Source: The Guardian
Hundred of thousands of Iraqis have packed and set off to try to join the diaspora in Jordan, Syria, and beyond
Ghaith Abdul-Ahad in Baghdad
Wednesday March 21, 2007
In the cold and filthy yard of Baghdad's Resafa passport office, hundreds of people cram in every day to attempt a Kafka-esque journey through post-Saddam bureaucracy that must be negotiated in order to leave the country.
An elderly Christian man, who had spent several hours waiting with his three daughters, had finally come face to face with an official, who studiously ignored him. "Can you write in the profession section that I was an English teacher?" he asked anxiously.
"There is no profession section in the new passport," replied the officer, without moving his eyes from the forms. "But if I apply for a visa to Australia how would they know that I am a teacher?" asked the man. "There are no professions," replied the officer.
"Don't worry haji," volunteered a young man in the queue by way of consolation, "no one is giving Iraqis visas."
Click here for the article by The Guardian
Clicca qui per la traduzione italiana per Osservatorio Iraq di Simona Schimmenti del gruppo Traduttori per la Pace
