Mustafa Abdul-Muta’al, Iraq “We couldn’t even get a single chair to remind us of the good old days”

DEMOCRACY? YOU DECIDE

IRIN

Abdul-Muta’al says he is tired of hearing promises that his compensation will soon be paid. With his wife suffering from cancer and two sons seriously malnourished, he is desperately trying to find a way to win his rights and take his family back to a safer place. "We had a prosperous life and for years we lived in our house with full security. After an attack in my neighbourhood in Ramadi, my house was totally destroyed and one of my sons died during the assault (...) ."I had dreams of seeing my sons study and become good professionals but the war has destroyed my dreams. All my savings are finished and I don’t think that we will be able to afford such a prosperous life as before. "Sometimes I stop and try to find the democracy that was promised by the government and US forces. During the former regime [of Saddam Hussein] our children were studying, our wives wore good clothes and more importantly, we had a house to sleep in and good food to eat. I thought that was democracy but they have given it a different meaning now."...

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