My 32-year-old sister damned the day she decided to get a passport. At that time, in December 2008, she decided to request her passport for the first time to help our Mom get a surgery in Iran. She didn’t know or think that the visit to Iran would turn bad. First, the surgery for Mom failed which was a heavy blow for her and the whole family. Next, some Arab countries made her regret the visit to Iran they won't let her cross their borders with the Iranian stamp in her passport.
Today, she wants to go Jordan to have a surgery of her own. But the Jordanian authorities won’t let her, or any Iraqi, set foot on the Jordanian soil if that person has made a visit to Iran for any reason.
Her husband, some relatives, close friends and I have gone to great lengths trying to get a visa, or new passport, whether legally or illegally, but all was in vain.
If Jordan has problems with Iran, it is between the two countries, but I believe it is more than that.
I don’t want to talk about Jordan as a country as it is a neighbor and its people stood with Iraq in distress, but the officials there are ungrateful to Iraq and Iraqis who made, and still make, the Jordanian economy flourish.
The Jordanians are concerned about the Iranians as the latter live in a Shiite state while Jordanians live in a Sunni one. The former king of Jordan, King Hussein stood with Saddam Hussein against Iran in the Iraqi-Iranian war from 1980 till 1988.
Jordanian officials feel that Iran is becoming too close to Iraq. Jordan used to be Iraq's only gate to the world, but now it has several rivals. Iran is one of them. Iran has the longest borders with Iraq, Saudi Arabia is second, then Syria, then Kuwait and then Jordan.
In the eighties, or during the war with Iran, Syria was with Iran against Iraq. Thus, Jordan was the gate of Iraq to the world.
Jordan used to have oil for free during Saddam’s regime, and exporter Iraqi goods through their port in Aqaba.
Things changed after 2003, and Iranian borders have been opened for the Iranian goods to be imported and fewer Iraqi goods are exported.
Thus, I believe this kind of war between Iran and Jordan is about which country will have the bigger piece of cake from Iraq -- and to hell with Iraqis. What crime did my sister do which made the Jordanian authorities stop her having the urgent surgery in Amman.
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May 23, 2009
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"Inside Iraq" is a blog updated by Iraqi journalists working for McClatchy Newspapers. They are based in Baghdad and outlying provinces. These are firsthand accounts of their experiences. Their complete names are withheld for security purposes.
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i feel very sad for your sister too, and the'authorities' are just a species of humans found in most countries, many of whom are entrusted with the authority and power to enforce the laws of the country with little or no check and balance at all it seems...again, my prayers for your sister and all those suffering these situations and may Allah be with you.
Posted by: fais h | May 30, 2009 at 01:26 AM
I feel very sad for your sister. The best way to deal with such inhuman treatment is to get our own hospitals and medical centers better equipped with:
1. Medical doctors and consultants
2.The most advanced medical instruments.
And then we should be able to make medicines widely available free or at low prices.
We are a rich country and we have all the resources to do that, just let us start this long trip firstly by fighting corruption.
I pray to ALLLAH for your sister to get the required treatment.
Also, I hope that you will give more publicity to this story so at least for the time being, it would not be repeated.
Posted by: Khalid Ibrahim | May 24, 2009 at 04:23 PM
Once again, I pray the Lord Jesus gives the Iraqis reasonable people to work with instead of bullies. Amen.
Posted by: Terry | May 23, 2009 at 07:05 PM