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Iraqi Voices

Tired of promises:
Iraqi refugees in Syria tell their stories

On the outskirts of Damascus, Syria, a warehouse initially intended for emergency supplies has been converted into a center dedicated to registering Iraqi refugees on a massive scale.

Where Have All the Teachers Gone?

Khalid, a university student studying engineering, lost his smile and told me that school was closed for the day because one of his teachers had been assassinated the day before, and the other professors were protesting the targeting of their colleagues.  Thus, early in Iraq’s long downward spiral under the U.S. occupation, we saw beginning of the demise of the intelligentsia.

Tattered dreams
A family struggles to survive in Amman

Abu Ali and his family live in two rooms of a crumbling building high on a hill in the old city of Amman, Jordan. The second floor of the building, part of a Palestinian refugee camp, has partially collapsed; a ruined cement stairway leads up into darkness.

‘For Iraqis to find freedom, we must flee’
A family’s harmonious life is torn apart

All that they have are pictures of the place where their house once stood.

Under the regime of Saddam Hussein, Umm Muhammad’s husband had been a civil servant in the Iraqi government and received a livable salary. They had a home in a relatively affluent neighborhood in central Baghdad, near what is now the Green Zone.

One family mourns all that they--and their country--have lost

While the majority of the more than 2.4 million Iraqi refugees now living in the Middle East have fled since the U.S. invasion in 2003, many thousands fled Iraq due to political persecution under the regime of Saddam Hussein.

This is the story of one such family, a family of lawyers who opposed the regime of Saddam Hussein. They are Sunni Muslims from Baghdad who mourn all that has been lost in Iraq during the past 30 years and all that continues to be lost as the Iraqi nightmare continues.

Interviews with Noah Merrill on the Refugee situation in Iraq

Noah Merrill is currently in Amman Jordan with his wife Natalie Baker Merrill working with the direct aid initiative of Electronic Iraq.  Earlier this year, Noah spent six weeks working among Iraqi refugees displaced as a result of the ongoing crisis. During that time, he conducted more than 40 in-depth formal interviews with Iraqi families, and met informally with many more. Watch video interviews with Noah about some of the refugees who he spoke with and thier stories.

Working to Preserve Their Legacy: the Iraqi Women’s Movement

Iraq has a growing movement that never seems to make the front pages of the international press.  The Iraqi Women’s Movement (IWM) was formed in 2003 during the early days of the occupation and represents a diverse assemblage of women activists and networks of women’s organizations.  Despite great personal risks and enormous political obstacles, these women have worked steadfastly and persistently to assure that the constitution of Iraq preserves the human rights of all Iraqis and, in particular, guarantees women’s rights. 

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