A picture might worth one million words. A picture doesn't exaggerate or underestimate truth.

    The following pictures are for McClatchy old office at Hamra Hotel where the explosion happened on Jan. 25 afternoon. This is the place where our company used to work since 2003.

 
 
 The reporters room. I usually sit exactly beside the glass window because I always like to look at the flowers I grow.

 
 
I took this picture for the reporters' room from the small balcony of the office . The explosion took place almost in front of the balcony. The small balcony did not give me enough space to cover the whole office. My deskwas just at the place of the TV. My death was almost certain. if it was not by the explosion, it would be by the flying glass shrapnel which would be flying death that harvest the lives it faces.

 
 
This room used to be our living room where we have meals. The TV survived from the explosion because it was protected by the wall. The blast dis-joined the aluminum window into two parts. Can anyone imagine the huge and massive power of the blast!!

    Less than 48 hours ago, Hamra Hotel was full with life and so busy. Journalists from different media were moving in and out of the hotel. The jokes that I used to make with the guards were always pain relief medicine for all of us because of our unstable situation. Less than 48 hours ago, we used to talk about the soccer teams we love and tease each other when the teams play a match and one of them wins. We used to make fun of the sectarian violence because we know each other very well and we realized the fact that no one of us really cares about the differences of the ideologies.

    Since the first moment of the blast, many things changed. When we meet each other, all we talk about is bomb related issues. We woke up from the impact of the explosion and started gathering our thoughts and facing our fears. We started checking about people we know. As a Muslim, I can only say Thanks God for the loss because I can not in any way return the time back to avoid it, what happened had happened

    The image of the hole made by the explosion, the dusty people whose houses were destroyed over them families did not leave my eyes but the scene of my former office terrified me when I went to my bed at the new office where I had to spend the night after blocking the roads for a long time. When I went up to the third floor after the explosion, I was shocked completely. I used to sit near the big glass window which was thrown away by the blast .The image of my scattered body was present in my busy mind.

     The first news I heard today was about to get me crazy. One of my colleagues told me that our friend who works at the cafeteria was severely injured. With the worst cell phone network on earth, my fears grew even bigger because I could not reach him but everything changed minutes later when I could hardly talk to him. He told me that he kept carrying the wounded people and his shirt was covered with blood.

    The good news about our friend could not stop the bad news from visiting me when I received a call from a colleague telling me about the funeral ceremonies of one of the Iraqi reporters who used to work with a western Media. Although I did not recognize the man but I failed in holding my thoughts which flew quickly to the atmosphere inside his house and the scene that had been repeating in this crazy country since 1980, the scene of the crying mother, the weeping wife and the astonished kids who did not realize yet that they lost the father. These feelings grew bigger when my three years son hugged me strongly for a long time as if he felt the danger and may be he did. I did a very short prayers thanking God for our magic moving from the hotel.

   Fears became part of our miserable life in Iraq. Only less than two minutes ago, the siren of the police car in our bystreet took me quickly to the explosion scene near Hamra Hotel. I quickly hugged my son and asked my wife to hold our daughter. My wife asked me "why are you so nervous?" I answered her "if you saw part of what I had seen yesterday, you would even more."

    Moving our office from Hamra Hotel is the main reason that kept me alife to write these words this moment after the massive destruction that was caused by the explosion of Monday afternoon that targeted seven hotels in downtown Baghdad including the area where our hotel locates with three other ones.

    For me, going to the explosion was not only to cover thenews but to check about people that I have been living with since July 2006.

    Like the eye of eagle, I started looking at the faces checking them one by one. With no hesitation, I started hugging everyone I saw. Thanks God I could see all the people I love. Talking to them and hearing their voices was heaven for me. 

    When I finished everything, I went to my old office and I was shocked with the scene. OMG, I can not even find the right words to describe what my eyes had seen. My desk used to be the closest to the balcony. The explosion removed the glass frame from the wall and threw it inside the office. The glass smashed to pieces that could scatter me into parts if I were there. My drug which was inside the refrigerator was on the ground and I do not know how it happened because the refrigerator.

    As they alwasy do, Iraqis make jokes even about their pains. Within all the mess and the tirreble situation, one of teh guards came to tell me that I shoud have done many good things to leave the hotel two days before this explosion.

    After the destruction that I have seen in our old office , leaving the hotel for me has only one meaning. It means NEW LIFE.

    This morning, the Iraqi government announced a curfew. The curfew lasted only a few hours and, to be specific, I found out about it around 7:30 am, and it ended about 9:30 a.m. During the first 10 minutes of the curfew, one of my neighbors came over with a bunch of rumor starting with "I heard people saying..."

Here are some of the rumors that spread as sson as news about the curfew was announced:

1- A group of high-ranking officers was about to implement a coup against the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouril Al-Maliki. Adhemiyah, the main Sunni neighborhood in Baghdad is already under the control of insurgents.

2- An Insurgents group tried to assassinate Maliki with a new technology; the assassin had a poisonous sticker on his hand and shook hands with Maliki. (I wondered how the man could live until he reached Maliki and what were he and his people doing at Maliki office early morning but I am sure they did not go there for breakfast.)

3- Salih al Mutlaq, the Sunni lawmaker whose party was banned from participation in the coming election was killed. The rumor went that Mulaq's house was raided by security forces and they found car bombs. Clashes broke out and he was killed during the clashes.

    The rumors today reminded me with those during Saddam regime when Saddam's followers used to spread rumors to control Iraqis and they strongly succeeded . Rumors are the most powerful weapons in Iraq an unfortunately, my people are very easy victims for this weapon

    The speaker of the Iraqi parliament urged the heads of the political blocks to push the members of their blocks to attend the parliament sessions in order to approve some important laws that deal with the daily life of Iraqis. The meetings came after the parliament failed in approving any law during many sessions because of the non sufficient quorum. That means more than 138 out of 275 lawmakers were absent and they did not do their national duties which they were elected for.

    Some newspapers reported that many lawmakers decided not to attend the sessions because they were not nominated by their blocks for the coming election. If the news were true, we would ask many questions about different issues like the salaries the lawmakers, the bodyguards and the most important question would be about the credibility of the Iraqis parties and the criteria of choosing the candidates of the parties

    The reaction of one of my friends was very serious. He believes that he had been betrayed. He asked only one question "whey shall I participate again in the coming election?" When I tried to talk to him about the importance of the participation in the coming election, I had first to talk to myself and to convince myself to participate because I have the same feeling of betrayal and I really hate telling others to do things I do not like to do.