Our Biggest "April Lie"

When we were kids there was a common tradition in Iraq known as “Kithbat Neesan” or (April’s Lie). In the first few days of April we used to be cautious from believing any surprising or unusual news from friends as we were afraid of being dragged into and caught by “April’s lie” mockery. It was seen within the context of our innocent childhood with no intention to cause any harm but I do not know why we were celebrating lying on each other. In addition, I got no clue where this myth of “April’s Lie” came from and whether other nations have the same tradition of lying and cheating in April every year.
May be for that reason I have not posted anything on the blog for the past ten days, fearing that nobody will believe a word I have written. I left many drafts unfinished and waiting hopefully to be completed and published on the site. No, I am just joking. the main reason behind my hesitation was the rapid developments on the Iraqi scene over the two weeks. These developments proved that “April’s Lie” is not only limited to Iraqi kids but shared by adults and particularly those in the Iraqi government and parliament with their American allies.
April is not like other months in Iraqi history. It is very important for the current government as well as the old regime. Look at the following dates and you will realise the significance of this month. It is already packed with many anniversaries:
1. On the 7th of this month the Ba’ath Party celebrated its sixtieth birthday anniversary.
2. On 17/04/1988, we liberated Al-Faw peninsula from the “Persian Occupation”
3. On 28/04/1937, Saddam Hussein was born.
And there are anther two but not very well famous celebrations:
Baghdad’s day is on the 21st of this month and for those who graduated from Al-Mustansiriyah University in Baghdad, the 2nd of April is its day.

And if April was a very important month for Saddam and Ba’athists, it was much more significant for our “new Ba’athists”. Four years ago at this time we celebrated the toppling of the statue of Saddam but later on many Iraqis regrettably were disappointed with what the Americans have brought. The 9th of April is a public holiday since 2003, so another anniversary was added to the already stretched April’s list. However; this does not stop Al-Maliki from “inserting” another celebration. this time is to commemorate “the martyrdom of Mohamed Baqir Al-Sadr and his sister Bint Al-Huda”. In situations like this one, ordinary Iraqis use to say “Kim’let Al-Sib'ha Ou Chanet Bess Ay'zeh Shahool”* (the string of beads now has been completed and it was only lacking the “Shahool”). It is clearly obvious that Al-Maliki’s move was taken to please Muqtada Al-Sadr and his followers who constitute the only mass currently backing the prime minister.

Going back to “April’s lie” tradition and by looking at the above mentioned dates, most of these holidays lack the insight into the present or the future and almost completely indulge themselves in the past. The Ba’ath party is currently banned in Iraq and its ideas of Unity of Arab countries, Freedom of its people and Socialism proved to be the biggest April’s Lie that had never been fulfilled in its 60 year history. About Al-Faw, It was estimated that approximately 50000 Iraqi soldiers were killed and lost in fierce battles in 1986 for the sake of this piece of deserted land while at the same time Saddam rewarded many of Iraqi neighbouring countries with possession of Iraqi soil (the boarders’ settlement with Saudi Arabia). In mid nineties when Iraqis became accustomed to eating animal diet, Iraqi TV channels used to broadcast footages showing the President “The Necessity”, cutting a 4x3 meters cake on his birthday anniversary. In fact we were witnessing and celebrating our humiliating demise. But do things changed with the liberation/occupation of Iraq in 2003. Four years of continuous onslaught and the Iraqi government and the Americans are still coming with “April Lies” convincingly trying to make us believe them. The appointment of Ryan Crocker as the new American ambassador for Iraq replacing Khalil Zad was portrayed by the media as the magical solution for the complicated Iraqi situation whereas in fact Crocker was nothing but like “a Bedouin in a Baghdadi mosque”. With violence erupted in Diywania, curfews imposed in Baghdad and Diywania, destruction of the Sarrafiyah Bridge and the suicide bombing inside the Parliament, the Baghdad security plan seems to be on the verge of collapse and Al-Maliki’s response was only to distract people from thinking about their miseries and keep their attention focussed on past grievances. The absence of a clear prospect for the present and the future drives him and the Americans behind him to glorify events of the past. One American Lieutenant was asked about the tens-of-thousands rally in protest against the occupation few days ago, he exactly did the same thing as Al-Maliki and said “this kind of protest was not allowed for Iraqis before 2003, but now they are free to protest and express their opinions”. Most Arabic regimes and movements, particularly in Iraq, are obsessed by the idea of re-introducing past events and gain from their reflections on the present or the future. Moreover, we always tend to refer to “them” as being an obstacle preventing us from moving forward to achieve a decent and prosperous future. But in fact it is “us” who do not have any clear vision or an ideal framework to work within to achieve our aims. It is “we” who are empty. And if we ask ourselves who is “them”, the answer will be a very long list of enemies like Imperialism, The West, The Zionists…etc. the Iran-Iraq war was simply between two rogue regimes but it has been re-introduced by Saddam as a threat to our “precious” Nationalistic Arab ideals and it has been portrayed as being a war between Persians and Arabs and the diversion to the past was obvious when he decided to name that war “Qadissiyat Saddam”. Khomeini did the same but in a slightly different way. As a religious Shia’ cleric he exploited the concept of Al-Hussain Martyrdom to serve his goals and the Iranian media always referred to Saddam as being “Yazeed” and the Ba’ath regime as “Banu Ummayah”. Likewise, Al-Maliki and the Americans try to hide behind a shield of the past in attempt to free themselves from the responsibility of the current plight of Iraqi people and always try to accuse Saddam and his supporters as the main causes of our crisis. If Saddam himself was executed, what is the point of celebrating the martyrdom of Mohammed Baqir Al-Sadder? He is not the only religious cleric, whether Shia or Sunni, to be tortured and eliminated by Saddam’s brutal regime and also he is not the only Iraqi who was executed by Ba’athists. For how long we are going to gulp our past to escape a confrontation with future challenges and for how long we are going to cope with our government’s lies. It seems to that we are living our ever biggest April’s lie.


* this aphorism is usually mentioned when someone has many complicated problems, very difficult to be solved and waiting eagerly for a glimpse of hope that everything will be fine one day but instead, another miserable thing happens and adds to his ongoing despair. “Shahool” is a big and almost flat bead. Two of them are added to each string of beads to divide it into three equal parts.