Thursday, February 19, 2009

A New Start

I was sitting near the river in one of the biggest hositals in baghdad.it was a sunny day with awesome fresh air.exhaling the old to be replaced by new. I went to the hospital to see one of my friends he is a doctor. I saw the cool place and sat there for minutes.i was thinking of all the events in my life and what i’ve done and yet trying to achieve in future.
At that day i went to the ministry of health after a phone call telling me that there iss a decision that considers me a rotator dentist and i have to go back to serve at one of the specialized dental centres in baghdad rather than in a country side health centre,which means i had lost months of rotation.i went to the general director he was a very helpful and respectful but he couldnt take an action so i made several clarifications and admitted proofs and still waiting the response.

My previous post was sang by Kanarinka and published on youtube as part one and part two i do appreciate this work.

Last Tuesday abu ghreib’s situation was miserable.the american vhicles were attacked by thermal bombs as i heard and the city was filled by national gurds and american soldiers. The manager told us to go homes before closing the roads and we went in a hurry but we couldnt make it.the road was closed then the driver went to the highway and we found many cars stopped.the road was closed and american vhecles were ther too.they were waiting to debilitate a road side bomb.i saw two of my friends there.we went back to follow the old way to the centre of baghdad.this way passes near baghdad airport and a military base.



the road was closed.the american hamvies were there too but why it was closed,we didnt know.even the iraqi police were not allowed to drive near them.when the police pickup approached the soldier pointed with his finger at the police to stop.after half an hour the hamvies moved in a speed not exceeding 20km/h and about 30 cars following them.as if we were the zaffafa (in iraq the cars that follow the bride’s and groom car called zaffafa).

I bought a private clinic -dental chair and unit,dental x-ray device,amalgamator,instruments...... and still trying to find a good place of clinic.






Two weeks ago my nephew kept in our house.at night hewas crying.he said uncle i want you to take me to the zoo.oh my god! I said its ok i can take you wherever you want but the zoo.... honestly i didnt visit the zoo long time ago because it was ruined and bad people were there.i asked about it but i was told that it is nice now!!next morning i took my nephew but i was hesitated even i dont remember the place well but it is much different now,families and kids came from all over baghdad and its a nice park and zoo.we enjoyed a happy day.the place was taken as a militay base and the american army was there,now sometimes one may see some soldiers walking.







Here are some photos of baghdad





next one-the ways to the green zone- you can see the lights of the it.







A week ago i went to mosul,i was so happy to see my friends but sad to see the affected city.i feel in deep pain to see the people of mosul suffering becaus eof their baad security situation and services.its the worst place considering those matters.while before war until 4yrs ago it was the opposite.trush,garbage,closed roads by hills of dust or concrete barriers,barbwires everywhere.water is not always supplied and the river tigris divides the city!!!!!!!i couldnt go out at night.the shops close at 7:30 p.m.cars couldnt pass or approach the military vhicles.i met many people there,they were very optimistic after declaring the primary results of elections.when someone talks to people of mosul he may judge how peaceful and kind they are.all of them just wanted to live a simple life in peace and i believe they do deserve it.explosions and lack of basic services are tiring them. The road to mosul is better than before.the delay was because of the big number of checkpoints although it was 5 and half hour trip.i went out of mosul at 12:30 heading back to baghdad.in my way there was a big storm of dust that we couldnt see more than 20metres. There were many accidents because the drivers couldnt see the concrete barrier of the checkpoints.
Here is a mobile video of the road (i couldnt take photos or video shots by my camera)



As a suggestion from one of the great bloggers i’ll talk about my childhood and how i started the college.
my parents took care of me and provided me with love morals and education.they supported me raised me in a family environment with passion.my mother said i was so calm.at primary school every year i was the first in class and i dont remember if i made a fight at school :).my father took us on many picnics. We were going in a picnic every Friday by our car to different places in or outside baghdad and if we didnt go out in a picnic or visit my grandpa’s house he made a barbeque at the back yard. We had a lot of fun.
After scoring high marks in primary school i joined baghdad college secondary school then graduated with high marks. In iraq the graduated student of the secondary schools has to fill a form to choose colleges according to the marks average and desire.the form will be processed by the ministry of education to determine which college he should join.so mine was the college of dentistry.



16 comments:

Touta said...

very interesting and fun to read, so how was university like in iraq?
and hopefully you will have the best outcome with the stupid ministry people.
i loved the photos. :D :)
best wishes

madtom said...

What a beautiful baby, is that your son?

BAGHDADENTIST said...

touta
i'll talk abt that in another post
thanks

madtom
thanks for ur comment.the baby is not my son and im still single :D

Loren said...

Thank you for mentioning my blog, B.D. Wow, you really gave me some real insight as to how things look in Baghdad. I am sorry about the destruction, and I hope that someday you will experience the TOLERANCE, peace and freedom that I have. I worry and pray for the people of Iraq and Afganistan, and the American soldiers there. Two in my husband's family were in Iraq as Marines just recently. You are doing good work, and were blessed with a good family.

Oscar said...

When you went to Mosul did you see Sunshine? We haven't heard from her in a long time.

We pray that she and her family continue to be safe.

oscar

Oscar said...

Was Sunshine alright when you went to Mosul?

I made copies of your blog and gave it to two dentists. Esp. the day your battery went bad on your generator.

oscar

BAGHDADENTIST said...

Loren
thanks for ur great words,hopes and prays.you have a great blog.i hope that i'll be able to reflect the whole picture of baghdad.

Oscar
sunshine is ok. she's got exams and busy in study.
thanks for making copies of my blog,i do appreciate that.

C.H. said...

BD,

I wish that the people of Mosul could gain the achievements that the people of Baghdad have achieved...I have many friends who live in Mosul too :)

I watched that video...wow! It must have been so hard to see!

You know, I might be going on a long drive myself..next month I plan on going to San Diego, at the bottom of California. Iraq and California are almost the same size :D

I'd say the trip from San Francisco to San Diego is close in length to a trip from Baghdad to Mosul!

Anand said...

Thanks for your informative post. What do Moslowis think about the Iraqi Army in their are?. The Iraqi Army in Mosul is high quality.

Total violence in Mosul is the lowest since early 2004, however it hasn't improved like the rest of Iraq. Another point to remember is that there have been very few multilateral forces in Mosul since 2006. {In 2005 and 2006, most of the US troops were sent south to Baghdad and other locations. They never returned.} In addition, Mosul use to have the best Iraqi Army troops in all of Iraq between 2005 and 2007. Many Iraqi Army troops were sent south to Baghdad in late 2006 and 2007 as part of the joint Iraqi/US surge in greater Baghdad, Diyala, the South, and Salahadin. Because of this a skeleton Iraqi Army force maintained security in 2007 and 2008. Many bad people from the rest of Iraq fled to Mosul during this time.

On services, I hope that the newly elected Ninevah provincial government is competent.

As you know Baghdad Dentist, Iraqi net oil revenue (price of oil - cost of extracting oil)*(barrels sold) has fallen by more than 80%. Close to 99% of Iraqi government revenue comes from oil. As a result the Iraqi government is spending 2.50 dinar for every 1.00 dinar in revenue. The Iraqi government is desperately trying to cut government spending, including on the Iraqi Army, Iraqi Police, health care, education, social spending, and reconstruction. Therefore it will be very important for the Ninevah provincial government to spend what little revenue it gets as effectively as possible.

BAGHDADENTIST said...

Anand
the ppl of mosul as i noticed dont trust the current forces in their area because they are not efficient to keep a secured city or take control and they liked the army that came from baghdad more than that in mosul because of their good treatment and respect,the violence dropped before the elections period for abt 2 weeks but not after that,when i visited mosul the ppl were talking abt "gunmen attacked american hamvies,destroyed one and in a reply the hamvies rided over three civilans cars leaving both sides dead ppl.three days ago two bombed cars one exploded in a public place near a big market and the other was debilitated" as ppl said.

as for the services,the government made a big mistake by planning for years and contracting depending on the high oil prices that were expected to fall down if not in this month the next one.
the services is better than a year before but could you mention the corruption in numbers?
with all that i hope to see baghdad better and better and im trying to work from my side to do so but its frustrating to see after 5 yrs that the health centre is out of aneasthesia,how am i supposed to treat patients?and you know if those poor ppl got money they wouldnt come to this centre,what abt electricity?we dont have electricity to sterilize instruments and the battery subject i already mentioned it in a post.china and other countries made big profits by exporting small generators to iraq.!!! billions of dollars planned in a year and the result ..... you know alot abt iraq and im sure u can find the answer.

with that i hope and im trying to help getting out of this period.

Anonymous said...

great post B.D it's very informative and interesting with nice photos and vedio.i am happy that you reached baghdad safely .don't worry about your future achievements you are still very young and doing great till now.
mama

Anonymous said...

thanks mama :)
b.d

Dr.blogger said...

As you said, the city of Mosul has become lack of freedom of expression there are many streets blocked by concrete barriers by Iraqi police "to maintain security, as police claim," people here fear to overcome the police cars or even walking beside them, in addition to large irregularities committed by the police and army in the city of Mosul, " if they told you to stop in the middle of the road then you should be parked or you will be subjected to the fire and bad speech from them," I do not know if this is the case in Baghdad as well.
The city of Mosul has lost its beauty due to violations by the police and the army on the freedom and rights of citizens, we must stop this. For the video, which you mention, I photographed that day, the weather was very bad and dust fills the air but rain came down after about two days and is continuous.

C.H. said...

Hey BD.

Just wanted to see how you are doing and I want to know that everything is okay for you :)

I'm sure you've been a bit busy lately, lol.

BAGHDADENTIST said...

Hey C.H, im fine and im writing a new post,thanks

pal4all said...

Nice blog! hi. how are you?