BAGHDAD -

Former Iraqi soldier Fadel Al-Maamouri, watching on television the Russian war on Ukraine, remembers the days when Iraq was subjected to the US bombing in 1991 after the invasion of Kuwait, as well as the war launched by the US-led international coalition forces on the country in 2003.

Al-Maamouri said that "the cruelty of war is known only to those who lived through it, and only those who fought it in all its cruelty understand its meaning."

He notes that in those terrible moments he was saddened by the sight of "ruined buildings, burning cars, and rising clouds of smoke."

While citizen Tayseer Saeed recalls those days that made them look for shelters during the days of the American bombing, he says, "I was running in the streets between searching for shelter and searching for food and fear of the unknown. It was difficult days, to fear for your family from the indiscriminate bombing in battles."

First photo.. Kyiv 2022.


The second picture.. Baghdad 2003.

pic.twitter.com/fyKtAPzBuQ

— ﮼ (@MR50l0) February 27, 2022

torments of war

Saeed believes that war is rejected because it brings nothing but destruction and there is no winner in it. He says about the torments of war and the bombing of cities, “If anyone wants to ask about the cruelty of the war, let him ask any Iraqi and he will talk to him about its suffering and its cruelty and the people fleeing in search of refuge, and the Iraqis are the most aware and feel the suffering of the people. People and children in the days of bombings and bombings.”

The employee, Naim Raja, speaks with a painful heartbreak, recalling those days when Iraq was subjected to devastating wars, and he says, "When I see the bombing, I bring back my memories to the bombing of Baghdad, the bombing of Basra, the transportation routes, and the targeting of facilities." He also recalled the inhumane treatment of some coalition soldiers who dealt harshly with people. Especially in Wasit Governorate (south of Baghdad), where they were "accountable and searched people with a cruelty that was rare."

He pointed out that "the world now stands with Ukraine and did not stand with the Iraqis in the wars they were exposed to."

The war has not forgotten the Iraqis, as it always reminds them of all the tragedies they went through.

Umm Tahrir remembers those days when Iraq invaded Kuwait and how the war took place and the armies of the world mobilized. She says, "It was as if the war was the same picture. I had just graduated from the Faculty of Arts, and the world was joyful in my eyes, and I got a job in one of the ministries less than 4 months ago."

She added, "The same mobilization, the same countries and even the same time," but she says that "the picture is reversed here: Iraq versus Russia, Kuwait versus Ukraine, and the same sanctions were accelerating on Iraq," and added, "We do not support the invasion of Kuwait, but we also do not accept the invasion of Iraq." The whole war is an economic war, the destruction of international powers, and the silencing of emerging powers.

As for Umm Hassan, a retired teacher, she says, "History has taught us that at the beginning of every century there are wars and problems, as well as at its end." She believes that the war in Ukraine reminds her of the war in Basra, and how her heart was in pain for her father, who was a soldier in the Iraqi army brigades in Kuwait.

She stated that "there were many days when our nerves were damaged, and we cried whenever we heard the roar of war and how the American invasion forces entered Iraq."

Hassan: The wars have dug deep into the hearts of the Iraqis, which is why they found no other way than to flog the self that has surrendered to the bitterness of war (Al-Jazeera)

black comedy

Novelist and scriptwriter Shawqi Karim Hassan says - to Al Jazeera Net - that wars have dug deep into the hearts of Iraqis, so they found nothing but the way of self-flagellation that surrendered to the bitterness of wars and their woes, and he believes that the Iraqi is looking for something in this war between Russia and Ukraine when he went back in his memory "as an attempt To avenge and ridicule the war and dig up the past.

That is why he sometimes even employs irony based on two important things, “The first is directed to the current generation that does not know the wars, their tragedies and their activities, which have become a legacy of knowledge.” As for the other matter, it is a message to the “warriors that it is useless and the result will be the same, not winning.” There is no loss, and the example before you is peoples who fought and lost their greatest capital, which is the human being.

But the matter was not limited to talking, as some Iraqis resorted to producing Iraqi war songs with Russian films, and it seemed as if they were consistent in the approach of the war, which they consider to be similar to the war of America's invasion of Iraq, which constituted a lot of ironic and emotional rush at the same time.

Hindu believes that memories of wars will continue to haunt Iraqis (Al-Jazeera)

The critic and artist Mahdi Hindu says that "since ancient times, armies did not dispense with music, as they used to beat the drums to signal the beginning of the advance of the armies on the battlefield." It has evolved with the course of wars, as has the technology of music.

For this reason, what some Iraqis have done of putting songs of the Iraqi war on Russian films comes because they “tasted the scourge of war and were exploited by the anthems,” and increases the answer by saying, “Perhaps they wanted to say that drumming and singing for all wars bring nothing but woes to peoples, for wars are a curse, destruction and ruin for the present and the future.” Except that the war "will continue to haunt them, and perhaps no one will be able to deal with it except with the same sarcasm that the Iraqis do."

Al-Kinani: There is nothing in front of us but to confront disasters with irony and melancholy, for laughter is the only weapon of confrontation (Al-Jazeera)

Facing disasters

And the Iraqis realize that the black comedy they practice is a message that quickly reaches those who want to convey their message to him.

The storyteller Hamoudi Al-Kinani says that "the war in Iraq did not end, and they coexisted with it, so the surprises of Russia's war on Ukraine may have been light for them."

In his view of the irony of reality, Al-Kinani added, "There is nothing before us but to confront disasters with irony and melancholy as well. Laughter is the only weapon of confrontation, and images of war and destruction are still present, so the images of Russia's war whose forces entered Ukraine will remain present as well."