A programme on the state funded satellite channel.

Two hosts, a young woman and a young man. Their guest, an officer in the police force. The subject: withdrawal of American forces from the Iraqi cities and Iraqi forces assuming full command. The young man announces a phone number and urges people to call and congratulate Iraqis on this event and express their happiness that the Iraqi security forces will be taking charge independently.

First contact: Congratulations and cheering you on.

Second contact: Same.

Third contact: Although we are proud of our security forces, we don't believe that they are adequate to the task, they were hastily put together without the proper training and …. The hostess begins to squirm…. And squirm…. Tries to cut him off by thanking him for his call, but he goes on. The host then very firmly thanks him and terminates call.

Fourth contact: Cheers and a verse.

Fifth contact: Doubts again…cut off again.

Hasty advertisements reel…"to be continued after advertisements"

Done advertisements.

A different programme comes on. 

My mum ran out of medicine for her high blood pressure yesterday. She called me late in the evening, "Please get it early in the morning, Sahar. I thought I had another packet, but I don't." So off I went, early this morning to where I knew I could buy what is known here as "original" medicine, or medicine that is produced in Europe and that has undergone high quality control. 

It is a pharmacy in Harthiyah. A tiny place on one of the side streets, it has every thing you could possibly need. I often wonder if they are supplied by private importers, or whether they buy from smugglers who smuggle the medicines out from hospitals and government warehouses.

Reaching Kindi Street checkpoint, I stood in the queue.

Fifteen minutes later I reached the security people; they were National Police.

"Pull over!" Oh dear, the never ending issue of showing the car documents. "Here are the papers, and here's me name on them and here's my ID."

"Put them away!" He was almost shouting. What was wrong this time, I wondered.

Louder still, and with eyes about to pop out of his head, "Why is that flag hanging from your rear view mirror? Are you a Bathists?"

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. At last I grasped that he was talking about a small perfume pad that my son had bought from an intersection in Karrada some months ago. It hung from the mirror by a short string. The pad was painted with the Iraqi flag – The Iraqi flag after 2003, I must add. It was an item sold in most intersections all over Baghdad by poverty stricken women and children.

"I am not sporting an official flag. This is a perfume pad, that's all. And in any case what's wrong with it? It is sold everywhere."

"Get out of the car! Search her!"

I got out of the car. Two younger policemen searched the car thoroughly. "There is nothing, sir."

He reached down into the car, grabbed my hang bag from the cushion and searched it. Finding nothing, he got angrier still, grabbed the keys and walked away, "Stay where you are."

All this time my reaction was utter astonishment. I was so astonished I forgot to be angry and indignant. Why was this policeman angry with me? Was it me? Or was it that they have become nervous after the bombings that swept the city?

At last, anger came to my aid, and I walked over to the policemen, "Your friend shouted at me, searched my handbag (shameful) and took my keys after they found nothing in my car. Are you going to do something about it – Or must I?" I was, of course bluffing. There was absolutely nothing that I could do. But while I was saying these words, I yanked out my phone and raised my eyebrows meaningfully, and one of them turned, crossed the street and walked towards him.

They talked for a bit and walked back together. He was still angry, "There is a law now against sporting that flag, you know. But people are ignorant and don't follow the news. Pull it out and throw it away!"

"Wallahi, I will not."

He reached out and pulled, broke the string and threw the perfume pad on the ground. I was furious by now.

He threw my keys onto the cushion.

In silent rage, I drove off.

Was Saddam a name or a concept? Are we truly rid of him?

I bought the medicine, spent the morning with my parents and then came to work.

Do vermin have rights? 

The Ministry of Interior spokesman said 115 charges of violations of human rights of Iraqis in detention centers have been forwarded to the courts.

Eight officers and two civilians were charged with violations. Nine were convicted and one was acquitted.

Today, 642 complaints are now being looked at by investigators, and so far they've found enough evidence to foward 43 cases to the courts.

Most charges were for being arrested without a court order, some for torture during interrogations and others for rape.

 After the press conference held by the ministry was done, I had one more question. So I followed the spokesman to the corridor and called out to him, "We have inherited a legacy of total disregard for human rights from the previous regime. Does the ministry have any programs to raise awareness of the people handling the detainees, to impress upon them the importance of human rights and decent treatment?"

He looked at me with great disdain. "Are you looking out for the rights of the likes of them? What about the rights of their victims? Don't you care about them?"

 That statement stopped me in my tracks, round-eyed! Was it a clever way to stop me pursuing the matter further? Or, perchance had they changed all the staff who used to work in the prisons under Saddam, and hired a brand new crew born and raised in Switzerland? "But your Excellency…. You are aware that only a percentage of those detained are guilty…. Are they all to be treated…."

Without answering, he turned his face and walked away.

 He knows – as we do, that a very large percentage of the detainees are not guilty of other than being at the wrong place, at the wrong time – or of living in this or that neighbourhood. If a violent incident takes place in X Street, the usual procedure is that all the young men living in the vicinity are rounded up for interrogation. There may be as many as 50 in one sweep. They are taken--and God only knows when they are released.

 It stands to reason that we cannot rely completely on monitoring and vigilance to stop the abuse of the detainees. The authorities must initiate programs focused on human rights to educate the security forces about what it means for a civilian to have rights, rights that they cannot violate.

At the moment the only good treatment comes from a condescending figure of authority, not from a written set of rules.  To these authority figures, the people they have arrested are commoners and they will treat them well or otherwise – by their own choice.

Disturbingly, this looks far too much like the Saddam regime, when prisoners were regarded as vermin.

When will we have ground rules that say human life and dignity are absolute values?