Letters
Dear Mr. Dangoor,
I am just an ordinary layman Iraqi who stumbled by chance,
some years ago, onto your great web site ''The scribe"
I kept frequenting your site and have always wanted to write
to you. I come from Baghdad and am a Muslim. I have been
living abroad since the year 2000. I do not belong to any
political party and do not like politics, just working hard
to earn a living and make ends meet in this life.
Ever since I was young I heard from my late father, and
a good few respectable people I knew, fond stories of the
Iraqi Jews and Iraq's Jewish community that once used to
be one of the precious jewels studding the beautiful Iraqi
mosaic. I grew to love Jews, especially Iraqi Jews and grew
to lament the loss of our precious Jewish community, which
included many a great contributors to old and modern Iraq,
in all fields of life and creativity. I was lucky enough
to meet, albeit very briefly, some Iraqi Jews abroad and
have seen how tears well in their eyes with the mere mention
of the word Iraq. I watched with tearful eyes the great
movie ''Forget Baghdad'' and was so moved by it. I read
whatever I could muster of the writings of the great Iraqi
writer, Sameer Naqqash, and cried with bitter tears upon
hearing news of his death. There is a Smaeer Naqqash in
each of us and the paradise he lost is very much the paradise
we lost.
Why am I writing this a-mail to you? I just wish to show
solidarity with the Iraqi Jews and wish to assure you that
contrary to the widespread stereotypes and clichés-
the great majority of Iraqis, especially the enlightened
ones, are not pathological rabid anti-Semitic or hateful
of Jews. I dare say that the truth is exactly to the contrary,
many people I knows and not only myself, are very sympathetic
and lament the loss of our Iraqi Jewish community- in well
known very tragic circumstances- and wish to see one day
our brethren back in their Iraqi homeland of more than two
and a half millenniums. Yes sir, despite all the bad times
our country is going through, righteous people still love
you and wish you well. I feel Iraqi Jews are special and
wish to earn the honour to be a good life-long friend of
their community.
I wish you, your excellent on-line magazine ''The Scribe''
and all the Iraqi Jewish community all the best.
Yours faithfully,
Khalid Al-lzzi
An ordinary Iraqi
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you would like to make any comments or contribute to The
Scribe please contact
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