EVERY INNOCENT BAATHI HIDES A DARK SECRET

[Londoner]

The commander of an Iraqi Army Brigade, Harry, became so desperate he went as far as to think to liquidate his sergeant Iraqi100Percent quietly and dump his body somewhere to save his reputation in front of his military staff and the rest of low ranking soldiers. This is because his sergeant Iraqi100Percent was acting, as he was the commander of the brigade. Harry was a professional soldier and graduated from Iraqi Military Academy. After his graduation, he got promotion after promotion until he got the military rank to command a brigade. His military commitment and professionalism gave him a big name with a reputation commanded the respect of every high-ranking Iraqi Army Officers. But his sergeant Iraqi100Percent, the moment enlisted in his brigade, became a threat to the name and reputation of Harry.

This was when Saddam Hussein and his Baath Party were in control of Iraq. Saddam Hussein and his Baath Party never trusted any Iraqi especially Iraqi Army professional soldiers. They appointed a Baathi, as their eyes and ears, in each Iraqi Army Unit. Each one of these appointees was a desert tribe member related to Saddam Hussein or other high-ranking Baath Party members from Tickrit. They were all illiterate even didn’t know to write their names. Before that, they were nothing more than bare-footed desert nomads. Despite of this, each one of them appointed with a promotion and an authority to challenge Iraqi Army Professional Officers. The sergeant Iraqi100Percent was one of them. He was a camel keeper and had never seen a city or army unit. Regardless to these, he was appointed to the brigade under the command of Harry as a sergeant with an authority to challenge Harry.


Harry’s hatred for his sergeant Iraqi100Percent increased so much he changed his mind to kill him quietly. He thought to find a way to kill him under a lot of torture, to give him their own medicine as Baathists were killing Iraqis under torture. After a lot of thinking, an idea came to him. Why not join Baath Party to become a member. This would give him full authority on his brigade and especially it would make it easy for him to get rid, kill, of his sergeant Iraqi100Percent the way he wanted it. He swore he would kick sergeant Iraqi100Percent 100 kicks on his back every day and would force him to run barefooted every day for hours while carrying a heavy bag full of sh*t over his head until he dropped from exhaustion. He would repeat this every day until sergeant Iraqi100Percent became unable to bear it any more. After that sergeant Iraqi100Percent would desert his post and become a deserter. When he did so, Harry would go after him by himself. When he found him, he would court martial him on the spot and put him in front of firing squad immediately.

When Harry applied for Baath Party membership, his nightmares came true. Army Baath Party branch appointed sergeant Iraqi100Percent to initiate Harry into Baath Party. This was a shock for him but he couldn’t do anything about it. He didn’t dare to ask to withdraw his application. This would have cost his job and most probably imprisonment or death. He couldn’t ask to appoint someone else to initiate him because Baath Party didn’t accept any discussion before execution. He put himself in a trap and had to go with it. When the time of initiation came, sergeant Iraqi100Percent gave Harry a confidential mission to do without discussion or objection to prove he was seriously seeking to become a member of Baath Party. The mission was code-named: ATWDWDIFS, which stands for: ‘Any thing we do, we do it for Saddam’. It involved liquidating a high-ranking Iraqi Army Officer from South Iraq. Confidentially, all Iraqi Army Officers from South Iraq were classed as ‘Iranians’ by Baath Party. Harry executed the mission and ended as a tool and prisoner of his sergeant, sergeant Iraqi100Percent because of his dreadful secret. He assassinated this high-ranking Iraqi Army Officer from South Iraq by shooting him at the back. The victim fell forward on his face and died immediately.


When liberation campaign started Harry’s Brigade was on the front line against Kurdish Forces, Peshmergas. The war started. Kurdish Forces started raining fire from the ground and Americans from the sky on Harry’s Brigade. Harry stood his ground fighting back. Then unexpectedly he became horrified from seeing what was happening in the middle of fight. He saw sergeant Iraqi100Percent fully bare-footed running away from his position very fast. The rest of the soldiers from Tickret area followed him. He ordered them to come back to their position but none of them responded. At this moment, he remembered the story of a Kurdish Iraqi Army Officer on the front line against Israel on 1948. He killed hundreds of his soldiers, who came from Tickret, Falujah and west Mosul on the front line. Apparently Israelis were offering to pay high price to buy any sort of weapons from any one. So these soldiers whenever got a chance escaped with their weapons to sell them to Israelis. To stop them, this Kurdish Officer allocated a team from Kurdish soldiers and armed them with machine guns with order to kill any one running towards Israeli position. The price, Israelis paying, was very high and attempting. A lot of soldiers took the risk but 99% didn’t make it.

‘Now I am going to kill you ye bas***d’. Harry whispered to himself and ordered his entire brigade to turn their guns on the deserters to kill every one of them except sergeant Iraqi100Percent. He decided to kill him by himself. Harry grabbed a machine gun from one of his soldiers and aimed it at sergeant Iraqi100Percent as he was getting further and further away. He started firing. He poured all the bullets of the first burst into the back of sergeant Iraqi100Percent. He fell forward and disappeared far from horizon. After that Harry became exited and lost himself. He threw the machine gun away and started shouting:

‘I got him at last, I got him at last. I got the ba****d, my dreadful secret remains a secret to the eternity.’
During Harry’s celebration a shell from Kurdish forces fell near him and
Knocked him down unconscious and wounded. When he regained conscious, he found himself in a Kurdish Hospital surrounded by his family. He immediately knew his brigade had been wiped out, taken prisoner and could be court-martialled by Kurds. But that didn’t bother him. At once he looked at his family and started shouting:

‘I got him, I got him, I got the ba****d I tell you. Now I don’t care what happens to me’.

His family asked him to keep quiet. He had only nightmares and he had been unconscious for weeks. Gradually he recovered and rejoined his family in Baghdad. Nothing worried him and he didn’t care about anything would happen to him because his dreadful secret went to the grave forever. When the new Iraqi Army established after liberation, Harry rejoined the new army and became in charge of providing securities to major Iraqi Ministries, one of which was the Foreign Ministry. No one objected to Harry’s reappointment into the new Iraqi Army after liberation. They knew he was a Baathi but without any bad records against Iraqis. So no one suspect any thing about him. He was very happy with his new chance and did his job very well. Nothing worried him and he never expected anything to ruin his new life until the early morning of Friday of 19th August 2009 when he received a telephone call:



“Hello Harry, the good old chap. This is your good old sergeant Iraqi100Percent.” The caller claimed.

“Sorry, whoever you are. I am busy. Thank you and goodbye”. Harry replied thinking the caller was pulling his leg.

“Wait a minute! You think I am dead but I am not. I know you ordered the soldiers to fire at us…….”. The caller calimed.

“Look! My man. I am busy. Can you call back another time”. Harry interrupted the caller.

“I know you, yourself, fired at me. It was a good shot. You put nine bullets into my back. I am keeping all of them as souvenirs”. The caller replied.

“I am an Army Officer. You are wasting my time. As far as I know my sergeant Iraqi100Percent died on the front line”. Harry replied as his heart started beating and getting worried.

“Look Harry!!! I have no grudges against you whatsoever. I would have done the same thing if I was in your position”. The caller replied.

“If you are sergeant Iraqi100Percent as you claim why don’t you come to my office to introduce yourself”. Harry replied anxiously.

“You don’t believe me, do you? Let me to assure you all your secrets are safe with me. Does ‘The mission code-named: ATWDWDIFS’ rings any bells?” The caller said."

On hearing this, his head started spinning, he became sick and felt the sky fell on his head and it was the end of every thing for him. The mission code-named: ATWDWDIFS replied in his mind like a vivid video film except this time after killing the high ranking army officer from South of Iraq, his dead body soaked in blood, rose on his feet and turned around. He was carrying an electric drill and started walking towards him to drill his head alive. How much he tried to escape but he couldn’t, his feet didn’t respond. He took out his pistol and emptied the rest of the bullets into the dead body of the high ranking Iraqi Army Officer. But it didn’t help. The next moment he saw the tip of the drill was approaching his forehead. He tried to move his head away but his head refused to respond. His heart started to beat so fast. It was about to explode. As the drill drilled into his head, he screamed because of the pain. His scream was so high, it reflected from the sky and every one in Baghdad heard him.

“Harry! What happening to you man? Pull yourself together man!’. The caller shouted. This brought back Harry to himself.

“Thank you. I recognise you now. Now I know you are my sergeant Iraqi100Percent”. Harry said.

“I just want to ask you for a favour for the sake of good old day”. Iraqi100Percent asked.

“O.K. what do you want?” Harry asked.

‘A truck of such colour and number would soon come to park beside Foreign Ministry. After an hour we will collect it. Ask your men to let it pass and guard it until we collect it”. Iraqi100Percent replied.

“Fine. I will ask my men to take care of the vehicle.” Harry replied.

Harry sent order for his men to let a vehicle of such colour and number to park near Foreign Ministry. After that by an hour or so he got an urgent telephone call from his men informing him that the parked vehicle near the Foreign Ministry exploded killing and wounding hundreds of people. Harry shocked with himself for being used again by an illiterate desert nomad. He was so ashamed of himself he wished his head drilled while he was alive but not heard this news. He considered himself alone was responsible for the explosion, no one else. He disappointed a lot with himself. His feelings of failure and disappointments and his hatred for Iraqi100Percent were so great made him to make a wish to go back in time to change the future by killing Iraqi100Percent before the time when he applied to become a Baathi.

He made the wish to go back in time in full faith and belief that it would be granted. His strong faith and belief in his wish made him able to go back in time but only as observer. He could see everything in the past but no one could see him. He went back in time and joined Iraqi100Percent and his double in the past but he couldn’t do or influence anything except watching what was happening. He accompanied his double in the past to commit the crime of killing the high-ranking army officer from South Iraq. He watched his double committing the crime. But he couldn’t do anything about it.

Watching the scene of the crime with his superior Iraqi Army Officer shot at the back to death by him, his double in the past, made him felt dirty, extremely degenerated to a level without any honour, ethics and moral values and didn’t worth to live. He court martialed himself at the scene of the crime. He spoke for and against himself. He found himself to be a traitor committed unforgivable crime. He decided to execute himself by firing with the same gun and the same hand, he used to backstab the superior Army officer.

He left to The Foreign Ministry to see the explosion. He saw the truck coming and parking near the Foreign Ministry. He saw it exploding and killing a lot of people. A few minutes after the explosion, all the dead bodies rose and started marching towards him. They were pointing at him and shouting: “traitor, murderer, traitor, murderer, traitor, murderer, traitor, murderer…..”. He couldn’t bear it longer. He went back to his office to execute his judgement on himself. He took his gun out and shot himself in the head. It was the same gun in the same hand, which he used to kill the high-ranking Iraqi Army Superior Officer from South Iraq as a price to become a member of Baath Party.