Conversations With "The Enemy"
Since I moved to Wicker Park, I have been a regular at Dexter's Hair Design at 2051 W. North Ave - conveniently located 4 blocks away from my place and 1 block away from the Damen L stop. I go there because it is so close and my stylist - Amir - charges me $10 less than everyone else because he just runs the clippers over my scalp (actually, he continues to get more meticulous and detailed on my simple haircut every time I see him). Anyway, I had never really talked with Amir because I like to zone out while I'm getting my hair cut and most hair stylists I've known have never had anything interesting to say. That is, until today.
Amir had the tele on ABC and we listened to Peter Jennings go on about what I'm sure every other anchor has been talking about for the past 12+ hours...and then Amir received a phone call. He began speaking Arabic and seemed quite excited and concerned at the same time while on the phone. Now, I figured that Amir was of Arab decent, but I wasn't sure where exactly he or his family was from. He spoke for about 5 minutes and then hung up the cordless.
"Kevin, that was my parents who live in Baghdad. They're ok...they're at home now and they have food and water. The missiles haven't been hitting anywhere near them yet."
"Holy fucking shit," I replied. "Your parents live in...you're from Iraq...well you know you've got to talk to me about what's going on!"
Amir started off telling me he grew up in Baghdad, a city the size of Chicago. The son of an engineer, he lived reasonably well as a child and after school, he joined the National Army. He served in the Army for 8 years as an infantry/regular. Amir said he never moved up in rank because he was "a trouble maker" and always gave his commanding officers "a lot of shit". His last days in the Army were in 1991 during the Gulf War. He said that he was captured by the Americans and was a POW. However, he in addition to several other Iraqis were part of a planned "strike" against Saddam Hussein in which the Army regulars just left the lines and went home. They did not want to fight for Saddam.
After he was captured, he had no choice but to seek asylum in the United States. Because of the soldier "strike", Hussein was punishing the captured Iraqi soldiers by throwing them in prison, which was followed by torture and a bullet in the head. He came to the United States, relocated to Chicago and has been here ever since.
I asked Amir the inevitable question: what do you and your family think about this? He started off by saying "Saddam Hussein is a fucking asshole. He is a dictator, a murderer and a tyrant. And nobody is going to be sad to see him go." Amir continued in his pissed off tone of voice. "But it should be up to the people of Iraq to deal with Saddam. And it should be up to the people of Iraq to decide who will replace him, and not some puppet chosen by the American government."
Then it got personal. "The United States government...George Bush is an imbecile and a warmonger. I can't stand him, I can't stand to listen to him speak," Amir said.
Well, the government seems convinced that Saddam Hussein is a threat to our country. Do you agree with that," I asked.
"You can watch on television and see how much of a threat Saddam is to this country (USA). He can't keep his Army organized and he's not capable of using weapons of mass destruction against us." Amir said.
"Bush seems concerned that Saddam could provide weapons to terrorists." I stated.
"Saddam wouldn't do that. These weapons, he wants to keep for himself for protection against Iran and Israel and to threaten his own people with. He has never used these weapons unprovoked against the United States, even when he had them. That's not what he has them for."
I think at this point I was speechless, because there wasn't really anything else I could say to Amir. I could tell he was getting sensitive about the subject and rightly so - his family's life is in jeopardy, their city is about to be destroyed and he has definitely earned the right to criticize both Iraq's government and ours.
"Well your family...they do not live near any palaces, military buildings, factories or anything like that," I asked. "No, they live about 2 miles away from anything like that. I think they'll be ok," Amir said.
"Well I am sorry for what our government is doing to your country. I will be thinking about your family while this is going on," I said.
"Thank you...thank you very much. It's not the Americans...it's the American government who is responsible. You do not need to apologize," Amir replied as he handed me a mirror to look over my newly buzzed head.
"Nice job...it looks great." I paid Amir, shook his hand and walked home thinking about the most interesting haircut I have ever had.
I was just listening to Sigur R�s -Svefn g englar
