Posted on 12/03/2003 5:35:27 PM PST by Pan_Yans Wife
Ali Mandalwai has a dream: A Disney-style theme park in his hometown of Mandali.
The problem is that Mandali is now a ghost town in eastern Iraq, close to the Iranian border. It was set to the torch by Saddam Hussein during the Shiite revolt of 1991. Thousands of its inhabitants were massacred, and many more became refugees. Mr. Mandalawi was among those who fled into exile, ending up in Holland, where he started "putting together the bit and pieces of a shattered life."
Saddam's henchmen even cut down most of the one million palm trees that had borne Mesopotamia's sweetest dates for millennia. Mandali was especially targeted because its inhabitants were both Shiites and Kurds.
One of Iraq' best known artists, Mr. Mandalawi, now 45, is also famous for his cartoons, which appear in several major Arab newspapers. His paintings have been shown in more than a dozen cities, including Paris and London. He returned to Iraq last month "to have a look," determined to steer clear of Mandali. "I did not have the courage to go there," he says. "I was not sure I could bear the pain of so much devastation."
Nevertheless, having spent several weeks in the Kurdish areas and Baghdad, he decided to go to Mandali.
"As soon as I arrived, I knew I was hooked," he says.
He saw men and women, often "broken by years of suffering," returning to clear the debris and rebuild their homes. He says the "cloud of fear" that had dimmed eyes in Iraq under Saddam had vanished. In its place he saw "the sparkle found only in the eyes of free people."
"Outside Iraq, people have no idea what Saddam did," he says. "Even the Mongol invaders had not caused so much death and devastation in our land. It may take Mandali a generation to rebuild."
So, why a theme park in such an unlikely place?
"Now that Iraq is liberated we need to think of the future," Mr. Mandalawi says. "And that means doing something for the children: something that is both fun and educational."
By returning to Mandali, Mr. Mandalawi is also going back to his first passion: designing books and comic strips for children. It was one of his books for children that first brought him to the attention of the Tikriti ruling clan. One day in 1989 a gang of "awesome individuals, wearing dark glasses," called to take him for a meeting with Uday, Saddam's eldest son, a notorious psychopath. Everyone knew someone who had not returned from a similar interview.
What Uday wanted to discuss, however, surprised Mr. Mandalwai.
"He wanted me to turn Superman into an Arab hero, with a moustache, looking like Saddam Hussein," Mr. Mandalawi recalls.
In the English version the famous "S" would stand for Saddam. In the Arabic version it would be replaced with the Arabic letter "Kh" for the word "khariq" (the piercer).
"I didn't know whether to laugh or cry," Mr. Mandalawi recalls. "The man wanted to involve me in artistic theft. Even the legendary Thieves of Baghdad had respected intellectual property." Mr. Mandalawi managed to drag his feet long enough until Saddam invaded Kuwait, making sure that Uday had other things on his mind than pirating "Superman."
Today, Mr. Mandalawi says he has mobilized enough support for a mini-Disney park in his hometown. To be called "The Palace of Children," the park will include a number of workshops where teenagers could learn local crafts, such as basket weaving and shoemaking to help their families earn a little additional income. "Our park will have an Iraqi accent," Mr. Mandalawi says, "just like the democracy that we are determined to build."
Mr. Mandalawi says he decided to end his exile because he saw that Iraq, for the first time in his memory, has a chance of building a new society "fit for humans."
"We had forgotten what hope meant," he says. "Our people had not had any good news in almost three decades. Nothing crushes a society more than a deficit of hope and good news. Now, every day brings fresh good news that helps the sapling of hope grow stronger."
When we suggest that "good news and hope" were not concepts that the media associated with Iraq these days, Mr. Mandalawi looks puzzled. "There must be two Iraqs," he says. "One is the Iraq that my people are living, the other the one portrayed in the Western and Arab media. In our Iraq, every sunrise without Saddam is good news. The assurance that every mass grave discovered is something of the past is good news. Every burnt house in Mandali that is rebuilt is good news. Even a broken window that is repaired is a sign of hope."
But don't Iraqis resent the American presence? "Resent? You must be kidding," Mr. Mandalawi retorts. "These people came from the other side of the world to rescue us from the worst tyrant one could imagine. Would we have done the same for them? I wonder. The only way that we can thank them is to rebuild our country as a democracy."
Then who are the terrorists grabbing the headlines? "These are the same criminals who massacred Iraqis for decades," Mr. Mandalawi says. "They are joined by suicide-bombers from other Arab countries. Their fight is not against the coalition. It is primarily against the Iraqi people. They hit and run and hide like rats. They dare not show their faces to the people."
How long will this violence last? Mr. Mandalawi says he has no answer. "All I know is that terrorism will not bring Saddam back," he says. "I also know that nothing will stop our people from building a new life."
But shouldn't the Americans leave? "They should," he says, "when a freely elected government in Baghdad asks them to do so."
Wow! No other words........
How are you going to keep the Muslims from murdering everybody and blowing the place up???
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