Escaping Iraq: One Family's Story

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http://www.iraqslogger.com/index.php/post/3534/Escaping_Iraq_One_Familys_Story

Escaping Iraq: One Family's Story
Displaced Sunni and Shia Discover Unity in Rejection From Jordan
By SADOUN AL-JANABI Posted 8 hr. 40 min. ago


Shrill ringing punched the tranquility of the home, as if the phone knew it announced one of those calls with the power to destroy lives—one of those calls that would turn another prosperous Iraqi family into refugees.

The turn of the new year always injects the feeling of a new chapter in life, but on the last day of 2006, Saif Ahmed learned that stepping into 2007 would require more just than a symbolic fresh start.

The voice on the other end told Ahmed, a university professor with three children, that he should gather up his family and head for the border—or expect to face severe consequences. He didn’t recognize the voice, but the man spoke as if he knew everything about Ahmed—even calling him Abu Abbas. (In Iraq, the father is called after his son, thus Abu Abbas means the father of Abbas).

The man called back on New Year’s Day to repeat the message, and the day after to offer an ultimatum—leave immediately or else.

By the next day, Ahmed and his wife had packed everything they could fit into a rented GMC Suburban. Forced to leave behind the life they had built together, the family took one last look at their home before pulling away.

Ahmed pointed their driver head towards Jordan, where more than 750,000 Iraqis have found refuge in recent years. On January 3, 2007, they became five more of the millions of Iraqis estimated to have fled since the invasion.

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