bomb it ! How crazy.... So that's why they don't trust those reports that much, especially if they were at night...

Back to the tribe... The whole thing happened last Friday when this neighbor next to us who lives alone, after kicking his mother out of the house, brought some friends with him to have their usual nights of drinks and laughing all night long to bother the other neighbors. We never complained of him cuz he was only hurting himself with what was he doing, and the other neighbors couldn't speak cuz they were kinda afraid of him cuz some of them were in Al Ba'ath party and didn't want any troubles especially with him when he is drunk cuz he might do or say anything! He's a bodyguard or just a guard at IRAQNA but some says that maybe he works with the Americans, a guard or somethig like that maybe.

So at that day when he brought his friends, dad was dawn the street with uncle and other men from the neighborhood. He came out of his friend's car and told dad rudely to move his car so that his friend can park his car instead ! The car was infront of our house, so it's our place..

As a result of that, a semi fight took place cuz it seemed that this guy was drunk and maybe he wanted to show off in front of his friend so he made up that fight and started to shout... The other neighbors interfered and it was ok untill the middle of the night when he came back again to knock at our door. We didn't hear him at first, but then he started to shake the main door of the house with all his power and shouting and sometimes swearing! He was all drunk and his friends were with him as well ! WE didn't let dad to go out to them cuz we thought that maybe they were having guns. ( a drunk person may do anything)..

We called the I.N.G at that moment and told them what was going on, and they said that they would come. In fact we didn't believe that they might come cuz they might suspect this this is a false report as I mentioned.

Dad called my uncle who wittnessed the fight that night, and while they were talking on the phone this neighbor was still barking at the door. Then they said the best thing to do is to call some men of the tribe and ask for their support cuz he might think of hurting us! ( this is the land of freedom where you can do anything you like even hurting ur neighbor!)

So the tribe men meeting started the next day and they went to this drunk guy and told him to prepare some men from his tribe and their head tribe.. Amazingly, he didn't know these things that the men who went to him were shocked! They asked him where do you belong? Do you know where is your family? Where do you go and what do you do if you are in trouble?! He was scared to death at that time cuz maybe he didn't thought that we would do such thing and make it a tribes issue.

Anyways, the main and the last meeting was today to settle down everything and to make him promise that he won't do what he did and that he won't bring his fellows again to drink and bother the neighbors, otherwise he has to move out somewhere else! He kept saying yes yes... and then he apologized and promised to be good from now on! We'll see!

The funny thing is that almost 20 men came wearing the traditional Arabic dress with their cars blocking the street! I haven't seen any of them before. They only come to solve such matters.

Sure women were there as well, they were my aunts and Grandma and some cousins. One of my aunts said now the neighbors will see all of those men and their cars and think them to be some relatives of a suiter who lives in the U.S.A. and he sent his tribe men to ask for my hands for marriage! What a joke! Why me? " cuz I'm the eldest in the family" Why the U.S.A. ? " cuz I have a scholarship there, ...........Dah !

I'll go to sleep now and shall continue later...

Good night

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