Building A Bridge to Iraq ... an email from Sami Rasouli December 19th, 2004

Sami Rasouli has returned from the Twin Cities to his homeland to be with his people during the US occupation of Iraq. Sami was the owner of Sinbad's Restaurant, a pioneer in introducing Middle Eastern culture to the area. Sami has left his business and hopes to be of some, yet unknown, help to his countryman. He has agreed to send back periodic reports of his journey. For more about Sami, visit our Feature on his mission.

I wish you Merry Christmas and happy holidays. I miss you and Minnesota already.

In Najaf conditions are very bad and depressing. I failed to keep communicating with you and friends via the Internet for many reasons.   Shortage of water and electricity power is a big problem in Najaf. I stayed one uneasy night at my aunt Um Fadhil's home in downtown area of Najaf then I moved to my uncle Abou Hider because my aunt and her large size family did not have water for a week. In many cases as I was told when their storage of water runs out they transport filthy water from Euphrates river which is severely contaminated with sewage waste and other city's waste that deposited in this river!!  

At my uncle's house electricity power keeps interrupting and damaging everyone's daily life activities by coming five minutes!! Imagine only five minutes then [it] shuts down for very long hours, I’m sure whoever is running the electricity in Najaf is plying games with the emotions of this poor city's population.  

In Karbala the situation is relatively different. People here are in a better shape with their daily planning because they know the electricity comes and goes every three hours and it's an amazingly consistent pattern. I'm in Karbala now as you can tell.

On Dec. 15 I met my cousin Mohammed in a funny way. His wife was kidnapped before my visit last year and still missing. He works as a mini-buses organizer (dispatcher) at one of the main city inner transportation station to support his 8 children. While he was busy counting his earnings for the day on the street [in which] he collected from each driver about $.25, I snapped the money from his hands unannounced. He was shocked and scared of a robbery attempt. He almost punched me in the face but I was well prepared to avoid the attack. My other older cousin Adnan (his brother) who guided me to Mohammed's work place was behind me laughing. Then Mohammed recognized me, we laughed, hugged and talked.

He[Mohammed] told me there was a (red) security alert (a real one) of a possible terror attack on city of Najaf, because the authority in Najaf is busy looking for 15 bomb cars that successfully entered into the city and they're ready to explode. All the attention was focused at important area in  Najaf, but [a] few hours later a huge bomb blast took place in Karbala targeting the Sistani Rep. Mr. Abdul Mahdi Al Karbala'i {his last name goes after the city of Karbala}. He was injured among 40 other people while 13 others got killed. This attack happened not too far from my sister Samiah's home where the windows glass was shattered as a result.

Dear Diane, I wish you nothing but the best. I consider you a true friend as I know your soul is pure and your intentions far more noble than the masses could ever imagine.

I'm still busy gathering information from various sources, areas, individuals and agencies that [are] affected by this horrible war, [from the] people and civilians of Fallujah who came to Karbala seeking refuge, where the safety and security is relatively available for the time being. Late night when everyone goes to sleep except lovers and truth seekers, you can find me weeping in tears trying to reconcile sad scenes I witnessed, horrible stories I heard and little very little I can do.

I strive, as defeated Sami, looking for another morning to break, to grasp a smile from Lumah's, Hudah's, Sajah's, Salmah's or Sarah's beautiful face(nieces ages 4-9), giving me a reason for hope again. Recently I was honored to acquire the membership of the Human Rights Watch, a NGO Organization Karbala branch/Iraq which enables me as a volunteer to move and provide my help freely across the country.

Again I'll be in touch with you as soon as I can. While I'm coming to the end of this memo there are 2 big explosions took place not too far away from the Internet Cafe I'm at now and another one happened in Najaf as we just received a phone call about it!

My warmest Wishes.
Peace and Love Always,
Sami Rasouli
001 964 32 320367 Karbala
001 964 33 321132 Najaf